An Azure-based cloud platform for HR and payroll management
A Finnish client is implementing a platform for HR and payroll management based on the Azure cloud. .NET programmers from Inetum, who are part of one of the two Scrum teams, are involved in the project, developed according to the DDD (Domain Driven Design) approach.
Azure cloud platform to support HR department
A Finnish software and HR and payroll management outsourcing services provider’s dedicated solution has so far used infrastructure provided in the on-premises model. Along with the client’s adoption of the development strategy until 2025, the decision was made to standardize and embed the company’s infrastructure in the cloud and to create a new application as part of the solutions offered for HR departments.
The platform supports various HR and payroll administration processes, including managing the entire employee hiring process, recording working hours, handling payroll, data processing and reporting on payroll and HR data, competence development, training management, and the monitoring of professional well-being.
Challenges in implementing Azure cloud
Creating an environment for a new cloud application
The application and databases are to be fully embedded in the Azure cloud, and the delivery of the full version of the platform is to be the crowning achievement of the client’s cloud strategy.
Organization of infrastructure and high performance
Ensuring high performance, availability, infrastructure management and automation of this process are important to the client. In previous on-premises projects, the client’s employees spent a great deal of time on testing and developing database recovery applications.
Cost optimization
A very important element of using the cloud in the project is the optimization of expenses. Currently, the largest share of application costs are allocated to database queries, due to the use of Cosmos DB, where each individual query generates a cost.
Security and integration with an authentication platform
The client places particular emphasis on data security and privacy, using their own internal service based on the AWS cloud for authentication. There is only one entry point to the application, and the application itself has a large number of private endpoints.
Cooperation of the client’s team with Inetum
The client has extensive experience in the use of cloud technologies. The organization has a separate team responsible for the development of the backend and frontend architecture of the solutions, as well as a dedicated specialist responsible for the automation of infrastructure management using the Terraform tool. 
Application based on the Azure cloud. The MVP will soon be launched in the form of a demo portal and administration panel. Our specialists joined one of the two Scrum teams in the initial phase of the project. It is based on modern technologies and approaches and uses the DDD approach.
The application is 100% based on the cloud and uses modern services such as:
- Azure Managed Identities, which allows for the management of digital identities and access to resources,
- Key Vaults, which are used to store application settings safely.
The implementation of subsequent versions of the application uses the ZIP Deployment mechanism to resolve cache-related restrictions and ensure that only the fully deployed application is running at any given time.
Technologies
The application is based on Azure cloud solutions and on microservices architecture created according to the DDD (Domain Driven Design) approach and the assumptions of CQRS and Event Sourcing. The backend of the application is created on the basis of .NET 5 technologies, while the React language and the microfrontend approach are used to create the frontend of the application. The client uses a dedicated tool embedded in the AWS cloud for authentication. Moreover, the project uses CRUD and REST API.
Azure services used in the project
Backend applications
- API Management
- Service
- Application Insights
- Blob Storage
- Cosmos DB
- Key Vaults
- Service Bus
- SignalR
Frontend applications
- App Service
- Application Insights
- Content Delivery Network
- Functions
- Log Analytics
- Private Endpoint
- Static Web App
- Virtual Network
About the client
A Finnish company which employs over 1,000 financial experts – one of the largest providers of IT solutions and financial management and payroll outsourcing services in the Nordic countries.