Initialize new hire records to Vista after they have been reviewed and you are ready to add those
records to HR Resources or PR Employees in Vista.
A System Admin must grant
Can Initialize permissions to the user group that will be
initializing new hires to
Vista. For more
information, see
Create and Manage Hiring Locations.
-
Go to .
- From the Employee column, select the
new hire's name.
The Onboarding Details page
displays.
-
If needed, update the Expected Hire Date. This
field automatically populates with the date entered in the Employee's first day of
employment field, which admins fill out while completing Section
2 of the I-9.
Changing the Expected Hire Date here will not change the date on the
I-9.
Note: If this date is in the future, the Vista record will not be marked as
active and must be updated manually on the employee's official hire
date.
-
There are two options for initializing employees to Vista,
depending on if your employee is a new hire or a rehire:
-
For new hires, select Initialize to Vista.
The Initialize to Vista popup window
opens, allowing you to enter information required to create the new HR
Resource or PR Employee record. Complete all required fields (display with a
red asterisk).
-
The HR Company and
Payroll Company fields (and dependent fields
such as PR Department and Default Earn Code) depend on the following:
-
For the HR reference number (HR Ref), note the
following options:
-
You can use the Auto Generate HR
Ref feature to create a new HR Reference
number based on the next sequence in Vista. If you
prefer to enter your own number, enter it in the
HR
Ref field.
-
You can enter an HR Reference number
in Expected HR Ref (on the Onboarding
Employee Details page) for new hires who should have a
specific number assigned to them. This number will then
be skipped when using Auto Generate HR
Ref.
-
For rehires, the HR
Ref and other fields prefill based on
the record linked in the Rehire
Employee field on the Onboarding Employee
Details page.
-
If you enter a value in the Hourly / Salary Amt.
field, upon initialization, this value flows to Vista HR Resources only, not to PR Employees.
-
In HR Resources, the Hourly / Salary
Amt. value flows to the Salary
History tab.
-
In PR Employees, you must enter a
Salary or Hourly
Rate manually on the Add'l
Info tab.
-
If you choose an Occupation Category
from the dropdown, this value flows to PR Employees in Vista.
The selection options are dependent on the
occupation categories set up in PR Occupational Categories in
Vista.
-
If you choose a Position Code from
the dropdown, this value flows to HR Resources in Vista.
The selection options are dependent on the
position codes set up in HR Position Codes in Vista.
-
If you want to save the information for
later, select Save & Close. Otherwise select
Initialize
to create the new HR Resource or PR Employee record and attach all
completed forms.
The Initialize Date is added to the attachment file
name to prevent duplicating attachments. You can also see this date
on the Onboarding Employee Details page.
Note: When you initialize a new hire to Vista, the Federal Tax Exempt
checkbox on the PR Employees and HR Resources forms updates
automatically based on the exempt status that the employee selected on
Form W-4 during onboarding.
-
For rehired employees only: With rehired employees, you have the option
to just initialize attachments to Vista, since they may
already have an existing Vista record from their previous
employment at the company.
-
To send attachments to an existing Vista record,
select the dropdown arrow next to the Initialize to Vista option,
and select Initialize (Attachments Only).
-
In the Initialize Attachment popup window, select
Confirm.
This action will initialize the attachments but will not create a new employee record in
Vista. The
Initialized Date is added to the attachment file
name to prevent duplicating attachments.

Tip: If there are issues when initializing
attachments, the Status on the Onboarding Dashboard displays as
Initialized,
attachments error. In this status, you can still send
attachments to Vista using the Initialize
(Attachments Only) option.
When you initialize a new employee, signed /
acknowledged documents and any forms completed during onboarding are attached to the
record in Vista. If the new hire moved to
Onboarding from Applicant Tracking, any forms completed as part of the job application
process are also attached to the Vista record. Fields completed in
Personal Info, on Forms I-9 and W-4, and on the Voluntary Self-Identification form
prefill the new HR Resource or PR Employee record. Amounts left blank on Form W-4 will
show a zero (0) in Vista.View the new hire's Onboarding Status on the Onboarding
Dashboard.