Set up your Arche workspace: get your company and admin account ready, sign in, build out your org structure, and add your first people.
Overview
This guide takes you from an empty workspace to one your team can actually use. The order matters a little: departments and positions come first because employee records reference them, and teams pull their members from existing employees. You can add teams after employee records are ready.
You will need a company admin account. If your company is already set up and someone handed you credentials, skip ahead to "Sign in for the first time."
A quick map of where everything lives once you are logged in, all under the People section of the sidebar:
People
├─ Directory browse everyone
├─ Employees add and manage employee records
├─ Departments org units (supports parent/child nesting)
├─ Positions job titles with optional salary bands
├─ Teams cross-functional or departmental groups
└─ Org Chart reporting-line view
These pages are part of the Core HR module, which is always on.
Step 1: Get your company and admin account
Arche sets up your company for you. There is no sign-up form: book a demo or contact us, and we create the company, its standard roles and your admin account, then send you your sign-in details. You sign in as the company Admin. The login screen directs people without an account to their administrator.
When a new company is created, Arche automatically sets up nine standard roles you can assign to people later:
| Role | Intended for |
|---|---|
| Admin | Full system administration |
| HR Manager | Human resources management |
| Finance Manager | Payroll, compensation, benefits, financial compliance |
| Department Manager | Team management: employees, leave, attendance, performance, expenses |
| Recruiter | Job postings, candidates, hiring pipeline |
| Compliance Officer | Audit, compliance, read-only access across modules |
| Read-only Reviewer | Read-only access for accountants and auditors, including partner firms |
| Hiring Panel | Reviews candidates for the jobs whose hiring team they are on, and nothing else |
| Employee | Standard self-service access |
Company Settings → Roles & Permissions shows you each role and a read-only matrix of exactly which permissions it grants, drawn from the same permission catalog the server enforces. There is currently no way to create a custom role or change what a standard role can do from the interface; if you need something different from the nine defaults, talk to Arche support.
Step 2: Sign in for the first time
Go to /login and enter your email and password.
A few things you may run into on this screen:
- Remember me keeps your session active across browser restarts. Leave it unchecked on shared computers.
- Sign in with Google and Sign in with Apple appear when Arche has set them up for the platform, not when your administrator does. Single sign-on matches on your email, so the account has to exist first.
- Two-factor authentication. If your platform requires 2FA and you have not set it up yet, you are sent to a setup screen to scan a QR code with an authenticator app and confirm a 6-digit code. You will also get one-time backup codes; save them somewhere safe. After that, each login asks for a 6-digit code (or an 8-character backup code).
- Forgot your password? Use the "Forgot?" link. You will get an email with a reset link that is valid for 30 minutes.
Once you are in, you land on the dashboard.
Step 3: Create departments
Open People → Departments and choose Add Department. Creating, editing and deleting departments needs manage_org_structure, which Admin and HR Manager hold by default.
Fields:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | For example, "Engineering" |
| Code | No | A short label like ENG |
| Parent | No | Nest this department under another to build a tree |
| Department Head | No | Pick from existing employees |
| Description | No | Free text |
Because departments can nest, build the top level first (leave Parent as "None (Top Level)"), then add sub-departments and point their Parent at the right place. The page has a Tree View toggle so you can check the hierarchy as you go.
Deleting a department deactivates it by default, so it is hidden but recoverable. There is a "Permanently delete" option in the confirmation dialog, but a department can only be removed permanently when it has no employees and no child departments.
Step 4: Create positions
Open People → Positions and choose Add Position. The Positions API needs manage_employees, and the web shows position editing only to people with manage_users, or with both manage_employees and manage_payroll. With the default grants, Admin and HR Manager see the controls.
Fields:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Yes | For example, "Software Engineer" |
| Code | No | Short label |
| Department | No | Link the position to a department |
| Grade | No | Your internal grading label |
| Salary band (min / max) | No | Stored to two decimal places; shown only to full admins |
| Description | No | Free text |
| Active | No | Untick to retire a position without deleting it |
Positions are the job titles employees get assigned to. You do not need a position for every person before adding them, but having the common ones ready makes employee setup faster.
Step 5: Add employees
Open People → Employees and choose Add Employee (this opens the new-employee form at /employees/new). Required fields are:
- Employee number (Arche suggests the next one in your sequence, and you can type a different one)
- First name and last name
- Hire date
- Employment type: full-time, part-time, contractor, or intern
Department, position, team, manager, work location, and pay details can be filled in later. Choosing M-Pesa payment requires an M-Pesa phone number. For Kenya payroll you will also see fields like NSSF number and tax ID, plus a salary payment method of bank or M-Pesa (choose M-Pesa to capture a phone number for mobile payment).
If you have a spreadsheet of people, use the Import button on the Employees page instead of adding them one at a time. Import needs view_all_employees as well as manage_employees, which HR Manager has by default.
Adding an employee record does not give that person a login. An employee record and a user account are separate things in Arche. See the next step to give people access.
Step 6: Give employees access (optional)
When you want an employee to be able to sign in (for self-service, leave requests, payslips, and so on), create a user account for them.
On an employee's profile, use Create Account. You can:
- Use the employee's work email or override it.
- Leave the password blank so the employee gets an email with a link to set their own password. The link is the same reset-password flow used elsewhere.
- Assign a role (one of the nine standard roles, or a custom one). This is what determines what they can see and do.
The web app cannot create accounts for many people at once yet. No screen in the web app offers it, so use Create Account on each profile.
If a person already has a user account (for example, an admin who is also an employee), use Link Existing User instead of creating a new one.
Step 7: Set up teams
Teams are groups that can cut across departments. Creating, editing and deleting teams needs manage_org_structure, the same as Departments. Open People → Teams and choose Add Team.
Fields:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | For example, "Launch Squad" |
| Department | No | Associate the team with a department |
| Team Lead | No | Pick from existing employees |
| Description | No | Free text |
Because team members and the team lead are chosen from existing employees, set teams up after Step 5. You put someone in a team with the Team field on their employee record. The Teams page shows each team's lead and member count.
Where to go next
You now have a working foundation: a company, an admin login, an org structure, and people. From here:
- Org Chart under People shows reporting lines once you have set managers on employee records.
- Company Settings → Roles & Permissions lets you check exactly what each role can do before you assign it to someone.
- Company Settings → Users lists everyone with a login.
- If your plan includes the payroll module, head to the Payroll Workflow Guide to run your first pay run, including Kenya statutory deductions (PAYE, NSSF, SHIF, and the Housing Levy).
Other modules such as Leave, Time & Attendance, Recruiting, and Performance appear in the sidebar when they are licensed for your company.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to create departments and positions before adding employees? No. Both are optional on the employee form. But creating them first means you can assign people as you add them instead of going back later.
What is the difference between an employee and a user? An employee is an HR record (their details, employment, pay). A user is a login. One person can have both; the employee record links to the user account once you create or link it. Plenty of employees never need a login.
Why does the login page say to contact my administrator? The login page directs people without an account to their administrator. There is no public sign-up. Arche creates a new company: book a demo or contact us, and the first Admin gets sign-in details.
I set up two-factor authentication. Can I turn it off? Yes. You can disable it from your profile by confirming a current 6-digit code. If your platform requires 2FA for everyone, you are asked to set it up again at your next sign-in and cannot skip it.
Can someone belong to more than one company? Yes. A user can be linked to several companies, with one marked as primary. Use the company switcher once more than one is available to you.
I deactivated a department by mistake. Is it gone? No. The default delete is a soft delete, so it is hidden but can be reactivated by editing it and setting it active again. Only a permanent delete removes it, and that is blocked while it still has employees or child departments.