Must-have HRIS RFP template for midsize businesses in 2025

Midsize businesses face a new set of HR challenges. What worked for 50 employees—spreadsheets, lightweight payroll tools, or basic HRIS platforms—quickly breaks when headcount passes 200. Compliance becomes more complex across multiple states and entities, HR teams are stretched thin, and leadership expects real-time workforce insights. Employees also expect a polished, consumer-grade experience to match what they’d get at larger companies.

The right HRIS for midsize businesses should go beyond the basics. It must unify HR, payroll, benefits, and time in one system, automate complex workflows, and deliver the compliance and reporting rigor required at scale. It should also integrate deeply with ERP, recruiting, and performance systems to reduce reconciliation and give leaders a complete picture of their workforce.

This guide highlights the key areas midsize companies should evaluate in an HRIS, what great looks like, how Rippling stands out, and the RFP questions to ask vendors.

1. Employee system of record

For midsize companies, having a single source of truth is no longer optional. Disconnected systems create duplicate data entry, reporting errors, and compliance gaps. 

A strong HRIS should consolidate employee data into one record, automatically syncing with payroll, benefits, and IT. 

Rippling’s Employee Graph unifies all employee data, ensuring that every change—from promotions to address updates—flows everywhere it’s needed instantly. No manual work required.

RFP questions to ask

• Can we manage multiple entities and jurisdictions in one system of record?

• Does the system automatically sync data to payroll, benefits, and IT apps?

• Can we create and report on custom fields (e.g., certifications, union codes, job grades)?

• Do you support role-based permissions at department, entity, or region level?

• Do employees have access to a self-service app for updating information?

2. Onboarding and offboarding automation

At midsize scale, manual onboarding wastes hours and creates inconsistent employee experiences. 

An HRIS should automate everything: forms, payroll, benefits, IT provisioning, and compliance steps. Offboarding should be airtight, ensuring final paychecks, COBRA, access removal, and asset recovery happen seamlessly. 

Rippling automates both, so HR doesn’t have to chase down checklists across multiple systems.

RFP questions to ask

• Can onboarding workflows be customized by department, entity, or geography?

• Do payroll, tax setup, and benefits accounts generate automatically during onboarding?

• Can devices and app access be provisioned/revoked automatically?

• Does the system automate COBRA notices and compliance at offboarding?

• Are final paychecks generated automatically based on local jurisdiction rules?

3. Policies, approvals, and workflows

Midsize organizations often need more structured governance: multi-step approvals, conditional policies by role, and workflows that adapt automatically as employees change managers or locations. A modern HRIS should allow you to configure these workflows without code. 

Rippling’s workflow builder lets HR teams create multi-step approvals that update dynamically when reporting lines or attributes change, with audit logs for every action.

RFP questions to ask

• Can we configure multi-level approval workflows (e.g., for time-off, expenses, promotions)?

• Do policies auto-update when employees change role, manager, or entity?

• Are workflows mobile-friendly and accessible for busy managers?

• Can workflows include deadlines, escalations, and SLA reminders?

• Do you provide audit-ready logs of all approvals and actions?

4. Compliance and document management

At midsize scale, compliance gets exponentially harder: multi-state tax and labor laws, ACA and COBRA requirements, and document management across hundreds of employees. 

A strong HRIS should automate compliance monitoring, assign documents automatically by role or region, and surface risks proactively. 

Rippling ties compliance directly to the employee record, so every change triggers the right policies and documents automatically.

RFP questions to ask

• How do you manage compliance across multiple states and entities?

• Do you automate ACA, COBRA, and I-9/E-Verify requirements?

• Can we assign and track documents by role, department, or location?

• Do you provide expiration and renewal alerts for compliance docs?

• What compliance certifications do you hold (SOC 2, ISO, GDPR)?

5. Reporting and insights

Midsize companies need more than headcount counts—they need advanced analytics. Finance and HR leaders want reports segmented by entity, region, department, or cost center, as well as predictive analytics on attrition and compensation. 

A modern HRIS should provide dashboards, variance analysis, and exports to ERP and BI tools. Rippling provides real-time reporting across all employee data, with segmentation and customizable dashboards that give leaders actionable insights.

RFP questions to ask

• Do you provide entity- and department-level reporting out of the box?

• Can we build custom dashboards and reports without technical support?

• Do you support variance reporting across time (e.g., headcount trends, comp changes)?

• Can reports be scheduled and shared automatically with leadership?

• Do you integrate with ERP and BI tools (e.g., NetSuite, Tableau)?

How Rippling helps midsize businesses

Rippling HRIS is built to handle the complexity of midsize companies without adding unnecessary overhead. With Rippling, you get a single source of truth for all employee data, eliminating errors and manual reconciliation across systems. Payroll, benefits, IT, and time data sync automatically, so HR teams spend less time on admin and more time driving strategy.

Onboarding and offboarding are automated end-to-end, from payroll setup and benefits enrollment to device provisioning and COBRA notices. Policies and workflows adapt automatically as employees change roles or locations, with multi-step approvals and audit logs built in.

Rippling also helps midsize organizations stay compliant across multiple states and entities. ACA and COBRA reporting is automated, compliance risks are surfaced proactively, and SOC 2/ISO-certified security ensures your employee data is safe.

And because Rippling unifies HR, payroll, benefits, and IT, midsize companies save money and reduce complexity by consolidating multiple systems into one platform. As your needs grow, Rippling scales seamlessly—supporting multi-entity structures and global expansion without requiring a system change.

With Rippling HRIS, midsize businesses can:

• Manage multiple entities and jurisdictions in one system of record

• Automate onboarding, offboarding, and compliance workflows at scale

• Configure policies and approvals that adapt dynamically

• Stay compliant with ACA, COBRA, and multi-state rules automatically

• Empower employees with modern self-service access

• Generate segmented reports and dashboards for real-time insights

Rippling RFP for HRIS for midsize businesses example

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