How to automatically alert managers when a new hire’s laptop might not arrive in time using Rippling IT

What you'll learn

• How to use Rippling IT to proactively monitor laptop shipment status for new hires

• How to use Workflow Studio to create automated alerts based on start dates and device order data

• How to leverage employee attributes and device inventory information to notify the right manager at the right time

What you'll need

• Rippling IT, including Device Management and Workflow Studio

• New hire data stored in Rippling or synced from an external HRIS

• Devices ordered through Rippling or tracked in Rippling’s Device Management module

The problem

For IT teams, one of the most stressful parts of onboarding is ensuring every new hire has their laptop delivered on time. Even a single missed shipment can lead to delayed ramp-up and repeated follow-ups. 

Device ordering often involves separate systems, varying shipping timelines, and manual tracking. Hiring managers rarely know when to escalate, and IT teams often discover shipment issues too late. 

Without automation, IT must manually check order status, cross-reference start dates, and notify managers one by one, leading to operational inefficiency and inconsistent onboarding.

The hypothesis

If Rippling can automatically connect new hire data, shipment status, and workflow automation, IT can receive early warnings before missed shipments become onboarding failures.

By using Inventory Management and Workflow Studio to check for new hires whose laptops have not yet shipped and comparing that against start dates, Rippling can proactively identify at-risk onboarding cases.

The solution

1. Use Rippling Inventory Management to track device shipment status

Rippling tracks device orders end-to-end, including whether a device has been ordered, prepared, shipped, or is still pending. Device orders created through Rippling include:

• Device availability (in stock or backordered)

• Shipping destination

• Real-time status 

This status data becomes available in the Employee Graph, where it can be used as a condition in workflows.

2. Use new hire start dates as a workflow trigger

Workflow Studio lets teams trigger workflows relative to an employee’s start date. You can instruct Rippling to automatically identify:

• All employees starting in 3 days

• Whether their devices have been delivered

• Whether any special logic applies, such as department, location, or employment type

Start dates are part of Rippling’s Employee Graph, so workflows use the real, always-updated values for each hire.

3. Build a workflow that detects when a device hasn’t shipped in time

Using Workflow Studio, IT can create a workflow that runs daily (or on a schedule of your choosing) and checks:

• Employees starting in 3 days

• Whether they have a device order associated with them

• Whether that device’s status reflects that it hasn’t been delivered 

Because workflows can query device objects and filter on attributes, Rippling can automatically identify when a shipment is at risk. This allows IT to detect issues early, long before the new hire shows up without a device.

4. Automatically alert the new hire’s manager

Once the workflow identifies a new hire whose device hasn’t shipped, you can add a step for Rippling to automatically notify the appropriate manager. Rippling already stores manager–employee relationships, so alerts route automatically to the right person. Notifications can be delivered through email, Slack, SMS, or notifications in Rippling.

This gives hiring managers a heads-up to take action, whether that means contacting IT, expediting a device order, or adjusting onboarding expectations.

The impact

✓ IT receives proactive alerts about at-risk device shipments

✓ Managers can take action before onboarding is disrupted

✓ New hires start with the right equipment on day one

By combining device order data, new hire timelines, and workflow automation, Rippling IT helps teams guarantee smooth onboarding at scale. IT teams reduce operational overhead and eliminate last-minute fire drills while managers stay informed automatically.

FAQs