HRSD Best Practice – Custom COEs and Reusability of Topics & HR Services

[Gopi22]

Hi Everyone,

We are currently reviewing our HR Service Delivery (HRSD) design and would appreciate guidance from those with implementation and architectural experience.

Specifically, I’m looking for best practices around the following areas:

1. Custom COEs

   • Is it considered a good practice to create custom Centers of Excellence (COEs) beyond the out‑of‑the‑box ones?
   • In your experience, what criteria should justify creating a new COE (e.g., ownership, case lifecycle differences, data sensitivity, regional separation, etc.)?

2. Licensing implications

   • Does creating additional custom COEs have any impact on HRSD licensing or entitlements, directly or indirectly?
   • Are there any licensing considerations we should be aware of when scaling COEs?

3. Reuse vs duplication across COEs

   • Is it acceptable to have duplicate Topic Categories, Topics, or HR Services under different COEs?
   • From a best‑practice standpoint:
     • Should Topic Categories and Topics be shared across COEs?
     • When is it appropriate to duplicate HR Services versus reusing them with routing/eligibility logic?
   • How do you typically handle naming and governance to avoid confusion for employees and admins?

Appreciate any pointers, suggestions. 

Thank you!

Regards,

Gopi

[meghanakra]

Creating additional COEs is generally considered good practice only when there is a meaningful operational separation. It is justified only when completely different teams manage cases, SLAs, workflows, security, and reporting, a separate COE is often justified.

Create a separate COE if:

workflows differ significantly

approvals vary

integrations are unique

Example:

Employee Relations cases are highly confidential and investigation-driven

Licensing Implications

Creating additional COEs itself does NOT usually increase licensing cost.

Licensing is generally tied to:

fulfillers / agents

employee users

platform usage

However, indirectly, more COEs can increase:

Fulfilment users, If each COE introduces:

separate HR agent groups

additional fulfillers

Platform complexity

More COEs often mean:

more workflows

more catalog items

Topic Categories and Topics

Share where employee intent is the same. Employees should not need to understand your internal COE structure

Avoid unnecessary duplicate Topics

Bad example:

Payroll Question (US)

Payroll Question (Canada)

Payroll Question (Germany)

Better:

Payroll Support

then use:

eligibility rules

routing logic

dynamic assignment

localization

Duplicate Topics only when:

the employee experience truly differs.

forms/questions differ significantly.

workflows differ heavily.

Reuse HR Services when:

Same process backbone

Even if routing differs.

Use:

assignment rules

location logic

employee criteria

dynamic fulfillment

flow designer logic

Example:

Single “Employment Verification” service:

routes to different regional teams automatically

Duplicate HR Services when:

 Different forms/questions

If APAC needs 5 fields and EU needs 20 legal disclosures, duplication may be cleaner.

Creating custom COEs is okay, but only when there is a real business need like different teams handling the work, different processes, or confidential data access. Avoid creating too many COEs just for small differences or regions.

Creating additional COEs usually does not increase HRSD licensing directly. Licensing mostly depends on the number of users/agents and the HRSD features being used.

As a best practice, try to reuse Topics, Categories, and HR Services wherever possible instead of creating duplicates. Use routing rules, eligibility, or assignment logic to direct requests to the correct team.

Duplicate Topics or HR Services only when the process, forms, approvals, or security requirements are significantly different.

Keep naming simple and user-friendly so employees can easily find the right service. Also maintain proper governance to avoid duplicate or confusing configurations.

Overall recommendation: keep the design simple, avoid unnecessary COEs, and focus on reuse and maintainability.

[meghanakra]

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