An internal, HR-only web portal where our six-person HR department does its work with AI assistance — continuous compliance monitoring (DRC, permits, quotas, FCF, PDPA retention), AI-drafted documents on our letterhead, CV screening, and eventually payroll under strict human control.
Analysis of the department's full job scopes shows ~75% of HR tasks can be AI-led or AI-assisted — the value concentrates in compliance early-warning (avoiding MOM/BCA breaches) and removing manual data work. Humans keep every consequential decision.
~75%
of HR tasks AI-supportable
0
statutory filings or payments made without a named human approval
6
modules already demonstrated in a working prototype
We recommend approving only the first two phases now: the technical foundation plus the six lowest-risk, highest-visibility modules (compliance monitoring, documents, knowledge assistant, recruitment, dashboards, approvals). Nothing in this scope touches payroll or money. The payroll phase is decided later, on evidence from Phase 1.
Item
Effort / basis
In-house build
Vendor build
Phase 0 + 1 (the ask)
16–24 engineer-weeks, ~4–6 months
≈ S$35k–80k
≈ S$80k–190k
Full programme (later decision)
50–65 engineer-weeks, ~8–12 months
≈ S$100k–210k
≈ S$250k–500k
Running costs
SG-region hosting + AI model usage + tooling
≈ S$300–1,000 / month
Security review (one-off)
Independent review + pen test before sensitive data
≈ S$8k–20k
These are market-rate planning ranges, not quotes. In-house assumes 1–2 full-stack engineers at prevailing SG salaries working AI-assisted; vendor rates vary widely. Validate with at least two quotes before committing. Excludes HRIQ vendor charges (avoided by design) and internal HR time.
03 / MEASURING SUCCESS
How we'll know it's working
We will baseline these in the two weeks before pilot, so ROI is measured, not asserted:
Metric
Baseline (to capture)
Target after Phase 1
Admin hours per week, per HR role
Time-log sample
−30% on tasks in scope
Missed / near-missed statutory deadlines
12-month lookback
Zero missed
Permit-renewal lead time
Current average
Initiated ≥60 days before expiry, every time
Letter / document turnaround
Request → issued
Same-day
Recruitment: CV → shortlist decision
Current average
−50%
DRC / quota position visibility
Monthly, manual
Live, daily-synced
04 / ADOPTION
Pilot & rollout plan
Pilot (4 weeks): Executive (FW) + HR Manager use the Compliance Monitor and Documents modules alongside current methods. FW is chosen because permit/DRC alerts deliver the fastest visible value.
Weekly feedback loop: 30-minute session; fixes shipped weekly. The pilot users become the internal champions.
Department rollout: remaining four roles onboarded with half-day hands-on training; job aids kept inside the portal's Knowledge Assistant.
Go/no-go for Phase 2: after 8–10 weeks of live use, review metrics against §03 and decide the payroll phase.
Build vs buy, honestly: off-the-shelf HR/ATS products exist and are cheaper for generic recruitment or leave tracking. Nothing off-the-shelf covers our Singapore-contractor compliance core — DRC/quota tracking, levy & waiver, BCA licence conditions, FCF enforcement, HRIQ coexistence. Custom is justified for that core; if scope ever drifts toward generic HR features that products already do well, we should buy, not build.
05 / RISKS
Top risks & how the design contains them
Payroll/statutory errors → deterministic code (never AI), maker-checker approval, and a parallel-run against the current process before anything is authoritative.
PDPA / data protection → HR-only access with MFA, Singapore-resident hosting, AI never sees raw personal data (de-identification gateway), full audit trail, independent security review before go-live.
Wrong regulatory rules encoded → all statutory figures verified by the named compliance owner (Ye Zaw Lin) before being hard-coded; rules kept configurable.
Key-person / maintenance risk → mainstream stack (Python/React), documented, tested; a named maintenance owner is a condition of go-live.
Adoption failure → pilot-first rollout with champions, not a big-bang switch.
06 / DECISIONS NEEDED
What we need from management
Approve Phase 0 + 1 budget (§02) and the in-house vs vendor route.
Confirm cloud policy — Singapore-region cloud hosting for HR data (recommended), or on-premises if policy forbids cloud.
Confirm identity provider (Microsoft 365 / Entra ID assumed) for HR-only single sign-on.
Name the maintenance owner (in-house engineer or support contract) as a go-live condition.
Full detail sits behind this brief: requirements specification, technical architecture, working prototype, gap analysis and phased roadmap — all linked from the project hub (index.html).