Starter Account Pipeline

Problem#

All account creation at Civica was manual. Errors were common — wrong groups, missing permissions, inconsistent setups — across 20–30 starters every quarter.

Background#

The errors weren't random — the same mistakes recurred across starters, and each public sector client's own departmental structure made them easy to repeat manually. Recognising the pattern as structural rather than individual carelessness is what pointed at a pipeline instead of a checklist.

Implementation#

Built an end-to-end pipeline: a form generates a starter request stored as XML, passed to a PowerShell script that creates the account with departmentalised group assignments. Created in a disabled state with a check-out process before activation.

Challenges#

Each public sector client had different departmental structures and naming conventions — this required restructuring how groups were used, not just scripting on top of the existing setup.

Results#

Adopted as the company-wide starter process. Eliminated common provisioning errors and gave the team a reliable, auditable process.

System structure

How the parts connect

1. Starter form

   Captures the information needed for the new account.

2. XML request

   Passes structured starter information to the provisioning script.

3. PowerShell + groups

   Creates a disabled account and assigns departmental groups.

4. Review → activation

   A check-out review takes place before the account is enabled.