Working More Efficiently Thanks to Smart Integrations: Radboudumc Chooses Popay HR Self-Service
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Published on
12 Nov 2025
From ‘Vanishing Work’ to an Integrated HR Self-Service Portal
When Radboudumc decided a few years ago to make work ‘evaporate’, it wasn’t just an empty slogan. The goal? Less manual work, less HR intervention, and more ownership for employees. What started as a wish to organise processes more intelligently grew into a fully integrated HR Self-Service portal. Together with Popay, the academic hospital built a digital system that works. And works well.
An Ambitious Academic Hospital
Radboudumc is an academic hospital in Nijmegen with around 12,000 employees. The organisation strives for excellence in care, education and research, with innovation and digitalisation as key pillars. For payroll processing, Radboudumc uses Oracle Payroll. Louis Holtus, application specialist, works every day on optimising the payroll systems and HR processes. He shares his experience with Popay’s integration solutions.
“I would absolutely recommend Popay. Their HR Self-Service is the most complete and user-friendly one I know. And they deliver custom solutions.”
Louis Holtus – Application Specialist (Radboudumc)
From Standalone Forms to Smooth, Streamlined Processes
“We’ve been working for years on making work ‘evaporate’,” says Louis Holtus. “Less manual work, fewer forms, less HR intervention. That also means more self-service, directly at the source. That’s exactly what we’re aiming for with HR Self-Service.”
But that requires smart integrations between systems like Validata, Validsign and Kentico. “The goal is for processes to run logically and automatically, from request to approval and processing in our HR system.”
High Volumes, High Urgency
Previously, many requests were handled via forms, emails or even regular mail. Think of requests for travel expenses, changes in working hours or allowances. “That not only took a lot of time, it was also prone to errors and frustrating for employees,” says Louis. “With 12,000 employees, you’re talking about huge volumes.” When new types of leave were introduced, such as caregiver’s leave and “balansverlof” (work–life balance leave), automation was also essential to keep the process manageable.
HR Self-Service with All the Bells and Whistles
Together with Popay, Radboudumc developed a user-friendly HR Self-Service portal that is fully integrated with the HR system. “What I really like about this solution is that everything an employee or manager requests automatically ends up in the right tables. No retyping or other manual work. That saves our staff time and reduces the risk of errors.”
Popay developed, among other things, integrations with:
Validata (screening of new employees)
Pardon (insight into net salary when working hours change)
Xpertsuite (sick leave reporting and occupational health processes)
Validsign (digital signing)
Kentico (document upload for new employees)
Technical Expertise with a Human Touch
The collaboration with Popay started back in 2018. Louis: “Popay has a lot of expertise in payroll systems and APEX and works very well with our users. They ask the right questions, actively think along with us and are always reachable. That’s great, because sometimes you need to be able to move quickly. Over the past few years, we’ve really built a strong relationship.”
Popay’s team worked closely with HR, with Popay taking responsibility for the technical side and Radboudumc for the process design and content. “They understand exactly what is needed and translate that into a working solution,” Louis explains. “Yvonne knows everything about payroll formulas, Joost is strong in APEX and Pim keeps the overview. Together, they make sure everything related to HR runs smoothly for us.”
More Time for What Really Matters
Thanks to HR Self-Service and the integrations, the administrative burden at Radboudumc has been significantly reduced. “Employees can now do a lot themselves, without HR having to retype or enter everything. We even need fewer HR officers. And on top of that, they now have more time for projects and substantive work. That makes their jobs much more interesting and increases their impact on the organisation.”
The system is also more user-friendly for employees. For example, submitting travel expense claims has been reduced to a single click. “With such a large group of employees, things need to work quickly, simply and without errors. And that’s now the case. It’s very easy to indicate that, for example, you travelled to work 2 fixed days a week, and you only need to select the exceptions. Instead of manually selecting every single day. That saves a lot of clicks for 12,000 employees,” Louis explains.
Ready for the Next Step
Will this be the end of the collaboration between Radboudumc and Popay? Definitely not. The two organisations will continue working together on further optimisation. “We want to keep developing. There are still plenty of opportunities, for example in the onboarding process or in the automatic processing of collective labour agreement changes. With Popay as our partner, we have every confidence in that.”
These ambitions fit perfectly with Popay’s HR solutions, which help organisations like Radboudumc modernise their HR landscape step by step.
