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Business & People Ops 90 days 2-3 hours/day updated 2026-06-01

PeopleOps 90-Day Learning Path

Build PeopleOps expertise in 90 days: HRIS administration, people analytics, recruiting operations, onboarding automation, performance management tooling, and the people data systems that support workforce decisions.

What PeopleOps means

PeopleOps (People Operations) applies an operational and data-driven lens to human resources functions. It encompasses HRIS administration, recruiting operations and ATS management, onboarding and offboarding workflows, people analytics, performance management tooling, and the compliance and automation systems that enable HR teams to operate efficiently at scale. PeopleOps treats employees as customers and HR processes as products.

Who should follow this path

  • HR generalists transitioning to operational and technical roles
  • Recruiting coordinators moving into talent operations
  • HR business partners who want stronger analytics skills
  • People analytics professionals
  • Operations professionals entering HR technology roles

Prerequisites

  • Experience working in an HR or recruiting function
  • Familiarity with an HRIS (Workday, BambooHR, or similar)
  • Basic data analysis skills (Excel or Google Sheets)
  • Understanding of employment law basics (EEOC, GDPR for employee data)
  • Project management skills

The 90-day plan

Daily study recommendation: 2-3 hours/day, six days a week. Consistency beats intensity — block the time in your calendar like a meeting.

Days 1–15: Foundation

  • PeopleOps function scope and HR operations maturity model
  • Employee lifecycle: attract, hire, onboard, develop, retain, offboard
  • HRIS landscape: Workday, BambooHR, Rippling, HiBob
  • People metrics framework: headcount, attrition, ENPS, time-to-fill
  • HR compliance basics: EEOC, ADA, FMLA, GDPR for employee data

Outcome: Map the full employee lifecycle and define core people metrics for a 100-person organization.

Days 16–30: Core concepts

  • HRIS administration: data model, fields, and workflows
  • Workday HCM fundamentals: organization, positions, and workers
  • BambooHR and Rippling configuration
  • Employee data governance and data quality
  • HRIS integration with payroll and benefits systems

Outcome: Configure an HRIS with clean data model, org structure, and payroll/benefits integration.

Days 31–45: Tools and workflows

  • Applicant Tracking Systems: Greenhouse, Lever, and Workday Recruiting
  • Recruiting pipeline analytics: time-to-fill, offer acceptance rate, source quality
  • Job posting operations and candidate routing
  • Interview process design and scheduling automation
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion funnel analysis

Outcome: Administer an ATS with structured interview workflows and recruiting analytics dashboards.

Days 46–60: Hands-on projects

  • Onboarding automation: day 1 to day 90 workflow design
  • HRIS-driven onboarding task management
  • IT provisioning and access management integration
  • Employee onboarding survey design and analysis
  • Offboarding process automation and knowledge transfer

Outcome: Build an automated onboarding workflow covering IT provisioning, task tracking, and feedback collection.

Days 61–75: Advanced practices

  • People analytics with Visier, Tableau, or Workday Prism
  • Attrition prediction and retention analytics
  • Compensation analytics and pay equity analysis
  • Engagement survey design and action planning
  • Workforce planning and headcount modeling

Outcome: Build a people analytics dashboard covering attrition, engagement, and compensation equity.

Days 76–90: Portfolio, interview & certification prep

  • PeopleOps portfolio project
  • Preparing for SHRM-CP exam
  • PeopleOps interview questions
  • Metrics: time-to-fill, attrition rate, ENPS, onboarding completion rate
  • Emerging: AI in recruiting, people analytics copilots, skills-based hiring

Outcome: Deliver a PeopleOps automation project and be ready for HR operations and people analytics interviews.

Weekly outcomes at a glance

PhaseOutcome
Days 1–15Map the full employee lifecycle and define core people metrics for a 100-person organization.
Days 16–30Configure an HRIS with clean data model, org structure, and payroll/benefits integration.
Days 31–45Administer an ATS with structured interview workflows and recruiting analytics dashboards.
Days 46–60Build an automated onboarding workflow covering IT provisioning, task tracking, and feedback collection.
Days 61–75Build a people analytics dashboard covering attrition, engagement, and compensation equity.
Days 76–90Deliver a PeopleOps automation project and be ready for HR operations and people analytics interviews.

Tools to learn

  • Workday
  • BambooHR
  • Greenhouse
  • Rippling
  • Lever
  • Visier
  • Tableau
  • Lattice
  • Culture Amp
  • Slack
  • Notion
  • Google Sheets

Labs to practice

Mini projects

  • Build an automated onboarding workflow in Rippling covering IT provisioning, task assignments, and day-30 survey triggers
  • Create a people analytics dashboard in Tableau tracking attrition risk, engagement scores, and headcount by department
  • Implement a DEI funnel analysis in Greenhouse measuring candidate diversity at each recruiting stage

Interview questions to prepare

  1. How would you design an onboarding process for a remote-first company?
  2. What people metrics would you track to identify early attrition risk?
  3. How do you conduct a pay equity analysis and what do you do with findings?
  4. Explain how you would build a headcount planning model for annual planning.
  5. What is an ENPS and how does it differ from a standard NPS?
  6. How do you ensure data privacy and GDPR compliance for employee data in an HRIS?
  7. Describe how you would improve a recruiting process with a 60% offer acceptance rate.
  8. How do you measure the ROI of an employee engagement program?

Certification suggestions

  • SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) — SHRM
  • PHR (Professional in Human Resources) — HRCI
  • Workday HCM Certification — Workday
  • Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate — Google / Coursera

Browse the full certification registry for exam details and official links.

Free resources

// instructor-led option

Prefer live, guided training with mentors and certification support? DevOpsSchool.com runs paid instructor-led programs that pair well with this free path.

Explore paid training on DevOpsSchool.com ↗