Digitising HR service management with Jira Service Management and Real Signature

Background

Wren Kitchens has been “leading the way for over 35 years”, making bespoke kitchen design affordable while continuing to create beautiful, hard-wearing kitchens through a tailored, experience-led process.

Behind that promise is a large, diverse workforce. To support them, Wren’s HR team manages a wide range of people processes, including:

• HR record changes and job role changes
• New role authorisation and re-employment
• Attendance issues such as Late to Work, Return to Work and Fit Notes
• Leave issues such as Exceptional Leave and AWOL
• Leavers processing
• Remote working and remote job role changes
• Pay adjustments and staff discounts
• Miscellaneous HR matters that still require formal acknowledgement

Historically, many of these processes relied on paper forms and physical signatures. This created familiar problems:

• Forms had to be printed, signed, scanned, emailed or posted.
• HR and managers spent time chasing signatures and clarifications.
• Remote and distributed staff made wet signatures increasingly impractical.
• It was hard to keep a clear audit trail of who signed what, and when.

Wren were already using Jira Service Management (JSM) and could see that HR, like IT, would benefit from a structured, portal-based service experience. What they lacked was a way to add legally meaningful, physical-style signatures directly into Jira and the JSM portal – and then automate the downstream steps.

They found what they needed in BDQ’s Real Signature app on the Atlassian Marketplace.

“It’s done wonders, and really saved us time and effort.”

- Hayden McCarry | Wren Kitchens

Solution

Extending Jira Service Management for HR

Wren purchased Real Signature from the Atlassian Marketplace and began using it alongside Jira Service Management and Jira Forms to digitise HR processes.

After an initial rollout, Wren spoke directly with BDQ about what they wanted to achieve, particularly around HR scenarios and multi-party signatures. Based on those discussions, BDQ extended the Real Signature app to support Wren’s requirements – enhancements that are now available to all customers.

There was no formal services engagement – Wren kept ownership of their own Jira configuration, while BDQ focused on making sure Real Signature did exactly what HR needed.

“BDQ were very supportive. They implemented everything we needed.”

- Hayden McCarry | Wren Kitchens

Real Signature in action

Real Signature allows Wren to:

• Add physical-style signatures directly onto Jira issues and via the Jira Service Management portal.
• Embed signatures into Jira Forms, so everything (questions, answers and signatures) is contained in one place.
• Define mandatory signatures (for example, both manager and employee must sign before the process can proceed).
• Capture multiple signatures on the same form – ideal for manager/employee flows.
• Trigger automations when signatures are added, such as status changes, notifications or PDF creation.
• Automatically generate PDF copies that include both the form data and the signatures.

As Hayden puts it:

“Now the whole process works like clockwork.”

Service management for HR – key use cases

Using Jira Service Management, Jira Forms and Real Signature together, Wren have digitised a wide range of HR scenarios. Examples include:

• HR Record & Job Role Changes
  • Manager initiates the request in the HR portal using a Jira Form.
  • Real Signature collects mandatory signatures from both the manager and employee.
  • Once signed, automation transitions the issue and notifies HR and Payroll to action.
  • A single PDF (form + signatures) is generated for the HR record.
    
    
• Attendance & Return-to-Work
  • Processes such as Late to Work, Return to Work and Fit Note are now online forms, not paper.
  • Managers start the process; employees review and sign via the portal from any location.
  • HR can see exactly who signed, and when, with a full audit trail.
    
    
• Leave Exceptions, AWOL & Leavers
  • Sensitive cases such as Exceptional Leave, AWOL, Leavers and Re-employment are managed with standardised forms.
  • Real Signature enforces necessary signatures; JSM workflows enforce approvals and control.
    
    
• Remote Working & Pay Adjustments
  • Remote working arrangements and temporary pay adjustments are handled end-to-end in Jira.
  • Some processes are manager-initiated, others employee-initiated, and the workflow rules guide each scenario.
    
    
• Staff Discounts
  • Requests must be signed before submission, ensuring clear acceptance of terms.
  • Once signed, Jira automation moves the request into an approval step, and onward when approved.

Across all of these, Real Signature’s multi-signature and mandatory signature capabilities are critical. The process is simple:

1. Manager or employee starts the process through the HR portal.
2. Jira Forms collect structured data.
3. Real Signature collects required signatures in the portal.
4. Jira automation updates statuses, triggers approvals and generates a final PDF.

“The automated processes helps to eliminate chasing to and fro.”

- Hayden McCarry | Wren Kitchens

Vendor support that goes beyond the basics

Although there was no formal consulting project, Wren’s experience with BDQ as a vendor was a big part of the story:

• “BDQ were very supportive, and implemented everything we needed.”
• “More than any other vendor – you’ve been the most willing to be involved. And I’ve worked with a few!”

By extending Real Signature to meet Wren’s real-world HR needs, BDQ helped Wren get more value from the tools they already owned – without a heavy services engagement.

Outcome

From paper to digital HR

Wren has effectively removed paper forms from key HR processes. Everything now runs through Jira Service Management, with:

• Digital forms instead of paper.
• Portal-based signatures instead of wet signatures.
• Automatic PDF generation for records and compliance.

The result is reduced printing and scanning, lower admin effort, and clear cost savings:

“It’s done wonders, and really saved us time and effort.”

- Hayden McCarry | Wren Kitchens

HR as a modern service

By using Jira Service Management beyond IT, Wren has:

• Turned HR into a service management function, with clear workflows and visibility.
• Gained a single source of truth for HR requests, approvals and signatures.
• Enabled a better experience for remote and distributed staff who can complete and sign forms from anywhere.

Automation and control

Real Signature and Jira automation together now:

• Eliminate chasing – the system drives the process forward.
• Ensure that mandatory signatures and steps are always followed.
• Provide a complete, exportable audit trail for every case.

For Wren, HR processes now “work like clockwork”, freeing time for higher-value work while maintaining robust governance.