By default, users who are synchronized with your HRIS are added as learners to a single group in 360Learning. With the Advanced Group Synchronization feature, you can synchronize them into any 360Learning groups based on the value of their fields in your HRIS.
This feature focuses on adding users as learners to groups, or removing learners from groups. It does not update groups in any other way, nor update other user roles.
If you wish to use the Advanced Group Synchronization feature, contact your Solution Architect or Client Success Partner, who will organize a workshop with you, to determine the best hierarchy to reflect your organization structure. This article serves as a reference guide.
The Advanced Group Synchronization feature can be plugged on any existing User Provisioning Connector (either the Universal User Provisioning Connector, or any connector developed for a specific third party application that includes user provisioning, such as SAP SuccessFactors, Salesforce, ADP, or Personio). It cannot, however, be applied to the CSV file import in the platform, or when creating/editing users with the API, or with SCIM user provisioning.
Principles of rules for group synchronization
Main principle
The principle of advanced group synchronization is to create rules along the lines of:
- If user has value A in field B in the HRIS, then add them as a learner to group C in 360Learning.
or, in other words:
- If user [has certain values in certain HRIS fields], then add them as a learner to [a specific group] in 360Learning.
Additional remarks:
- Each rule targets a single group.
- Users can only be added with the learner role to the group. If they already had previous roles in that group, they will keep their roles and be added as a learner on top of them.
- The synchronization mechanism works on top of the existing user base in 360Learning:
- It will only update users that are part of the synchronization (it will not edit or remove any user that are not part of the synchronization).
- It will only update groups that are involved in at least 1 rule (it will not update groups that are not involved in at least 1 rule).
Cumulative conditions (AND)
You can add up to three cumulative conditions in a single rule (logical "AND"):
- If user has value A in field B and value C in field D and value E in field F in the HRIS, then add them to group G in 360Learning.
In that case, the user must meet all conditions in order to be added to the group.
Alternative conditions (OR)
You can define two types of alternative conditions:
- Same field alternative condition: If user has value A or value B in field C in the HRIS, then add them to group D in 360Learning.
- Different fields alternative condition: If user has value A in field C or value D in field E, then add them to group F in 360Learning.
The first situation ("same field alternative condition") can be directly used.
The second situation ("different fields alternative condition") must be divided into several rules. So, the following pseudo-rule
- If user has value A in field C or value D in field E, then add them to group F in 360Learning.
cannot be implemented as such with Advanced Group Synchronization, and must be sliced into two unit rules:
- If user has value A in field B in the HRIS, then add them to group G in 360Learning.
- If user has value C in field D in the HRIS, then add them to group G in 360Learning.
Having two concurrent rules targeting the same destination group acts as a logical "OR".
Negative conditions
All rules are strictly positive. This means that if a user was previously part of a group, but does not meet the conditions defined in your rules, then that user will be removed from the learners of the group at the next synchronization.
- If the user had other roles in the group, they will keep their other roles.
- If the user was only a learner in the group, they will be removed from the group.
Examples
Simple example:
- If the field "location" has value "France" in the user profile, then add the user to group "GroupFR" in 360Learning.
More complex example, using a combination of conditions and values:
- If the field "location" has value "France", and field "division" has value "HQ", and "title" has value "Country Manager" or "Sales Manager" in the user profile, then add the user to group "GroupFR HQ Managers" in 360Learning.
You can find further examples in this template file.
Create your rule
Create a visual representation of your target group hierarchy
The first step is to know the final hierarchy you’d like to have. We suggest using diagrams, or any visual group hierarchy representation. Here’s an example:
Write your rules using the general syntax
Once you have a visual representation of the final group hierarchy, start writing your rules using the syntax described in the previous section.
You can create as many rules as you wish. The general advice is to keep it as simple as possible.
Add your rule to the config file
Once you have the list of all the rules you’d like to apply, make a copy of this template file, and fill in the columns.
- In column "groupId", enter the ID of the target group in 360Learning (see Find the ID of a group).
- In column "groupName", enter the name of the 360Learning group.
- In column "key1", enter the name of the first field in your HRIS involved in your rule.
- This column is case-sensitive: make sure it corresponds exactly to the value displayed in the User Provisioning Connector (take particular care if it is a numeric value with leading 0s, as they can be trimmed by Excel).
- In column "value1", enter the name of the value for the first field in your HRIS involved in your rule.
- You can add several values, divided by a comma (they will act as an "OR").
- This column is case-sensitive: make sure it corresponds exactly to the value displayed in the User Provisioning Connector (take particular care if it is a numeric value with leading 0s, as they can be trimmed by Excel).
- Do the same for the key2/value2 and key3/value3 columns, if you have additional conditions.
- In column "Explanation", write the rule as you have designed it, in plain English.
The connector does not create groups; if the field values of a synchronized user do not correspond to any existing group in 360Learning, or corresponds to more than one group, the user is added to the synchronized (top level) group.
If target group is public, duplicate rules for parent groups
Because of the way group hierarchy works in 360Learning (in short: members of a public group are also added to its parent groups), any rule targeting a public group should also target its parent groups, until a private group is reached.
- For each line where groupId/groupName correspond to a public group, duplicate the line and change the groupId/groupName to its parent group.
- Repeat, until groupId/groupName correspond to a private group, or is the platform group.
Send the config file
Once your config file is completed, contact your Solution Architect or Client Success Partner to share it with them.