Synchronize users with BambooHR

This feature requires the HCM Connect Solution. Contact your Customer Success Partner to know more.

You can synchronize users from BambooHR to 360Learning. In particular, you can:

• Choose where the users will be synchronized in 360Learning (the platform group, or a specific private group).
• Choose the administrator of the connector (360Learning will show synchronized users as invited by this user).
• Synchronize all your BambooHR users, or only a subset.
• Synchronize additional BambooHR fields as custom fields in 360Learning.
• Synchronize users in a group hierarchy structure (instead of all users in a single group).

Upon activation, the connector will:

• Add synchronized BambooHR users to 360Learning, if they didn’t previously exist.
• Edit existing 360Learning user fields with the BambooHR values.

It will not delete, nor synchronize, users who exist only in 360Learning.

By default, the following user fields are synchronized:

Once the connector is configured, it will perform a daily synchronization, at midnight:

• If a synchronized user has a field with a different value in 360Learning and BambooHR, the BambooHR value will replace the 360Learning value.
• If a synchronized user is deleted in BambooHR, 360Learning will delete the user.
• If a synchronized user is deleted in 360Learning (but not in BambooHR), 360Learning will recreate the user.

This is a one-way synchronization. The connector does not write any information in BambooHR.

Step 1: Choose the synchronized group in 360Learning

You can synchronize users in 360Learning with the platform group or a specific private group. The connector adds and synchronizes BambooHR users with that group only.

Note down the following items:

• ID of the synchronized group (here is how to find it).

Step 2: Choose the administrator of the connector

The administrator of the connector must have administrator permissions on the synchronized group.

360Learning will show synchronized users as invited by this user.

Note down the following item:

• The email of the user with administrator permissions on the synchronized group.

Step 3 (optional): Choose the user reconciliation method

By default, users are reconciled (matched and synchronized) primarily via email address. This means the connector uses the user's email to identify and update their profile in 360Learning.

You have the option to configure the connector to prioritize the external ID (a unique identifier from your HRIS) instead. This is recommended if your external IDs are the most reliable and consistent identifiers for your users.

If you choose to prioritize the external ID, note down the following item:

• Your preferred reconciliation method: external ID

Step 4 (optional): Choose the filter on BambooHR users

By default, all BambooHR users in your directory will be synchronized with the target group in 360Learning. You can define filters to synchronize only a specific subset of those BambooHR users, based on the value of their fields.

For example, you can synchronize only users with the value Paris in the field Location. In the example below, only Ada Lovelace and Annie Easley will be synchronized:

{
  "name": "Ada Lovelace",
  "location": "Paris"
}
{
  "name": "Karen Jones",
  "location": "London"
}
{
  "name": "Annie Easley",
  "location": "Paris"
}

You can filter users on more than one field. In this case, users must match the values in all the fields (not just one of them).

You can filter users on more than one value for a given field. In this case, users can match either of those values.

If you choose to filter users, note down the following items:

• The BambooHR API Field Name of the field
• The accepted values for that field

By default, filters apply only to active users. If you need these synchronization filters to apply to inactive users as well, make a note of this requirement. You will include this request when you request the activation of the connector in step 7.

Step 5 (optional): Choose custom fields

On top of the default synchronized fields, you can add any BambooHR field (standard or custom) as a 360Learning custom field, as long as it is reachable through the BambooHR API with its ID. You can find the full list of accessible items for your platform with the following route:

• https://api.bamboohr.com/api/gateway.php/mycompany/v1/meta/fields

Replace mycompany with your actual platform name in the URL https://mycompany.bamboohr.com/.

The custom field in 360Learning will be displayed in the format field_name: field_value (for example, if a field title is called Location and a user has a value Paris, the 360Learning custom field title will be called Location, and the custom field value will be Paris).

If you choose to synchronize custom fields, note down the following items:

• For each field, its BambooHR API Field Name
• The name for the field that will be displayed in 360Learning (it can be different from BambooHR)

Additional rules for custom field synchronization

• Custom fields containing date values (such as hire date or start date) are created as date type fields in 360Learning. All other custom fields are created as string type fields. Date values from BambooHR are expected in yyyy-MM-dd format.
• If a synchronized custom field is removed from a user in 360Learning, the connector adds it back at the next synchronization.
• If a synchronized custom field is deleted from the 360Learning platform, the connector recreates and adds it back at the next synchronization.
• If the title of a synchronized custom field is renamed in 360Learning, the connector creates a new custom field and adds it to the user at the next synchronization (the renamed custom field still exists in 360Learning, but is removed from all synchronized users).
• If a non-synchronized custom field is added to a synchronized user, the connector keeps the custom field on the user at the next synchronization.

Step 6 (optional): Choose group structure synchronization

By default, the connector adds synchronized BambooHR users to a single group in 360Learning. You can choose instead to synchronize them in a group hierarchy structure, based on the value of their fields.

If you wish to do so, contact your Solution Architect, who will organize a workshop with you to determine the best hierarchy to reflect your organization structure.

In the example above, the group structure is:

• (Top level: synchronized group.)
• Level 1: location.
• Level 2: division.

The connector does not create groups. If the field values of a synchronized user do not correspond to any existing group in 360Learning, the user is added to the synchronized (top level) group.

If you choose to activate group structure synchronization, note down the following items:

• The BambooHR API Field Name of the fields corresponding to each level in the hierarchy (in the example above: location and division)
• For each field, the level in the group hierarchy (in the example above: location is level 1, and division is level 2)
• For each field, the possible values (in the example above: the possible values for location are New York and Paris, and the possible values for division are Marketing, Sales, and HR)

Step 7: Request the activation of the BambooHR connector

Send an email to your CSP or Solution Architect, asking for the activation of the BambooHR connector, with the following items:

• Integration name
  • BambooHR
• Domain of your BambooHR instance
  • https://mycompany.bamboohr.com/ (replace mycompany with your actual URL)
• API key for your BambooHR instance
  • See the BambooHR documentation on how to get an API key (a BambooHR admin account is required)
• Synchronized group
  • Group ID
• Administrator of the connector
  • Email of the user
• User reconciliation method (optional)
  • External ID (if choosing to prioritize external ID over email)
• Filter for synchronized users (optional)
  • The BambooHR API Field Name of the field
  • The value of that field
  • To apply filters to inactive users, explicitly state 'Apply filters to inactive users' in your email.
• Custom fields (optional)
  • the BambooHR API Field Name of the field
  • The name for the field that will be displayed in 360Learning (it can be different from BambooHR)
• Group structure synchronization (optional)
  • The BambooHR API Field Name of the fields corresponding to each level in the hierarchy
  • For each field, the level in the group hierarchy
  • For each field, the possible values

Step 8: Test the connector

When your SA activates the connector for your platform, they will provide you with a URL for testing the connector.

Example:

• Your production platform URL is: myacademy.360learning.com
• You test instance URL will be something like: myacademy.360mooc.com:14532

This test instance is a snapshot of your production instance at the moment it was created. It lives separately from your production instance.

• Any modification made to your production instance is not reflected in the test instance.
• Any modification made to your test instance is not reflected in the production instance.
• The test instance does not send any email.

The test instance is a development and test platform. No quality of service is attached to it. In particular, it might be erased at any time. If you cannot log in to it anymore, ask your Solution Architect to restart it.

In this test instance, daily synchronization scripts need to be run manually by 360Learning. Your Solution Architect will be able to perform the synchronization at your request.

Suggestions for test scenarii

• All Active users in the BambooHR instance should be seen as learners in your synced group.
• Check that the data for each user is properly copied.
• If you modify a user, their data should be modified in 360Learning after a sync.
• If you create a new user in BambooHR, they should be created in 360Learning.
• If you terminate a user in BambooHR, they should be archived in 360Learning.

Remember that you will need to request a manual sync to your Solution Architect.

Step 9: Deploy the BambooHR connector in production

When you’ve run all tests and are satisfied with the results, you can ask your Solution Architect to deploy the connector to your production platform.

Synchronized users will receive an email notification, with:

• The email they can use for login
• An initial password, that they will be asked to change when they first connect

You may also receive a recap notification after each synchronization. Contact your SA to define the recipients of that notification.