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Managing your people data with an HRIS integration

Your Haystack workspace can be integrated with a number of HRIS platforms to manage account provisioning, user profile data, and group member management. 

HRIS integrations are an add-on service that are licensed separately than the core intranet platform. If you're eager to use an HRIS integration, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager (CSM) or support@haystackteam.com for more details. 

HRIS integrations can not be used alongside a SCIM integration. These integrations operate as either/or and cannot be used in conjunction. If you have questions or would like to talk through your Haystack integration strategy, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager (CSM).

HRIS Integrations Overview

To ensure a seamless experience, Haystack utilizes Merge.dev as a specialized integration layer to link your HR Information System (HRIS) directly with our platform. This connection acts as a secure, real-time bridge that automates the flow of essential workforce data, eliminating the need for manual entry or duplicate record-keeping. By synchronizing these systems, Haystack can automatically handle user provisioning, maintain accurate employee profiles, and manage group memberships based on your existing HR records. This ensures that your company directory remains precise and that your team members have immediate access to the right resources from their first day on the job.

Core Integration Capabilities

Capability Business Impact
Automated Provisioning Grants or revokes platform access instantly based on employment status.
Profile Data Synchronization Ensures names, titles, departments, reporting lines, and more are always mirror-images of your HRIS.
Group Membership Management

Dynamically populates Haystack group membership using HR metadata.

Understanding Sync Frequency

It is important to understand how data travels from your source of truth to Haystack. This happens in two distinct stages:

  • From your HRIS to Merge: This sync occurs at least once daily, though for many modern HRIS tools, it happens much more frequently. If your organization uses an SFTP-based integration, you have the flexibility to define this frequency yourself within your HRIS settings during your integration setup.

  • From Merge to Haystack: Once the data reaches Merge, Haystack pulls those updates 4 times per day to ensure your directory and groups remain current.

Sync Stage Typical Frequency
HRIS → Merge Daily (or more frequent via API); Custom via SFTP
Merge → Haystack 4 times per day

Prerequisites for HRIS Integration

Before beginning the integration setup, please ensure you have the necessary administrative access and information ready. Having these items prepared will ensure a smooth authentication flow through the Merge.dev interface.

  • Administrative Credentials: You must have Ademin level permissions for your specific HRIS (e.g., Workday, BambooHR, or UKG).

  • Data Review: Confirm that your employee records in your HRIS are up to date, specifically regarding Name, Email Address, Department, Location, and Reporting Manager fields, as these will define your Haystack group structures.

Step 1: Prepare Your HRIS for Connection

Because every HRIS (Human Resources Information System) has its own security protocols and API structures, you must first configure your specific provider to allow Merge.dev to securely access your data. This typically involves generating an API key, creating a service account, or granting specific "Read" permissions to your employee directory.

Note on Potential Provider Fees: Before proceeding with the integration, please be aware that certain HRIS platforms may require a specific subscription tier or charge a one-time "API Access" or "Marketplace" fee to enable third-party connections. We recommend consulting with your HRIS account representative to confirm if any additional costs apply to your current plan before initiating the setup.

Please locate your provider in the list below and follow the link to the specific technical requirements for that platform. 

Integration Guides by Provider

Visit the link for your provider below and complete the steps within. 

  • Please follow the steps carefully, especially when it comes to required data access, as these details are critical for success. 

  • Please note that for some HRIS providers, the turnaround time on these action items can take a bit of time—for example, ADP can take up to 4 weeks as API access requests must be handled by the ADP team. We suggest getting started on these steps as soon as possible so they don't become roadblocks during your implementation. 

If you do not see your provider in the list below, please reach out to your Haystack contact. Merge.dev adds additional supported platforms regularly—not all supported platforms are listed below. 

Common Setup Requirements

While the steps vary, most providers will ask you to define the Scope of Access. To ensure Haystack functions correctly, please ensure the following data "scopes" are enabled during your setup:

  • Employees: Read access to names, employee IDs, emails, and employment status.

  • Groups/Teams: Read access to departments or cost centers.

  • Employment: Read access to job titles and manager/reporting structures.

You do not need to enable access to any highly confidential data like social security number or salary. Haystack does not need and will not ingest this data. HRIS integrations are one-way, HRIS->Haystack. This integration does not require or use write access.

Step 2: Authenticate and Finalize the Integration Link

Once you have gathered the necessary API keys or credentials from your HRIS provider, you are ready to link your data to Haystack. This process takes place within the Haystack Admin Console and uses a secure "Link Account" flow powered by Merge.dev.

Important: Connection vs. Provisioning: Please note that completing these steps establishes the technical link between the two platforms, but no user data is passed between them automatically at this stage. Your employee information remains unsynced to Haystack until you complete the "Provisioning" step below. This allows you to review your settings and ensure your mapping is correct before any data begins to sync.

How to Link 

  1. Access Settings: Log in to your Haystack account and navigate to Admin Console > User Provision and Login.

  2. Select HRIS: Scroll to the bottom of the page to the Merge.dev Setting and click the New Link button. Select your HRIS provider from the list.

  3. Enter Credentials: Input the API keys, Service Account details, or Tenant URL you obtained in Step 1.

  4. Authorize and Complete Link: Follow the steps until you see a confirmation that your account has been linked. 

Step 3: Provisioning Your Users

Once the connection is established, the final step is to provision your users. This is the process of that will importing your employee data from your HRIS into Haystack.

⚠️ Important: Pre-Launch Checklist: Before you begin provisioning, please consider your launch timeline. By default, Haystack sends a welcome notification to new users. If you are setting up the platform pre-launch and do not want your team to be notified yet:

  • Navigate to Admin Console > Security Settings.

  • Toggle Notifications to OFF globally.

  • You can turn these back on once you are ready for your official company-wide launch.


How to Provision Your Users

Follow these steps to select which employees should be added to Haystack:

  1. Navigate to Provisioning: Log into your Haystack workspace and visit the Admin Console > User Provision & Login page. 

  2. Access the Group List: Scroll to the bottom of the page. Locate the HRIS logo and click the caret (arrow) button next to it to fly open your list of synced groups. This may take some time to load if you have a large number of groups. 

  3. Select Your Groups: Next to the employee group(s) you would like to provision, click the three-dot button and select Provision.

    Note on Group Structure: Because group structures are determined by your specific HRIS tool's API, the names and types of groups you see may vary. If the group list does not look as expected or you are unsure which to select, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager (CSM) for guided assistance.

    • To provision all staff: Look for a group titled "All Company" or "All Employees."

    • Alternative: If a single "All Company" group isn't available, provision all groups of a specific type (e.g., select all Department groups or all Location groups).

  4. Confirm and Sync: Once you've selected Provision on your groups, Haystack will begin importing the users within those specific groups. You'll see them appear on your Admin Console > Manage People page shortly. 

Ongoing Automation

Once provisioning steps are completed, your integration is fully "live." From this point forward, all provisioning (adding new hires), deprovisioning (removing terminated employees), and profile mapping (updating titles, managers, and departments) will occur automatically. These updates will follow the sync frequencies detailed at the top of this article in the Overview section, ensuring your Haystack environment remains a real-time reflection of your HR records with no further manual intervention required.

Step 4: Linking HRIS Groups to Haystack Groups

Beyond provisioning accounts, you can link specific groups from your HRIS (such as Departments, Locations, or Business Units) to Haystack groups. This automates membership management, ensuring that when an employee’s department or location changes in your HRIS, their group memberships in Haystack update automatically.

This step is independent of user provisioning and can be completed at any time after initial provisioning (Step 3)—whether you are still in your pre-launch phase or already live.

How to Link a Group

  1. Access Group Management: In Haystack, navigate to Admin Console > Manage Groups.

  2. Select Your Group: Find the specific Haystack group you wish to sync. Click the three-dot button (...) on the right side of the group entry and select Link with HRIS Group.

  3. Identify the HRIS Group: Type in the name of the HRIS group you wish to link.

    • Note: This must be an exact name match. To ensure accuracy, we recommend copying the group name directly from the list found in Admin Console > User Provision (under the caret menu next to the HRIS logo).

  4. Confirm the Link: Select the correct group from the results to establish the connection.

  5. Configure Membership Cleanup: Toggle the Remove members not in HRIS group setting.

    • When ON: Haystack will automatically remove any users from the Haystack group who are not present in the linked HRIS group.

    • When OFF: Haystack will add new members from the HRIS but will not remove existing manual members.

  6. Save: Click Save. The initial sync will begin immediately, and you will see your member list populate over the next 10–15 minutes. Once synced, your group will be marked with a sync icon on the group list. 

Automated Membership Management

Once linked, this connection is live and persistent. Haystack will monitor your HRIS groups for any changes; as employees are added to or move between departments or offices in your source system, they will be automatically added to or removed from their corresponding Haystack groups. This ensures your internal communication channels and resource groups always reach the correct, up-to-date audience without any manual maintenance.

HRIS Integration FAQs

1. How frequently does my people data sync to Haystack?
Data travels in two stages. First, your HRIS syncs with Merge (our integration partner) at least once daily, though often much more frequently depending on your provider. Second, Haystack pulls data from Merge 4 times per day. This ensures that updates made in your HRIS are reflected in Haystack within a few hours.

2. If I need to make changes to employee data, where should I make that change?
Always make changes in your HRIS. Since the HRIS is your "Source of Truth," any edits made directly in Haystack will be overwritten the next time the system syncs. Updating your HRIS ensures the data remains accurate across all your connected company tools.

3. What do I do if not all of my employees have work emails?
Haystack requires a unique email address to provision an account. If certain employees (such as frontline or seasonal staff) do not have company emails, you may use a unique personal email or a formatted placeholder email in your HRIS, provided it is unique to that individual. If only a percentage of your workforce has work emails, reach out to your Haystack Customer Success Manager (CSM) for support and custom config for your use case. 

4. Can I sync multiple HRIS groups to a single Haystack group?
Currently, the "Link with HRIS Group" feature supports a 1:1 relationship. To include members from multiple HRIS groups into one Haystack group, you can either create a parent group in your HRIS or manually add additional members in Haystack.

5. What happens to a user in Haystack when they are terminated in our HRIS?
Once an employee is marked as terminated or inactive in your HRIS, they will be automatically deprovisioned from Haystack during the next scheduled sync. This ensures they lose access to company information immediately upon departure.

6. Can I exclude certain departments or individuals from syncing?
Yes. During the Provisioning step (Step 3), you choose exactly which groups to sync. If a group is not selected, the users within it will not be added to Haystack. Additionally, you can use the "Manage Groups" settings to further refine who is included in specific platform areas.

7. One of my fields is not syncing the data I'd expect (like business title instead of job title, or first name instead of preferred name)—how can I update this?
Because every HRIS labels data differently, Haystack & Merge.dev uses "Common Models" to try and match your data automatically. If you find that the wrong field is being pulled (e.g., you want "Preferred Name" to show up instead of "Legal First Name"), please reach out to your Customer Success Manager (CSM). We can work with you to create custom mappings that ensure the exact data points you want are being surfaced in your employee profiles.