Who can use this feature?

Account administrators, Employee data administrators

Available on:

All Culture Amp subscriptions.

Note: this guide covers how you can send your HRIS data from ADP through a SFTP connection which uses our Partial import process. Partial imports are good for when you upload a data file that contains new or updated information for a subset of your employees. It's important to note that employees not in your data file will remain active with a partial import. See: Importing your user data to Culture Amp for more information.

Overview

You can save time and effort by configuring your HRIS to automatically extract and send your employee data to Culture Amp via Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).

You can use the integration to automate updates to the demographics outline in Step 1 and from time to time upload additional demographics (e.g. diversity & inclusion demographics for understanding engagement results) via 'Import users'.

Setting up an SFTP integration may require assistance from your IT Team. We've provided detailed technical instructions that you can provide to them during the set up process. We also recommend contacting your ADP Integration Specialist for assistance during set up. There may be a small cost associated with the set up depending on your product offering.

SFTP updates the user data using our Partial Import process. This means that you can update or add data via SFTP and manual uploads if you do not have all your information available in ADP.

Step 1: Create a Custom Report in Your HRIS

Create a report that contains all the employees and demographics you want to import into Culture Amp. We recommend that you start with our Employee Data File Template. If you have existing data in the platform, you can export your existing data file from your Settings > Users page by selecting Export Users. That way you can use the headings that are included in the export to create/edit your template. If you have additional demographics that want to send through in addition to the existing data, you can add these columns in the report you are creating.

At a minimum, for every employee you want to update, you must include:

Name
Employee email (Email) OR Employee ID. You can include both pieces of information if you have this available.

Below are some additional demographic columns that are commonly included in employee data files:

Preferred Name (This will be used in survey communications)
Job Title
Employee Type
Department
Gender
Date of Birth
Start Date
End Date
Manager Name
Manager Email (All values must be in lower case)
Manager ID

You can also include any other demographics you wish to report on.

If you plan to create a hierarchy, or already have a hierarchy enabled, every employee except one must be assigned a manager using a unique manager identifier (e.g. Manager Email or Manager ID)

Note: You may need to contact ADP directly to create a custom report based on the demographics you want to include. Creating a custom report may incur a charge by ADP.

Step 2: Add an SSH Key

An SSH key pair will ensure the SFTP connection via your SFTP client / HRIS is unique and secure. An SSH key pair is a pair of unique keys that are generated client side. There's a private key which should only be used client side, and there's a public key which can safely be shared outside your organisation. The integration uses the combination of the two keys to verify the security of the connection.

In the case of the ADP integration, ADP will provide you with the public SSH key. The private key SSH key will remain with ADP.

The public key will need to be entered in the Public Key field on the Settings > Data Integrations page in Culture Amp. This can be done by a Culture Amp Account Administrator.

Note: Our SFTP only supports openSSH key pairs, not SSH2. If your HRIS or command line tool generates keys in SSH2 format, you can convert them to openSSH using the instructions in the guide below.

See: Detailed technical instructions on creating an SSH key pair

Step 3: Connect Your SFTP Client with Culture Amp

Most SFTP clients will require the following information to set a connection. Some of this information can be found in Culture Amp (Settings > Data Integrations > Other integration Options). Make sure the hostname and username you use to set up your SFTP client are copied directly from the setup form in Culture Amp. Both are case-sensitive.

Protocol: SFTP
Logon Type: Key File
Host/Hostname: Can be found Culture Amp
Username: Can be found Culture Amp

Step 4: Testing Your SFTP Connection

If you're having problems with your SFTP connection, we suggest testing it by first running a manual import of your data. This will ensure you have a valid data set, and allow you to focus specifically on the SFTP connection.

Export your report from ADP in XLSX or CSV format
Head to your Settings > Users > Import Users > Partial Import page and upload the custom report. You will need to go through the steps until you reach the Review Import Summary stage.
Review any errors and request adjustments to the report, if any are required.
Cancel and do not Import Data. This is because you are only testing the data and do not want to apply the changes via this manual upload process.
Test your SFTP connection by transferring your data via SFTP

If the transfer fails, you now know the issue is with your SFTP connection and not your data file.

Troubleshooting Integration Issues

If you are facing issues with syncing your data from ADP to Culture Amp, you can view troubleshooting information we have included in our Troubleshooting SFTP integration issues guide.

Add Your Hierarchy

Once your integration has been successfully set up, the process of adding hierarchy to your account is a once off manual task.

The steps to add hierarchy to your account can be located via our Add your hierarchy guide.

FAQs

How do I mark employees as inactive in my SFTP file?

When removing users from the platform, you have two options: you can mark them as inactive, indicating they are former employees with an end date, or deactivate them, with no specified end date. Both options result in the user being made inactive.

Learn more about the differences between former and deactivated employees here.

Mark Users Inactive as Former Employees:

To make users inactive via SFTP as former employees:

Ensure that there is an End Date column included in your user file
Apply an End Date value next to the employee you are deactivating
Following your update, the Culture Amp platform generally does a file sweep every 10 minutes or so and will process any file that has been picked up and process the updates to the platform.
Once the import is processed, those users will show up under your Settings > Users page under the Former User list.

Mark Users Inactive as Deactivated Employees:

Ensure that your SFTP file has an End Date column
Under the End Date column, ensure that the value for the user you would like to deactivate is blank.
Create an Employee Deactivated column in your SFTP file. Make sure that this column comes before any other custom demographics in your file.
Assign TRUE as the value next to the employee/s you are deactivating.
Make sure FALSE is set for any other employees.
Following your update, the Culture Amp platform generally does a file sweep every 10 minutes or so and will process any file that has been picked up and process the updates to the platform.
Once the import is processed, those users will show up under your Settings > Users page under the Deactivated User list.