Sync your HR System

This article explains how to connect an HR System in order to synchronize employee data and keep your employee directory up to date automatically. Connecting an HR System allows you to rely on a single source of truth for employee information and reduces manual data management.

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Understand why connecting an HR System is useful

Synchronizing with your HR System automates time-consuming daily tasks like managing arrivals and departures, organizing teams, and tracking equipment assignments. This makes it possible to:

• Create and update employee profiles automatically in Primo
• Trigger onboarding and offboarding flows based on contract dates
• Keep team, role, and assignment data consistent
• Reduce manual updates and data inconsistencies

You can connect one or several HR System sources to the same account. This is useful if your organization uses different HR tools by country or legal entity.

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Connect your HR System

Once connected, employees are synced into Primo with their associated metadata (contact details, contract dates, teams, roles). You can connect multiple HR sources, and manage them independently.

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Account for HR System-specific requirements

Some HR System providers require additional configuration.

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Lucca

To ensure that upcoming onboardings and offboardings are synchronized, specific permissions must be enabled in Lucca: Without these permissions, Primo will not receive onboarding and offboarding data from Lucca. Connecting an HR System is optional. You can also manage employees using alternative import methods, such as CSV import.

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Manage HR System synchronization

This synchronization applies to:

• Newly created employees
• Updates made to existing employee records
• Upcoming onboardings and offboardings, if supported by the HR System

No manual action is required after the initial setup.

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Apply synchronization filters

You can restrict which employees are synchronized from your HR System. Filters can be applied to include only specific populations, such as:

• Selected legal entities
• Specific contract or employment types
• Selected teams
• …

These filters help ensure that only relevant employees are managed in Primo.

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Define how fields are synchronized

For each field synchronized from the HR System, you can define how updates are handled. Two synchronization modes are available:

• Import once: the field is imported during the first synchronization only and can be managed directly.
• Continuous synchronization: the field is automatically updated whenever it is modified in the HR System, and cannot be updated manually.

Typical examples:

• Contract start and end dates are usually kept in continuous synchronization.
• Job titles or internal roles can be imported once and maintained manually.

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Handle external employees

Some HR Systems may include individuals who are not part of your operational workforce, such as consultants, external accountants, or HR administrators. If you do not want these profiles to appear in your employee list:

1. Open the employee profile
2. Select Hide

Hidden employees are excluded from employee management workflows.

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Data security and confidentiality

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Understand which data is retrieved

Before connecting an HR System, the list of data that will be accessed via Kombo is displayed. You can review this information before authorizing the connection. Typical data retrieved includes:

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Exhaustive list of data retrieved from the HR System

Legal Entities

• Name
• Address

Work Locations

• Name
• Address

Employees

• Employee number
• First name
• Last name
• Job title
• Work email
• Personal email (optional)
• Mobile phone number (optional)
• Employment status
• Work location ID
• Legal entity ID
• Manager ID
• Home address (optional)
• Start date

Employments

• Employee ID
• Employment type
• Effective date

Groups

• Name
• Type

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GDPR policy and data processing

For details regarding Kombo’s GDPR compliance and data processing practices, refer to Kombo’s Trust Center.

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Troubleshoot missing employees

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Troubleshoot missing onboardings and offboardings from Lucca

If onboardings or offboardings do not appear when using Lucca, the Lucca–Kombo configuration is likely incomplete. In this case, verify that the Kombo synchronization documentation has been correctly applied and that the required permissions are enabled in Lucca. Refer to Account for HR System-specific requirements > Lucca to confirm that:

• Future employees can be retrieved
• Departed employees can be retrieved

Without these permissions, onboarding and offboarding events will not be synchronized from Lucca.

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Investigate a missing onboarding employee

If an employee who should be onboarded does not appear, follow these steps.

1. Verify the employee’s presence in the HR System
   • Check that the employee exists in your HR System.
   • Confirm that a start date is correctly set.
2. Check existing employee lists
   • The employee may already exist. Verify that they are not present in:
   • Active employees (including hidden employees)
   • Onboardings (make sure to remove all filters)
3. Review data retrieved by Kombo
   • If the employee is not visible, you can check whether their data has been retrieved by Kombo:
   • Go to Settings > Employee Sync
   • Click on the HR System where the employee was added
   • Select Update settings
   • Open Employee filtering
   • Click Preview

This preview displays the employee data retrieved by Kombo and whether the employee is included in the synchronization. Possible outcomes of Kombo data

• Included: the employee is included in the synchronization and should exist. Search again using the employee’s last name in:
  • Active employees
  • Onboardings
  • Offboardings
• Excluded: Kombo indicates why the employee is excluded (most often due to synchronization filters or excluded categories). Update the filters to include the employee.

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Investigate a missing offboarding employee

If an employee does not appear in the Offboardings view, the offboarding date may not be synchronized correctly. In most cases, this is caused by an incorrect field configuration in your HR System synchronization settings. Verify field synchronization settings

• Go to Settings > Employee Sync
• Review how the offboarding or contract end date field is synchronized
• Ensure the field is set to Continuous synchronization

If the field is set to Import once, updates made in the HR System will not be reflected. Switching the field to Continuous sync allows updated departure dates to be retrieved.