To automatically pass the details of your latest hire from Eploy into your HR system, you may require a New Starter Export. These can often be complicated, especially in terms of understanding the data required and mapping all of the fields, but thankfully our team of experts have lots of experience, so can help you every step of the way.
Before you get started, there are a number of things to consider re the configuration of your export, so have a read of the below to get on the right track!
Note - At the start of your project, you will have a commencement call with your account manager and our implementation experts. As part of this call, the expectation is that you have read through the below and come armed with your preferences and questions re the configuration requirements, as well as having arranged the necessary technical resource from your side. If you have not considered the options and arranged the relevant resource, it could delay the commencement of your project!
Who should host the SFTP?
a) We can host the SFTP server and you/the HR system provider can connect to us to collect them.
OR
b) You or the HR system provider can host an SFTP server that we connect to and push files there.
For option a, we use certificate based authentication on our SFTP accounts, meaning that to connect, you need to generate an SSH key pair and provide us with the Public Key (this is described in more detail here: https://www.ssh.com/academy/ssh/putty/windows/puttygen). We will set your account up and then you can connect to our SFTP server (sftp.eploy.net) using the username we give you and using the Private key that was generated from the key pair (Our sftp server is sftp.eploy.net, port 22 and username is typically the name of your system, e.g. if your Eploy URL is https://systemname.eploy.net then your username would be systemname).
If you prefer option b, we would need the details of the SFTP account we need to connect to. This may be a username/password or, if you use certificate based authentication on the external SFTP then we can provide you with a Public Key to associate with the user account you set up for us. If you need to whitelist our IP ranges on an SFTP server, they are
- LIVE: 51.104.253.96/27
- DEMO: 40.81.144.187
How frequently should we export data?
a) We can create a single CSV file on a daily basis (some time early in the morning, e.g. 5:00 AM works best) – that will include all the new starter data for anyone placed since the last time the export ran.
OR
b) We can create CSV files on a continuous basis - every 10 mins our web services will run and, if there are any records ready to export, a file will be produced containing these records.
OR
c) We can not have an automated schedule at all but set up a report that allows you to run the export on demand. We would still configure the selection criteria (see 4.) the way we normally would if we were automating the export, but instead of it running automatically you would open the report whenever you like and it will tell you how many records are ready to be exported. You can then run the export by clicking a button and a data file will be produced. If we are storing the files on the Eploy-hosted SFTP, we can show the latest x files (configurable number) and you can download them from the Eploy interface if you need to process them manually.
Hint - When deciding on this it is worth considering a) whether it is possible to automate the transfer of data from the SFTP location to your HR system and if so b) how frequently the files will be collected from the SFTP location. If an automated import routine could handle multiple files (e.g. if files are checked for every hour, and we are using the continuous option, there could potentially be 1-6 files waiting to be processed each time the import runs).
Required File-naming Convention?
We can customise these as required, but is recommended to include a date/time stamp in the filename, which will help to ensure that it is always unique. This will help ensure that if you need to reexport the file for any reason, it wont overwrite the original!
A typical file naming convention would be:
Export-{#Timestamp#}.csv where {#Timestamp#} is in the format "dd-MM-yyyy-HHmm"
Selection Criteria for New Starter Data
Typically, we would export new starters when they have a Placement record that has reached a certain status. This may be the equivalent of ‘Offer Accepted’ (i.e. the status they reach automatically after completing onboarding) or it may be ‘Onboarding Checked- Candidate Ready’ (a status that the recruitment team would manually move the placement to, after they have checked that everything provided by the candidate during onboarding is compliant, after completing any additional necessary checks etc.)
In addition to this, we can also set the export to automatically exclude certain records, which you don't want to be included in the export. This maybe existing employees or returners (employees who have left and come back) as they may already be in your HR system. Let us know if there is anything else like this that we need to consider as part of the scope of the export, to ensure only the relevant candidates are included.
If you have any questions about each of these considerations, it can be discussed as part of your commencement call - however, please ensure that you have considered each of these options & get the right resource available to make these decisions ahead of the call, to help get your project off to the perfect start!