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Go to Integrations ↗ · Opens the webapp — please log in first · Admins only There are four ways to keep your employee data in Honestly in sync with your HR system. They differ in how the data travels, how often it is updated, which systems they support and which package they belong to. This page is the starting point for the topic: it puts the four side by side, so you can tell before setting anything up whether your HR system can be connected directly or has to go through a file, and it links to the setup guide for each one. It also explains how new and changed employees get the right role automatically. All four live in the Employee import section under Menu → Integrations.

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The four connections at a glance

The feature names are the ones you will find in Settings → Features, where you can also see whether your own account has them.
The two Enterprise connections share one feature. An account that can use the CSV import can use the REST API as well, and the other way round.
Besides these four, employees can always be added by hand or through an Excel file — see Create a user and Import via Excel. Those need no connection and no extra feature.

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How each connection works

  • Direct connection via Kombo — for HR systems that have their own tile under Menu → Integrations. Honestly imports automatically twice a day, at 03:15 and 15:15 (CET/CEST). Guide: HCM via Kombo.
  • Personio (direct) — for Personio customers who want to connect without Kombo. Honestly imports automatically twice a day, at 03:15 and 15:15 (CET/CEST). Guide: Personio upload.
  • CSV Employee Import — for HR systems without a tile that can export a file on a schedule. The file is read in at 03:15 and 15:15 (CET/CEST) whenever a new one is waiting on the server. Guide: CSV import over SFTP.
  • REST API — for HR systems without a tile, where someone on your side can build against an interface. There is no fixed schedule: each time your system sends the employees, Honestly processes them straight away in the background. Guide: REST API employee import.

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Which systems can be connected directly

These are the tiles available for the Kombo direct connection: Personio via Kombo, Factorial, Deel, HiBob, BambooHR, HRworks, Oracle HCM, Hailey HR, Sesame HR, Azure AD (Microsoft Entra ID), Workday, Eurécia, Sage HR, PayFit, Rippling, Charlin (CharlieHR), Lucca, HeavenHR, Nmbrs, AFAS Software, Officient, PeopleHR, Humaans and SD Worx. Personio appears twice on purpose. The Personio tile connects to Personio’s own employee API directly; Personio via Kombo goes through Kombo. Both need the same feature, so the choice is technical rather than commercial — see Personio upload and HCM via Kombo.

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Your tile view is the binding list

A system may be listed as supported on kombo.dev and still have no tile in Honestly. In that case there is no direct connection for it: it has to run over CSV/SFTP or the REST API, and that means the Enterprise feature. So the answer to “can I rely on what I see under Menu → Integrations?” is yes — for the direct connections. The tiles in your account are the complete list of what can be connected directly, not the Kombo catalogue.

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What the logos on the CSV tile mean

The CSV Employee Import tile carries the logos of SAP SuccessFactors and rexx. These are examples, not a list of what is supported. Technically, Honestly accepts a file named employees.csv over SFTP. Any system that can produce that file in Honestly’s column format can be connected this way, whether or not its logo appears anywhere in the interface. The column format is described under CSV import over SFTP. This cuts both ways. A logo on the CSV tile does not mean there is a direct connection for that system — quite the opposite. SAP SuccessFactors and rexx are shown there precisely because they have no direct tile of their own and run over the file route.

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The tile is visible — is it included in my package?

Every admin sees all the tiles, whatever the account’s package. What tells you whether a connection is included is the button on the tile:
  • Connect — the feature is part of your package and you can set the connection up.
  • Try Feature — the feature is not part of your package. The button opens the Feature not enabled dialog, which says so and offers Start free 30-Day Trial where the trial for that feature has not been used yet. See 30-day feature trial.
So the tiles answer “which systems exist”, and the buttons answer “what is included for us”. For the full picture of your own account, open Settings → Features.
The package assignments above describe what the product grants. Your contract is what you actually bought, and the two can differ — an add-on may have been purchased separately. Before you promise a customer a connection, check Settings → Features in their account or ask your Customer Success Manager.

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Kombo needs an approved data processor

The Kombo tiles stay greyed out until Kombo has been approved as a data processor for the account. Until then a banner appears above the Employee import section telling you so, and Go to Settings takes you to Settings → Subprocessors. This affects the Kombo tiles only. The direct Personio connection, the CSV import and the REST API do not involve Kombo and are unaffected.

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Only one connection at a time

An account can have exactly one active employee import source. The four connections are mutually exclusive: while one is connected, the buttons on the others are disabled and a tooltip says that a connection to an HCM already exists. To switch, disconnect the current one first with Disconnect. Employees who were already imported stay in the account after disconnecting; they are simply no longer kept in sync. The Source column in the employee list records where each entry came from, which also decides which employees a later import may remove — see Check import source.

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Assigning roles automatically

Importing people is only half the job: each of them also needs a role and the right data access. With Auto-Assignment you set this up once as rules — for example “has direct reports → Manager” — instead of person by person.
  • The rules decide the role and data access of everyone in the account except admins.
  • Once published, they are checked again after every change to a person and after every import through one of the connections above, so a new hire or a changed job title lands in the right role without anyone doing it by hand.
  • Admins are never changed by a rule, and no rule can make someone an admin.
You will find it under Account settings → Auto-Assignment; how the rules work is explained in Auto-Assignment. Auto-Assignment is part of the HCM Integrations via CSV, SFTP & REST API feature and needs it whichever connection your data comes through.
Without rules, the Role column of the CSV file — or the role field of the REST API — sets each person’s role when the data is imported. Once your account has published rules, they have the last word: they run after every import and replace the role and data access from the import for everyone except admins.

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Choosing a connection

  • Your HR system has a tile → use the direct connection. Least setup, nothing to build.
  • Your HR system has no tile, and you can export a file on a schedule → CSV Employee Import, set up as described in CSV import over SFTP.
  • Your HR system has no tile, and you want changes to arrive immediately rather than twice a day → REST API. It needs someone to build against the interface; the technical description is in the API documentation.