BambooHR is a human resource software that allows you to onboard your team and manage payroll + benefits. If you use BambooHR, you can import and manage your team in 15Five with ease. You can use the integration to import and update employee information, including management structure, automatically (or via a manual sync if you prefer) versus having to create each individual profile in 15Five one-by-one. Huge time saver!
Included in the integration is an option to exclude employees from being added to 15Five by excluding specific departments, locations, divisions, or emails—that way you're in control of who is using 15Five.
Note
Only people who are both a 15Five account administrator and a BambooHR administrator can set up this integration.
What you’ll find in this article:
- How to set up BambooHR
- Syncing
- Management
- How to disconnect
- Troubleshooting and FAQs
Set up the BambooHR integration
Tip
If you want to use 15Five’s start date functionality, and the hire/start date in BambooHR is not the date you want the employee to get access to 15Five (ex. in the past), it is recommended that you first do a bulk user import to import your employees to 15Five, and turn off the ‘Start date’ option in 15Five’s integration settings. Since 15Five syncs the hire date from BambooHR, and can not accept a past Start date, this would be the best way to onboard your existing employees.
1. Click on your Settings menu at the top right of your 15Five account and then click 'Features'.
2. Last, click on 'Integrations'.
3. Click Enable to the right of the BambooHR option.
4. Enter in your BambooHR subdomain. Your BambooHR subdomain is only the genericcompany in your https://genericcompany.bamboohr.com URL.
5. Click Authenticate in order to finish setting up the integration and have the API key auto-generated.
Note
The person who generates the API key should have access to edit all employees that you want to sync to 15Five. Otherwise, people will not sync due to a lack of editing permissions.
6. You will see a success message letting you know the integration has been set up. Great work! But wait—you're not done yet. You need to review the integration settings to ensure everything is set the way you'd like before syncing.
Note
It is important you review these settings before you run your first sync to ensure your email invite text and settings are correct, in addition to whether you want the sync to run automatically or manually.
7. Your subdomain that was previously entered will appear. Your API key will automatically populate.
8. The BambooHR Features page allows you to choose whether BambooHR will sync automatically (once a day at 11:00 AM UTC/ 7:00 AM EST) or if you only want syncs to happen when you manually push them (can manually sync anytime). We recommend that you start with manual syncing, so you can confirm everything looks correct for a couple of syncs, before turning on automatic sync.
9. Decide if you want start dates to be pulled in from BambooHR into 15Five. Start dates have the potential to delay email invites to 15Five if the start date is in the future.
10. Confirm or update the email invitation text. This invite email will be sent when a new person is added to 15Five via the BambooHR integration. You can technically turn this off, but we do not recommend it—turning this option off means 15Five will not send the invite email that allows the person to set up their password to log in. A few things to know about this setting:
- Make sure to check your Company Settings- Invite details to make sure your settings are set to send out email invites. If that setting is set to off, then invites will not go out, even though they are enabled in BambooHR settings.
- If you have the email invitation box checked, we will send your team login details and an invite to join 15Five as soon as they are synced over.
- If you have the email invitation box unchecked, we will not send your team login details and they will not get an invite to join 15Five. If the email setting is unchecked and people are invited, there will be no way to send the emails retroactively.
- You need both the checkbox to be checked and an email message to be written in order for invite emails to go out. If the message is blank but the checkbox is checked, invites will not go out.
11. Click Save! You are all done! If you have elected to sync manually, jump down to the 'Running a manual sync' section in this article.
12. Check for any error messages upon import. You may have to correct email addresses and/or reviewer information.
BambooHR also has a Help Center article walking you through integrating BambooHR + 15Five.
If you do not see BambooHR active in your account, please reach out to support@15five.com and we can help.
Sync data automatically or manually
You can sync your BambooHR data manually or have 15Five automatically do this for you. The BambooHR integration will auto-sync at 11:00 AM UTC/ 7:00 AM EST if you choose the automatic setting. Here is a list of fields that we sync with:
- first & last names (if a preferred name exists, preferred name will be used and will show as first name in 15Five)
- title
- work email (if there is no work email indicated, we pull personal email)
- employee id
- location
- reviewer (email)
- group (department in BambooHR = group in 15Five; adding a department in BambooHR will add a new group in 15Five)
- hireDate (hireDate in BambooHR = start date in 15Five)
- status (if blank, we check employment status— this is how we determine if an individual is active or not)
- mobilePhone (mobilePhone field in Bamboo HR = phone1 in 15Five)
- gender (gender in BambooHR = gender in 15Five)
- birthday (birthday in BambooHR = birth_date in 15Five)
- ethnicity (ethnicity in BambooHR = ethnicity in 15Five)
Note
If an individual does not have their work email in BambooHR and is initially synced using their personal email, there is not a way to have the fields revert back to syncing their work email—aka if you are first synced using your personal email, we cannot update to sync your work email. If you have people in BambooHR that are not ready to be pulled into 15Five or do not have a work email, use the start date field in 15Five to indicate when you want to start syncing that person and when you want that person to have access to 15Five. If you are unable to use the start date field to indicate when the individual should be pulled into 15Five, check out the 'Filtering' section below. Reach out to support@15Five.com if you have accidentally invited an employee with their personal email.
Use the checkbox within the BambooHR integration page in 15Five (default unchecked) to use the hireDate in BambooHR as the start date in 15Five.
Run a manual sync
Ready to sync BambooHR and 15Five? If you chose automatic syncing, you don't have to pay attention to this section as the sync runs every day, automatically. However, even if you are set up as automatic, you can and we recommend, running a manual sync first to get started.
1. Go to the 'BambooHR Settings' page.
2. Click the orange Start sync button. Don't worry—you will get to preview the changes before syncing.
3. Once the sync starts, you will see the screen below. It can sometimes take a second to refresh, so you can navigate away (or take a quick coffee break) and come back.
4. After the sync is complete, you'll be taken to a screen to choose what to do with the import. Options are: Cancel import, Re-run import, or Start BambooHR import.
If you navigated away, go back to the 'BambooHR Settings’ page and click the purple View history link.
5. Check the data to ensure everything looks accurate. The integration is set to scan all profiles that are not excluded (see the 'Filtering' section below), so don't panic if you see an individual who already exists in 15Five show up in the sync—it just means we are updating their information accordingly. Check to ensure that any excluded people are not in this list though (if you are using these filters.)
6. You can also use the blue arrow to open an individual’s BambooHR profile directly from this page by clicking the purple icon to the left of their name and status.
7. If everything looks good, click the orange Start BambooHR import button.
8. You will be taken to the same loading screen as before. It shouldn't take long.
9. Success—the sync went through! If you want to view the sync history, click the Back to all History link. On the history page you will see a list of all syncs, successful and unsuccessful.
Exclusions/Inclusions
BambooHR, by default, will import all profiles that the API key can access. It is possible to limit the profiles that get synced from BambooHR using filters. Filters are added on 15Five’s side, by our Support Team and cannot be added by account administrators within the application. If you would like to add or remove a filter, email us at support@15Five.com.
Inclusive filter options:
- departments
- locations
- divisions
- employment_statuses
Exclusive filter options:
- excluded_departments
- excluded_locations
- excluded_divisions
- excluded_emails
- excluded_employment_statuses
It is important to know that if an individual is included by the use of an inclusion filter, but then also part of a department that is excluded, they will ultimately be excluded.
Disconnect the BambooHR integration
In order to disconnect the BambooHR integration, click Disable BambooHR from the 'BambooHR Settings' page.
Troubleshooting, Support, and FAQs
BambooHR isn't syncing
Problem: There are times when BambooHR will not import or sync. Sometimes an account administrator cancels an import and it freezes up an installation.
Solution: Reach out to 15Five Support to clear the queue and reinitiate the import.
BambooHR invites aren't being sent/Resend invites in BambooHR
Problem: The team was imported but no one received an invite email to log into 15Five. The only way they are able to log in is if they do a password reset.
Solution: By default 15Five has Email Invitation unchecked so emails do not accidentally go out to all employees prior to setup or an intended “go live” date. Note that you need both a message defined and the checkbox to be checked in order for invites to go out. If the message is blank but the checkbox is checked, invites will not go out.
To manage the above settings, visit the 'BambooHR Settings' page. However, updating the setting retroactively will not prompt new invites to be sent. Reach out to support@15Five.com and for help re-syncing and sending invites.
Filters stopped working
Problem: You had filters set up to not sync certain people into 15Five, but they are now showing as invited.
Solution: This issue can happen if the filter name changed in BambooHR. If this is the case, write in to support@15Five.com and we can update the filter for you. Another possibility is that the API key is no longer active or the person who generated it is no longer active in BambooHR. You can regenerate this key in BambooHR by clicking your avatar - API Keys - Add new key.
Error: Importing data would exceed the max user count set for this company
Problem: When running a sync or looking at a failed sync in the sync history, you see the error “Error: Importing data would exceed max user count set for this company.”
Solution: This happens when the sync will exceed the maximum number of people setting for the company account. You can remove or increase the limit from the 'Company settings' page.
FAQs
Q: Why didn't my employees get invites to log into 15Five? I just added them through the BambooHR integration.
A: There are a few reasons why this might have happened.
- If the 'Email invitation' checkbox is not checked, no invites will be sent out to people invited through BambooHR.
- If the checkbox is checked but the message is blank, no invites will go out.
- If you have SSO enabled with your 15Five account and you have ‘allow password login’ disabled/ unchecked in the SSO/SAML details page, BambooHR configuration will not include the option for email invitation.
Q: When does 15Five sync with BambooHR when automatic sync is enabled?
A: The automatic BambooHR syncs kick-off at 11:00 AM UTC/ 7:00 AM EST and will run one sync after another. We can not control when an individual company's sync will actually run. There is an email sent to all account admins after a BambooHR sync. The email will summarize the new accounts created, accounts updated, and accounts deactivated.
Q: How do we sync our vacations from HRIS to 15Five?
A: At this time you do not have the ability to change the setting that turns on the syncing of vacations on your own in-app. Vacation sync can only be turned on by Support. If the setting is on, the vacations will sync during every sync run. If you want this setting turned on, send in an email to support@15Five.com.
Q: Can we troubleshoot the sync before actually turning on the full automatic sync?
A: Yes, we suggest doing a manual sync before turning on the automatic sync option. You will do this through the 'Integrations' page on your 15Five account. You will click on 'Configure' and then will need to set up the integration. For the first import, leave off the automatic sync checkbox. Choose to do a manual sync. There is a preview step before finishing the sync, so don't worry... Clicking manual sync will not start the import right away. After reviewing the import details, you can choose to finish the sync or cancel if the information is incorrect.
Q: Which people in BambooHR are included in the sync?
A: By default, all full-time employees in BambooHR will be included in the sync unless otherwise specified by filters set by Support. It is possible to filter employees by location, division, department, employment status, and/or email. If you want to exclude or only include certain groups please reach out for assistance before you attempt an import.
Q: If we were using CSV before, then turn on BambooHR will it recognize the individuals that are already in 15Five and prevent duplicate profiles?
A: Yes, as long as the email in 15Five is the same as the email in BambooHR.
Q: Should we exclude certain populations automatically?
A: If you have a platform such as Lever or any other hiring software connected to BambooHR, maybe. People that are hired and in BambooHR, but have not yet started at their current job should be excluded from the BambooHR integration via Employment Status. Please reach out to Support and we can work with you on setting up a filter.
Q: How can I use CSV import with Bamboo HR enabled?
A: Please reach out to Support and we can enable this for you.
Q: How does my BambooHR integration handle group types?
For BambooHR we are converting departments to Group Type: Groups. You, as an account admin, don't need to do anything. 15Five will add all BambooHR departments as 15Five groups under the group type 'Groups' automatically. While departments in BHR come over to 15Five initially as groups, then they can be moved to another group type manually if needed.
Q: I have employees that I bring into BambooHR before they have a work email. How do I stop them from syncing to 15Five until they have their work email set?
A: If an individual does not have their work email in BambooHR and is initially synced using their personal email, there is not a way to have the fields revert back to syncing their work email—aka if you are first synced using your personal email, we cannot update to sync your work email. If you have people in BambooHR that are not ready to be pulled into 15Five or do not have a work email, use the start date field in 15Five to indicate when you want to start syncing that person and when you want that person to have access to 15Five. If you are unable to use the start date field to indicate when the individual should be pulled into 15Five, check out the 'Filtering' section above. Reach out to support@15Five.com if you have accidentally invited an employee with their personal email.