This article covers six errors Account Admins may encounter when syncing employee data using the HRIS Connector, with causes and resolution steps for each.
Before You Begin: You must have access to integration settings in your 15Five account. Only Account Admins can perform these steps.
Group changes awaiting confirmation
Symptom
The sync banner displays: "Errors occurred during your latest sync. There are changes awaiting confirmation for group type: [name]. Run a manual sync to confirm group changes."
Cause
This error occurs when a sync would result in a 15Five group losing all its members. It is triggered by how some HRIS systems handle group name changes: when a group name changes in the HRIS, the HRIS creates a new group with the updated name and transfers members to it. The original group — still linked to 15Five — retains no members. 15Five pauses the sync to prevent unintentionally emptying groups or creating duplicates, which would disrupt group-level settings and engagement trends.
Fix
- Go to Settings > HRIS Connector.
- Select the Sync tab.
- Proceed through the manual sync steps until Step 4 (Group Preview).
- Review the groups highlighted with a warning — these are the groups that would be emptied.
- Confirm the changes if the empty group is expected, or exclude and remap groups to prevent unintended updates.
- Complete the sync.
What Resolution Looks Like
The sync completes without a banner error. No groups appear highlighted with a warning in Step 4 of Group Preview on subsequent syncs.
Relink needed
Symptom
The sync banner displays: "Errors occurred during your latest sync. Relink needed."
Cause
15Five cannot communicate with your HRIS. This occurs when:
- The admin who originally connected the HRIS has been deactivated in 15Five or the HRIS.
- The HRIS admin's password has changed, invalidating the stored API key.
Fix
- Go to Settings > HRIS Connector.
- Click the ellipsis menu (top-right corner of the HRIS Connector page).
- Select Reconnect your integration.
- Complete the re-authentication steps in the Merge link modal.
What Resolution Looks Like
The sync banner no longer displays "Relink needed." The next scheduled or manual sync completes without a connection error.
If Re-authentication Fails
If the Merge link modal does not load or re-authentication fails after completing all steps, contact 15Five Support. Provide: the name and email of the admin who originally connected the integration, and the date the error first appeared.
See Contact the 15Five Support Team.
Duplicated groups exist
Symptom
The sync banner displays: "Errors occurred during your latest sync. Duplicated groups exist: {('group type', 'group name'), ('group type', 'group name')}..."
Manual sync is blocked — the system prevents you from proceeding.
Cause
15Five requires unique group names within each group type. When the sync detects two groups with the same name in the same group type, it blocks the manual sync to prevent data conflicts.
Fix
- Go to Settings > HRIS Connector.
- Select the Sync tab.
- Proceed through the manual sync steps until Step 4 (Group Preview).
- Identify the duplicate group names listed in the warning.
- Exclude one of the duplicate groups.
- Complete the sync.
What Resolution Looks Like
The manual sync proceeds past Step 4 without a duplication error. The sync completes successfully.
If Exclusion Does Not Resolve the Error
If duplicate groups reappear after exclusion, the conflict exists at the HRIS level. Resolve the duplicate group name in your HRIS before running another sync.
Reviewer loop
Symptom
The sync fails or generates an error indicating a circular reporting relationship.
Cause
A reviewer loop occurs when an employee is assigned as the manager of someone higher up in their own reporting hierarchy, creating a circular chain. This occurs when HRIS platforms require a manager field for all employees — including top-level executives such as a CEO — who have no true manager in 15Five.
Fix
Reviewer loop errors require intervention from 15Five Support. Before contacting support, gather the following:
- The name and email of the employee(s) involved in the loop.
- A description of the reporting chain that creates the circular relationship (e.g., "Employee A is listed as manager of Employee B, who is listed as manager of Employee A").
- The date the error first appeared.
Contact 15Five Support at Contact the 15Five Support Team.
What Resolution Looks Like
The sync completes without a reviewer loop error. The affected employees show a valid, non-circular manager chain in 15Five.
Validation errors
Symptom
The sync generates one or more validation error messages. Common messages include:
- "When setting the reviewer of [employee email], could not find the reviewer's email address in the system: [employee email]. Not changing user's reviewer."
- "Duplicated groups exist: [duplicated names]"
- "Remote sync failed."
- "Failed to kick off task. Previous sync is still in progress."
Cause
Validation errors occur when 15Five detects data that does not meet system requirements, or when the system is in an unexpected state. These issues may have already caused a sync failure or will cause one on the next sync.
"Could not find the reviewer's email address" — The manager email referenced in your HRIS does not match any active user email in 15Five. The reviewer assignment is skipped.
"Duplicated groups exist" — Two groups with the same name exist in the same group type. See the Duplicated groups exist section above.
"Remote sync failed" or "Failed to kick off task. Previous sync is still in progress." — The sync could not start or connect. Wait five minutes and attempt the sync again. If the error persists, contact support.
Fix
For email mismatch errors:
- Identify the employee email listed in the error message.
- Confirm the manager's email in your HRIS matches the email on their 15Five account exactly.
- Correct the mismatch in your HRIS or update the user's email in 15Five.
- Run a manual sync.
For all other validation errors, contact 15Five Support. Before contacting support, gather:
- The full text of the error message(s).
- The date and time the error first appeared.
- Whether the error occurs on manual sync, auto-sync, or both.
See Contact the 15Five Support Team.
What Resolution Looks Like
The sync completes without validation error messages. Affected employees show correct reviewer and group assignments in 15Five.
Unknown and unpredictable errors
Symptom
The sync fails with an error message that does not match any of the named errors above. Examples include system-level messages such as internal attribute errors or bulk import failures.
Cause
These errors result from software bugs, third-party service issues, network problems, or other conditions outside normal sync behavior. They cannot be resolved by configuration changes in 15Five or your HRIS.
Fix
Contact 15Five Support. Before contacting support, gather:
- The full text of the error message, copied exactly as it appears.
- The date and time the error first appeared.
- Whether the error is consistent (fails every sync) or intermittent.
- Whether any changes were made to your HRIS or 15Five account settings around the time the error started.
See Contact the 15Five Support Team.
What Resolution Looks Like
The sync completes without an error banner. Confirm by running a manual sync and checking that no error message appears after completion.
Not Covered Here
This article does not cover initial HRIS Connector setup or sync configuration. See Configure HRIS sync settings and run a data sync and HRIS Connector — Feature Overview.