Employee Feeds synchronize workforce data between your HR system and Applaud. They keep employee records up to date and can publish lifecycle events that trigger automated experiences such as onboarding, offboarding, and manager changes.
Why use Employee Feeds?
HR processes depend on accurate employee data, including reporting lines, job titles, start and end dates, and employment status. That information typically lives in your HR system of record.
Without a reliable way to synchronize that data, organizations often rely on spreadsheets, delayed imports, or manual processes to keep systems aligned.
Employee Feeds provide that synchronization. They import employee data into Applaud, keep employee records up to date, and can trigger workflows when important employee lifecycle changes occur.
What Employee Feeds do
Employee Feeds perform three main functions:
- Import employee records from your HR system or another data source.
- Map source data to Applaud employee records using configurable field mappings. Only mapped fields are imported; unmapped source data is ignored.
- Detect changes and update employee records and, if configured, matching user accounts, or publish lifecycle events.
Each feed can be configured differently. For example, one feed might keep employee records synchronized, while another publishes lifecycle events that trigger workflows.
A stable employee identifier from your HR system, such as an employee number, is central to reliable synchronization. Applaud uses this identifier to recognize the same person across synchronization runs. Use a permanent identifier rather than a value that can change, such as an email address.
How employee data is imported
Employee data can be imported in three ways:
| Method | Best for | How it works |
| Polling | HR systems with APIs | Applaud connects on a schedule and imports employee records. Where supported, it can retrieve only changed records. |
| Spreadsheet | CSV or Excel exports, or pilot implementations | Upload a spreadsheet manually or have another system send files to a dedicated upload endpoint. |
| Webhook | Systems that publish change events | Your HR system or middleware sends employee updates to Applaud as JSON payloads. |
Polling is commonly used with platforms such as Workday and other modern HR systems. Spreadsheet and webhook imports provide alternatives when APIs are unavailable or when data is exchanged through middleware.
Connecting to your HR systems
Polling feeds use Applaud connections to authenticate with HR systems and other data sources. A single connection can support one or more feeds.
Spreadsheet and webhook feeds use dedicated upload or webhook endpoints. They don't require a vendor API connection unless you are also pulling data from an API.
Supported sources include packaged HR system integrations, custom APIs, spreadsheets, and webhooks. Where Applaud provides a predefined configuration, such as Workday Workers, you can start from a recommended template. Otherwise, you can configure the endpoint and map fields yourself.
Lifecycle events
Keeping employee records current is only part of the process. Employee Feeds can also publish lifecycle events that other Applaud products use to trigger automated experiences.
Common lifecycle events include:
| Event | Typical use |
| New joiner | Start onboarding when a new employee is synchronized and has a start date. |
| Leaver | Begin offboarding when an end date is first set on an employee. |
| Manager change | Update reporting structures and related processes. |
| Job change | Trigger experiences related to role changes. |
| Became a manager | Start manager-specific onboarding or enablement. |
| Profile update | Respond to changes such as name, email address, or other mapped attributes. |
You choose which events each feed publishes. Events are generated only when the required employee fields are mapped, which helps reduce unnecessary notifications.
The first full synchronization of a workforce updates employee records but doesn't publish lifecycle events. This prevents existing employees from triggering onboarding and similar workflows when a feed goes live.
Features that support reliable synchronization
Employee Feeds include features that help you validate changes, monitor synchronization, and recover from problems.
- Preview mappings before synchronizing data to verify how source fields map to employee attributes.
- Test safely by running sample synchronizations without advancing the live synchronization position.
- Monitor activity through synchronization history, record outcomes, and event delivery logs.
- Pause and resume feeds when maintenance or troubleshooting is required.
- Replay previous synchronizations when you need to process the data again.
- Automatically pause feeds after repeated failures to prevent ongoing synchronization issues.
- Manage connections securely through Applaud's connection model and restrict access to authorized administrators.
- Scan uploaded files before they are processed.
How Employee Feeds fit into Applaud
Employee Feeds connect your HR system to the rest of the Applaud platform.
Connections provide authentication for external systems that require a connection. Employee Feeds determine what employee data to import, how often synchronization runs, how fields are mapped, and which lifecycle events are published.
Who uses Employee Feeds?
| Audience | How they use Employee Feeds |
| HR and People Operations | Keep employee records synchronized without manual imports or spreadsheets. |
| IT and integration teams | Connect HR systems and provide reliable employee data to downstream processes. |
| Experience and process owners | Trigger onboarding, offboarding, and other workflows from employee lifecycle events. |
| Solution evaluators | Understand how existing HR systems integrate with Applaud to support automated employee experiences. |
Common use cases
Organizations commonly use Employee Feeds to:
- Replace manual employee imports with scheduled or event-driven synchronization.
- Keep employee records synchronized across systems.
- Automatically start onboarding when new hires appear in the HR system.
- Trigger offboarding when an employee receives an end date.
- Keep managers, job titles, and profile information current for routing, personalization, and case management.
- Grow from a pilot spreadsheet feed to a live HR system connection without changing the experiences that depend on the data.
Employee Feeds keep employee data in Applaud synchronized with your HR system and provide the lifecycle events that power automated employee experiences.