The HRlab integration brings employee data and absences from HRlab into ZEP. HRlab is a people management software for mid-sized companies focused on the digital personnel file, absence management and contract data. HRlab remains the leading system for this data, ZEP adopts it and uses it for time tracking and reports.
Data direction:
• Employee data: HRlab → ZEP
• Absences: HRlab → ZEP
• Time entries: ZEP → HRlab, optional
Product line availability
Note: The HRlab integration is available in ZEP Compact and ZEP Professional. It is not included in ZEP Clock. Booking is subject to a charge and runs through the Self-Service Tool.
Importing absences additionally requires the Absences & Overtime module. Assigning a default price group requires the Revenues & Costs module (in ZEP Compact) or ZEP Professional.
Setup and configuration are reserved for administrators.
Requirements
To set up the integration you need:
Access to the Connector Marketplace in ZEP
An HRlab account with the right to create an API application
The API token from HRlab
Absence reasons created in ZEP for the absence types that are to come from HRlab
Tip: You generate the API token in HRlab under Settings > API Application. Enter it in ZEP right away so it does not get lost.
Setting up the integration
In ZEP, go to Administration > Interfaces > Connector Marketplace. Select HRlab and add it. You will be guided through the booking process in the Self-Service Tool.
After booking, configure the integration on its detail page. The form is divided into four areas. Under Authentication Settings you enter the API token from HRlab.
Under Sync Master Data you define what is transferred:
Import Employees: adopts employee data from HRlab. Active by default.
Import Absences: adopts vacation, sick leave, home office and business trips from HRlab. Active by default.
Username Generation: defines how ZEP forms the username for newly imported employees. Available are FirstName.LastName and First Letter + LastName. The default is the part of the email address before the at sign, extended by the HRlab ID.
The area Export Time Entries holds the switch of the same name, inactive by default.
Under Employee Defaults you find the defaults for newly imported employees:
Default Price Group: the price group code new employees receive. The default is 01. The code must exist in ZEP.
Show Cost Accounting: controls whether new employees are included in ZEP cost accounting.
Use Test Connection to check that ZEP can reach HRlab with the token before the first transfer runs.
Data transfer
The integration transfers employee data and absences from HRlab to ZEP. Time entries can additionally go in the opposite direction.
Employees
Data direction HRlab → ZEP. The following is adopted:
HRlab employee ID as a permanent matching key
Email address
First name and last name
Personnel number
Date of birth
Phone, mobile and private phone
Address with street, postal code, city and country
Start date of employment
ZEP stores the start date as the beginning of the employment period. It takes the first company entry from the contract data if that is stored, otherwise the start date of the contract and failing that the start date on the employee.
When an employee leaves in HRlab, ZEP sets the end of the employment period. ZEP recognizes existing employees by the HRlab employee ID, alternatively by the email address, and updates them instead of creating duplicates.
Note: ZEP skips HRlab users without an email address during the import, because the address is needed for matching and for the username. If someone is missing after a synchronization, check the email address in HRlab first.
Note: The ended employment period is the point at which an employee is no longer license-relevant for ZEP. After someone leaves, check whether ZEP still holds bookings in the future.
Absences
Data direction HRlab → ZEP. Vacation, sick leave, home office and business trips are adopted. Per absence the following is transferred:
Assignment to the employee
Absence type from HRlab, which determines the ZEP absence reason
Start date and end date
Scope, meaning full day or half day
Comment as a note on the absence
On every synchronization ZEP detects which entries are new, have changed or have been removed in HRlab.
Assigning absence reasons
For an absence to arrive in ZEP, the HRlab absence type must be assigned to a ZEP absence reason. You make this assignment on the absence reason itself, under Administration > Overtime & absences > Reasons for Absence. There, right next to the Abbreviation, is the field External Connector ID. Enter the ID of the HRlab absence type there.
For an absence type without an assignment, ZEP transfers nothing. The synchronization does not stop, but the affected absence types appear in the integration log. Check the log after the first synchronization and add missing assignments.
Example: HRlab supplies the ID of the absence type rather than its name. If the vacation type in HRlab has the ID 4, enter the external connector ID 4 on the ZEP absence reason Urlaub. The ZEP abbreviation stays untouched, both systems may keep their own names.
Time entries
Data direction ZEP → HRlab. This transfer is inactive by default and is switched on with Export Time Entries. Per entry, the start and end of the working time and the comment are transferred. This makes the working times recorded in ZEP available in HRlab as well, without having to enter them there a second time. HRlab receives only the working time itself, none of the further details of your ZEP entries.
Note: HRlab calculates breaks itself. Only the gross time from start to end is therefore transferred, not the break time deducted in ZEP.
Synchronization and log
Once set up, the integration synchronizes the data automatically every hour. A task under Administration > System > Tasks is not needed, control lies entirely with the Connector Marketplace.
The integration's detail page shows the current status and the log of the most recent synchronizations, including messages about records that could not be adopted. A synchronization can also be triggered there manually, for example after you have changed the configuration.
For employee data and absences, HRlab is the leading system. You make changes there and ZEP adopts them with the next synchronization. The default values for price group and cost accounting apply only when an employee is created and can afterwards be adjusted per employee in ZEP.