HRIS Integration: Absences

User and Data Management Plus

The integration of deskbird with your HRIS (Human Resource Information System) automates absence tracking and improves data accuracy. It helps reduce duplicated effort and ensures your workplace schedule reflects real-time availability.

1. Tracking absences seamlessly
2. Supported HRIS
3. Benefits
4. Integration setup (recommended)
5. SFTP setup
6. User experience

1. Tracking absences seamlessly

Currently, users who use both deskbird and their HRIS tool track their absence periods in both platforms, resulting in duplicated efforts and potential data inconsistencies. Our HRIS Integration solves this by automatically transferring absence periods (e.g., sick days and holidays) from the HRIS to the deskbird Schedule section as statuses.

This automation saves time and ensures accurate data for workforce and office analytics.

2. Supported HRIS

No developer input is required. deskbird supports seamless integration with the following HRIS tools: UKG, ADP, Factorial, BambooHR, Personio, SAP Success, PeopleHR, HiBob, BreatheHR, Charlie, Lucca, Workday, and Sage HR.

If you use a different HRIS tool, please contact our Support Team to check if we can support it.

3. Benefits

💡 Approved absence periods (e.g., sick days, holidays, or any absence defined in your HRIS) are automatically synced into the Week Planning section of deskbird.

If a user is marked “Absent,” all existing bookings on that day will be automatically cancelled, except bookings for Meeting Rooms.

💡 Users cannot manually edit their synced absence status. To cancel an absence, they must update it in the HRIS, which will then be reflected in deskbird.

4. Integration setup

• Navigate to Admin > Integrations in deskbird.
• Select your HRIS tool and enter the API credentials (these are generated in your HRIS).
• The system will begin syncing all future absences and approved absences from the past 3 months.
• You can continue working while the sync happens in the background.
• For more info, see our FAQ.

5. SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) setup

On a case-by-case basis: Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or Support

In special cases where no direct HRIS integration is supported (via Merge), deskbird offers a secure SFTP-based absence sync option. This method is only available upon request and must be enabled by our team. If your HR system isn't listed under our native integrations, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager to explore this option.

🤝 If required, we can offer technical assistance for this setup via our trusted third-party integrations partner.

⚠️ This method is used exclusively for syncing absences – it does not support Users & Groups provisioning.

Available SFTP upload methods

There are two ways to transfer your CSV files to deskbird via SFTP. While the automated approach is preferred for long-term use, a manual upload can be helpful for initial testing or smaller teams.

1. Scheduled SFTP Push (recommended)
   Most companies automate this process using a scheduled job (e.g., a cron job) that regularly pushes the CSV to our SFTP server, typically on a daily or weekly basis.
   • deskbird provides:
     • SFTP hostname
     • Username
     • SSH key or password
   • The company generates a CSV from their HRIS or export tool and uploads it to the correct folder on the SFTP server.
   • ⚠️ The uploaded file must follow the exact CSV format defined below.
2. Manual Upload (for testing or small-scale use)
   HR or IT administrators can manually export the CSV file and upload it to the assigned SFTP container using tools such as FileZilla or Cyberduck.
   • This is especially useful during the test phase or when the customer’s size doesn’t justify automation.

CSV format and syncing rules

Absence data is synchronized from a CSV file, which serves as the single source of truth for offdays in a defined timeframe.

💡 You can find an example .csv file for download at the bottom of this page.

CSV structure:

"email","start_date","start_on","end_date","end_on" 
"john.doe@deskbird.io","2023-10-04","am","2023-10-06","pm" = 3 days absence
"jane.doe@deskbird.io","2023-10-06","am","2023-10-06","am" = 0.5 day absence (morning)
"john.doe@deskbird.io","2023-10-06","pm","2023-10-06","pm" = 0.5 day absence (evening)
"jane.doe@deskbird.io","2023-10-09","pm","2023-10-10","pm" = 1.5 days absence

• Date window: Only absences between D–6 weeks and D+12 weeks (where D = file creation date) will be processed.
• Source of truth: The file must include the full and final list of absences for all users in the relevant timeframe.
• Creation: Absences listed in the CSV but not yet in deskbird will be added.
• Deletion: Absences already in deskbird but missing from the file will be removed. 
  ℹ️ If the recent file no longer includes a past absence, it will also be removed from deskbird.
• No partial updates: Any missing entries will be treated as deletions.
• Modify manually: Absences from SFTP cannot be modified by users (or admins) manually. 

6. User experience

• Users will see their synced status in the Personal feed and Colleagues view on both web and mobile.
• Email notifications are triggered when an absence status is updated via HRIS.
• Users will also be notified if a synced absence results in a canceled booking.
• Group managers, managers, office admins, and global admins can view absence statuses of their team members to help coordinate attendance and workspace needs.
• The HRIS sync runs once daily (during night hours).

⚠️ Note: When absences are pulled via the integration setup, users can manually resync absences if they are displayed incorrectly. To do this, users go to their initials or profile picture at the bottom left, then select Profile, and click the Resync HRIS absences button at the bottom of the page.

This option is not available when using SFTP.

Find an example .csv file for the SFTP setup below: