Accounts in applications
Entra ID to Simplicate integration: Microsoft accounts as employees in Simplicate, without licences for guests
With an integration between Microsoft Entra ID and Simplicate, every colleague IT creates in Entra ID becomes an employee in Simplicate automatically, with manager, team and a standard timetable. Guests, service accounts and contractors stay out, and when an account is disabled or has a leave date, the Simplicate timetable stops and the administrator is prompted to block the user.
What the integration does
Organisations without a separate HR system that handle accounts in Microsoft 365 and hours and projects in Simplicate give a new colleague Teams and Outlook on day one, but only days later access to log hours. Freelancers that IT adds as guests sometimes also end up in Simplicate and then count towards the licence.
- IT creates the new colleague in Entra ID, with department, manager, start date and the group for their team.
- KoppelHet sees the new account and checks that it is an own employee and not a guest or service account.
- In Simplicate the person appears with their Microsoft email address, the employee with manager and team, and a timetable from the start date.
- The Simplicate administrator invites the colleague as a user; the invitation arrives at the address they already use in Microsoft 365.
- When IT disables the account or the leave date arrives, the Simplicate timetable ends and KoppelHet asks the administrator to block the user.
What to watch for with Microsoft Entra ID and Simplicate
- Entra ID has no working hours, while Simplicate needs a timetable to account for hours. KoppelHet gives every new employee a standard timetable per department that you choose. The office manager then adjusts a part-timer in Simplicate, and the integration does not overwrite that timetable.
- Every active user in Simplicate costs a licence. Guests from other organisations and service accounts are in Entra ID, but KoppelHet only takes accounts with the employee type, or the members of a group you designate.
- A leave date in Entra ID can only be read with a separate permission for lifecycle data. With that permission KoppelHet sets the Simplicate timetable end on the last working day in advance. Without it, only disabling the account counts, and the timetable ends on that day.
- Teams in Simplicate can only be assigned through the API, not created. KoppelHet therefore links a group in Entra ID to a team that already exists in Simplicate. If IT adds someone to a group without a team, that becomes an alert in the platform.
- The manager in Entra ID is a reference to another account, the supervisor in Simplicate another employee. KoppelHet uses the manager's object ID to find the right Simplicate employee; if they are not there yet, the manager goes first.
- Simplicate only turns an employee into a user with a work email address. Because that address comes from Entra ID, the invitation goes to the same address as Microsoft 365, and not to a private address someone had put in the CRM.
- Entra ID is the source here, not an HR system. That works when IT creates accounts on the hire date; if an HR system arrives later, it can become the source without recreating the employees in Simplicate.
How we build and run it
- The integration runs on the KoppelHet platform, hosted in a data centre in the EU.
- Every sync and every error is visible in the functional log; on an error your administrator is notified.
- A change that cannot go through is not half-applied but queued for another attempt.
- KoppelHet is ISO 27001 certified. Data travels encrypted and stays on the platform no longer than needed.
- After go-live we manage the integration and adjust it when your process changes.
- The integration fits next to your existing integration layer. Only the fields in the design are transferred; the platform keeps no register of its own.
Implementation and price
This is not an app you switch on. We build the integration for your organisation on our platform, with building blocks we reuse on every project. So it is custom work that does not start from scratch.
A consultant prepares the intake and analyses both systems. We then record the mapping and exceptions field by field, test in the test or acceptance environment and go live at a moment you choose. Costs are a one-off amount for the setup and a monthly amount for platform, monitoring and support.
Frequently asked questions
Can we not simply sign in to Simplicate with Microsoft?
How colleagues sign in is separate from this integration. The integration makes sure the employee exists in Simplicate, with the right manager, the right team and a timetable.
Does the integration write anything back to Entra ID?
No. In Entra ID the integration only has read permissions.
What happens to the licence when someone leaves?
Simplicate does not lower the number of licences by itself. The administrator blocks the user and then chooses whether the subscription goes down; if a replacement is coming, the licence can stay.
Technical details for IT
For those who want to know how it works under the hood: APIs, fields and sources used.
- Entra ID is read through Microsoft Graph with a delta query on users and group membership. Fields include id, givenName, surname, mail, department, employeeType, userType, employeeHireDate, accountEnabled and the manager relationship. employeeLeaveDateTime requires the User-LifeCycleInfo.Read.All application permission; otherwise only read permissions on users and groups.
- Simplicate is written through REST API v2 (Authentication-Key and Authentication-Secret headers). First /api/v2/crm/person with first_name, family_name, email and teams, then /api/v2/hrm/employee with person_id, supervisor, status and custom_fields, and /api/v2/hrm/timetable for the timetable with start_date and end_date.
- /hrm/team is read-only in Simplicate API v2 and there is no endpoint for users and user groups. Simplicate promises at least 60 requests per minute; above that it returns HTTP 429.
Which fields are transferred
The key fields. The full mapping is agreed per customer.
| Field in Microsoft Entra ID | Field in Simplicate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
id (object-ID) | Eigen veld bij de medewerker (custom_fields) | Fixed key; does not change with a new name or email address |
givenName | first_name (persoon) | |
surname | family_name_prefix, family_name (persoon) | Name prefix split off |
mail | email (persoon) en werkadres | |
manager | supervisor (medewerker) | Through the manager's Simplicate employee |
Lidmaatschap teamgroep | teams (persoon) | Through a lookup from group to existing Simplicate team |
employeeHireDate | start_date (rooster) | |
employeeLeaveDateTime of accountEnabled = false | end_date (rooster) | |
employeeType en userType | Wel of niet naar Simplicate |
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