Identity and access management
SuccessFactors to Entra ID integration: Microsoft accounts from Employee Central
With an integration between SAP SuccessFactors and Microsoft Entra ID, every new Dutch employee from Employee Central automatically gets a Microsoft account, with groups, licence and manager, even when the start date is weeks away. A transfer or departure closes the account on time, and the business email address can go back to SuccessFactors.
What the integration does
Employers with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and a separate Microsoft 365 environment for the Netherlands only see new colleagues once HR forwards a list. A transfer to another country goes unnoticed in Entra ID.
- HR enters a new employee in SuccessFactors for the Dutch entity.
- KoppelHet picks up the new colleague and looks at job and department as they apply on the start date.
- The Microsoft account is ready, with manager, groups and licence.
- If you want, the new email address goes back to SuccessFactors as the business address.
- After the last working day sign-in is blocked, unless the person still has another active employment.
What to watch for with SAP SuccessFactors and Microsoft Entra ID
- SuccessFactors tracks changes per part. A new job only changes the job data, not the person. KoppelHet therefore looks at changes in person, employment, job and email separately.
- For a new hire with a future start date SuccessFactors shows today's data by default. KoppelHet requests the data as it applies on the start date, so the account is ready with the right job and department.
- For a temporary assignment abroad SuccessFactors creates an extra employment. KoppelHet recognises that and updates the existing account instead of creating a second one.
- If someone has two concurrent employments, KoppelHet only blocks the account when the last one ends.
- Microsoft ships its own SuccessFactors integration for Entra ID. According to Microsoft's guide it signs in with username and password, a method SAP is phasing out. KoppelHet uses the sign-in method SAP does support.
- A transfer to a company in another country is a new job record in SuccessFactors. If the new company does not belong to the Dutch Microsoft environment, KoppelHet blocks the account on the transfer date and notifies IT.
- SuccessFactors holds several email addresses per person. KoppelHet only writes back the business address and leaves the private address alone.
This integration is also part of joiner, mover, leaver.
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
Why not Microsoft's SuccessFactors integration?
It can be enough if you only want accounts in Entra ID. KoppelHet fits better if you want your own naming rules, groups and licences, or the same SuccessFactors data also goes to other systems.
What do we need to arrange in SuccessFactors?
An integration user that may read personal, contract and job data. If the email address should go back, it may also write the business email address.
Do hires who have not started yet already get an account?
That is agreed per customer. A new colleague can get an account already, disabled until the start date, so IT can prepare the workplace.
Does this also work with on-premises Active Directory?
Yes, through a small program in your network.
Technical details for IT
For those who want to know how it works under the hood: APIs, fields and sources used.
- SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central is read through the OData API with OAuth 2.0 (SAP is deprecating Basic Authentication), with lastModifiedDateTime per entity (PerPerson, PerPersonal, EmpEmployment, EmpJob, PerEmail) and asOfDate on the start date. Global assignments have assignmentClass GA; the number of active employments is in EmpEmploymentTermination.
- Entra ID is written through Microsoft Graph. employeeId (personIdExternal, at most 16 characters), givenName, surname, userPrincipalName, mailNickname, jobTitle, department, manager (managerId), companyName, usageLocation (countryOfCompany) and accountEnabled (lastDateWorked).
- Email write-back requires write access to PerEmail (business type only).
Which fields are transferred
The key fields. The full mapping is agreed per customer.
| Field in SAP SuccessFactors | Field in Microsoft Entra ID | Notes |
|---|---|---|
PerPerson.personIdExternal | employeeId | At most 16 characters in Entra ID; check up front |
PerPersonal.preferredName of firstName | givenName | |
PerPersonal.lastName | surname | |
Naamgevingsregel | userPrincipalName en mailNickname | |
EmpJob.jobTitle | jobTitle | |
EmpJob.department | department | |
EmpJob.managerId | manager | Through the manager's account in Entra ID |
EmpJob.company | companyName | |
EmpJob.countryOfCompany | usageLocation | Two-letter country code, needed for the licence |
EmpEmployment.lastDateWorked | accountEnabled = false |
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