Payroll integration
Sympa to Sage Payroll integration: Sympa's nightly change export as a Sage 50 import file
An integration between Sympa and Sage Payroll prepares UK starters, changes, leavers and one-time payments from Sympa as import files for Sage 50 Payroll. KoppelHet uses Sympa's nightly change export for that and converts it to Sage's templates; payroll starts the import itself, because Sage 50 Payroll has no API.
What the integration does
Organisations that manage HR in Sympa and keep a UK entity on Sage 50 Payroll give payroll a list of starters, salaries and bonuses every month. Sympa has no Sage connector, and what payroll receives has to be entered again in Sage.
- HR records a starter, salary change, leaver or one-time payment in Sympa for the UK entity.
- At night Sympa puts the change files for the United Kingdom in the SFTP folder.
- KoppelHet fetches the files, converts person and employment to Employee Details and one-time payments to Employee Payments (Hours and Rates).
- Payroll takes a backup and loads the files into Sage 50 Payroll.
- Lines Sage rejects or that cannot be converted appear on a list for HR.
What to watch for with Sympa and Sage Payroll
- Sympa sells an automated change export that puts CSV files with new data and changes in a Sympa SFTP folder every night, for €86 per month. Sympa does not guarantee that third-party software can load those files; KoppelHet therefore converts them to the templates Sage 50 Payroll expects.
- The export consists of seven files, from personal details and employment to compensation, one-time payments and absence, and can be split per country or entity. KoppelHet has Sympa produce only the UK set, so colleagues from other countries never end up in a Sage file.
- Through Sympa's Integration API every employee would cost a separate read, while an interface has a hundred requests per hour by default. The nightly export delivers all UK changes in one go, which is why KoppelHet chooses that route for Sage.
- One-time payments sit in their own export file. In Sage they go through Employee Payments (Hours and Rates), which only updates payments already assigned to the employee and does not accept factored payments; KoppelHet puts a new payment type on the list for manual entry.
- Sympa knows the employee number, while Sage also has its own RTI identifier for HMRC that is fixed once loaded. The Sympa number therefore goes to the Employee Reference, and the RTI field stays open for starters so Sage assigns that number itself.
- All export files arrive in the same SFTP folder, one set per night. KoppelHet processes each set once and keeps track of which set went into which Sage file, so payroll can see where a line came from when asked.
- Loading into Sage 50 Payroll is always a manual step by payroll, after a safety copy. That is why at most one new employee file is ready each morning, and one payments file before every cut-off, each recognisable by its date.
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
What do we need to buy from Sympa?
The Automated Data Change Export, €86 per month plus a one-off setup fee that Sympa does not state.
Can KoppelHet load the files into Sage itself?
Only with the SDK from the paid Sage Developers Programme. Without that SDK payroll starts the import.
Technical details for IT
For those who want to know how it works under the hood: APIs, fields and sources used.
- Sympa Automated Data Change Export - seven CSV files per night in a Sympa SFTP folder (1 person, employment, organisation and cost centre; 2-4 compensation, benefits and one-time payments; 5-6 absence and holidays; 7 cost centre allocation), splittable per country or entity.
- Sage 50 Payroll through File > Data Import with the CSV templates Employee Details, Company Cost Centres and Employee Payments (Hours and Rates), or Advanced Data Import with a custom field mapping. Fully automatic loading requires the SDK from the paid Sage Developers Programme.
Which fields are transferred
The key fields. The full mapping is agreed per customer.
| Field in Sympa | Field in Sage Payroll | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Personeelsnummer in Sympa | Employee Reference | Never in the RTI Payroll ID |
Bestand 1 - persoonsgegevens (namen, geboortedatum, NI-nummer) | Forename, Surname, Date of Birth, NI Number | |
Bestand 1 - dienstverband (startdatum, einddatum) | Start Date en Leaving Date | |
Bestand 1 - kostenplaats | Cost Centre | Must exist in Sage |
Bestand 2 - compensation | Regular pay in Employee Details | |
Bestand 4 - eenmalige betalingen | Employee Payments (Hours and Rates) | Only on a payment already assigned to the employee |
Related
Greenhouse → Sympa
Greenhouse to Sympa integration: hired candidate as a data card with contract row in Sympa
Recruitee → Sympa
Recruitee to Sympa integration: hired candidates as a data card in Sympa
SmartRecruiters → Sympa
SmartRecruiters to Sympa integration: ready to onboard becomes a data card in Sympa
Sympa → 4PS Construct
Sympa to 4PS Construct integration: fitters of the Dutch employer from Sympa in 4PS, with cost centre as a dimension