Identity and access management
Unit4 HR to Google Workspace integration: Google account from the employee in Unit4 ERPx
With an integration between Unit4 HR and Google Workspace, a new employee from Unit4 ERPx automatically gets a Google account, in the organisational unit of their company and with job, department and manager from their main employment. Once the last employment in Unit4 has ended, KoppelHet suspends the Google account.
What the integration does
Organisations that manage HR and finance in Unit4 ERPx and use Google Workspace for mail and collaboration keep two records of employees. Someone who moves to another organisational unit still sits in the old department in Google, and a leaver keeps access to shared Drive folders.
- Unit4 supplies a separate machine client for this integration, and the Google administrator authorises a service account for user management.
- After a first full load KoppelHet only reads employees changed since the previous run.
- KoppelHet skips an employee whose entry is still awaiting approval until the approval is complete.
- For a new employee KoppelHet creates the Google account, with job and department from the main employment.
- When the last employment ends, KoppelHet suspends the account and the transfer of files follows after a period.
What to watch for with Unit4 HR and Google Workspace
- An employee can have several employments at once in Unit4, one of which is the main employment. Google only allows one primary organisation per user. KoppelHet puts the job and department of the main employment there, and only includes the other employments if you want that.
- Unit4 only issues a machine client for integrations through a user with the SUPER or SYSTEM role, and a tenant has at most ten. On the Google side KoppelHet works with a service account that may only manage users and groups. That way each side has its own key that you can revoke separately.
- Organisational unit, cost centre and manager are attached to the employee in Unit4 as relations, with a from and to date. KoppelHet updates department and cost centre in Google on the date the new relation starts, even if HR entered it weeks earlier.
- A new employee in Unit4 can first be in an approval workflow. KoppelHet waits until that workflow is complete before a Google account is created, so a rejected entry does not produce a mailbox.
- Unit4 recommends retrieving changes with a filter greater than or equal to the previous moment, which sometimes returns the same employee twice. A Google address must be unique, so KoppelHet first searches by the resource number in the external IDs before creating an account.
- In Google the manager refers to an email address; in Unit4 it is a relation to another resource number. KoppelHet translates that number to the manager's Google address, so approvals in Google Forms and Calendar reach the right person.
- A Unit4 tenant can contain several companies. Each company becomes its own organisational unit in Google, so apps, Drive sharing and the email domain can differ per company.
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
Can the Google address go back to Unit4?
We keep that out of the integration at the start. It needs write rights in Unit4 and can be added later as an extension.
Do we need an extra Unit4 client for this?
Yes, we ask for a machine client of our own. Because a tenant has at most ten, we check in advance whether one is still available.
What happens to a leaver's files?
The account is first suspended, which keeps the data. After the agreed period the files go to the manager and the account is deleted.
Technical details for IT
For those who want to know how it works under the hood: APIs, fields and sources used.
- Unit4 ERPx through the ObjectAPI (GET /v1/objects/employees) with OAuth 2.0 client credentials via Unit4 Identity Services (scope u4erp, token 3600 seconds). Incremental with filter=lastUpdated/updatedAt ge {start of previous run}. Fields include companyId, personId, nameInformation, status, employments and relatedValues with from and to date; an entry in workflow returns a 202 (pending approval) in Unit4.
- Google through the Admin SDK Directory API (users with primaryEmail, name, externalIds type organization, orgUnitPath, organizations with primary, title, department and costCenter, relations type manager, suspended), with a service account with domain-wide delegation.
Which fields are transferred
The key fields. The full mapping is agreed per customer.
| Field in Unit4 HR | Field in Google Workspace | Notes |
|---|---|---|
companyId + personId | externalIds (type organization) | Fixed key to prevent duplicate accounts |
nameInformation.firstName | name.givenName | |
nameInformation.surname | name.familyName | |
Naamgevingsregel | primaryEmail | |
companyId | orgUnitPath | |
Positie van het hoofddienstverband | organizations.title (primary) | |
Organisatie-eenheid uit relatedValues | organizations.department | |
Kostenplaats uit relatedValues | organizations.costCenter | |
Leidinggevende uit relatedValues | relations (type manager) | As the manager's Google address |
Einddatum van het laatste dienstverband | suspended = true |
Related
Greenhouse → Unit4 HR
Greenhouse to Unit4 HR integration: accepted offer as an employee in the right Unit4 company
Recruitee → Unit4 HR
Recruitee to Unit4 HR integration: hired candidate as employee in Unit4, validated before it is saved
SmartRecruiters → Unit4 HR
SmartRecruiters to Unit4 HR integration: hire on the position from SmartRecruiters, with onboarding status back
Teamtailor → Unit4 HR
Teamtailor to Unit4 HR integration: hired candidates as employees in Unit4 ERPx, with company and position