Training and certificates
Workday to LinkedIn Learning integration: licences that follow the employment
With an integration between Workday and LinkedIn Learning, every worker from Workday automatically gets a LinkedIn Learning licence, with department, job and manager for the reports, and the licence closes after the last working day. Completed courses go back to Workday Learning through LinkedIn's own xAPI connection; KoppelHet handles the part LinkedIn leaves to the customer, namely who has a licence and when.
What the integration does
Employers that manage workers in Workday and give LinkedIn Learning licences to part of them track who gets one in a spreadsheet that is uploaded as a CSV now and then. Leavers therefore keep a paid licence for weeks, and new colleagues have to ask for access themselves.
- You decide which workers get a licence, for example per country, business unit or worker type.
- KoppelHet reads the workers and their changes from Workday every day.
- KoppelHet builds the file in the form LinkedIn Learning expects and places it on LinkedIn's SFTP server.
- LinkedIn Learning creates new learners, updates attributes and groups, and switches the licence on or off.
- KoppelHet reads LinkedIn's result file back and reports rejected rows to HR.
What to watch for with Workday and LinkedIn Learning
- LinkedIn Learning only supports automated user management with SCIM from Entra ID and Okta. Workday itself therefore cannot deliver through SCIM; for Workday LinkedIn describes a file over SFTP, the so-called Org Sync. KoppelHet delivers that file, so no identity provider has to sit in between.
- A name change in Workday often results in a new work address. Without a fixed unique user ID LinkedIn treats a different address as a new learner, with a second licence and without the old progress. KoppelHet sends the Workday employee ID as the fixed ID from the first upload.
- According to LinkedIn the unique ID and the email address cannot change in the same upload. If both have to change when moving to a new ID scheme, KoppelHet splits it over two consecutive uploads.
- Workday distinguishes employees and contingent workers. A learner without a licence column does enter LinkedIn, but as unassigned. KoppelHet explicitly sets active or inactive per worker type and country, so contractors only get a licence if you agreed that.
- After a Termination in Workday, KoppelHet sets the licence to inactive on the day after the last working day. LinkedIn describes revoking as an explicit row in the file; we do not rely on a worker who drops out of the file losing their licence automatically.
- The SFTP user in LinkedIn Learning is bound to the administrator who created it. If that administrator loses their rights or licence, the delivery stops. KoppelHet checks the result file after every upload and reports it if it is missing or rejects rows.
- If you use Workday Learning, completed LinkedIn courses reach Workday through LinkedIn's own xAPI connection. It recognises the learner by email or by ID, which must match the email address or username in Workday. KoppelHet aligns the unique ID with that, so completions land on the right worker.
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
Do we also get completed courses back in Workday?
Yes, if you use Workday Learning. That runs through LinkedIn's own xAPI connection; KoppelHet makes sure the learner has the same ID in LinkedIn as in Workday. Without Workday Learning it can be added later as an extension.
Do we need Entra ID or Okta?
Not for user management. KoppelHet delivers directly from Workday through LinkedIn's SFTP delivery. For single sign-on you do use your own identity provider.
What if we already have learners in LinkedIn Learning?
Then we first set the employee ID as the unique ID on every existing learner, based on the email address. Only after that does the daily delivery start, so no duplicate learners appear.
Technical details for IT
For those who want to know how it works under the hood: APIs, fields and sources used.
- Workday is read through a RaaS report with an Integration System User (Employee_ID, Email - Primary Work, Preferred Name, Business Title, Supervisory Organization, manager, worker type and termination date).
- LinkedIn Learning Org Sync over SFTP on sftp.linkedin.com (port 22 or 2705) with an SSH key. CSV in UTF-8 with lowercase headers (preferred_first_name, preferred_last_name, primary_email_address, work_title, unique_user_id), custom attributes as attribute_<label>, groups as group/<name> with 0 or 1, and the product's licence column with active or inactive. After processing LinkedIn writes back a <file>.csv_resultReport.csv.
- Completions to Workday Learning run through LinkedIn's xAPI integration (User Type Email or ID). For reporting outside Workday Learning the learningActivityReports API (aggregationCriteria.primary=INDIVIDUAL) can be read later; that is outside this integration.
Which fields are transferred
The key fields. The full mapping is agreed per customer.
| Field in Workday | Field in LinkedIn Learning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Employee_ID | unique_user_id | Fixed from the first upload, so a new email address does not become a new learner |
Email - Primary Work | primary_email_address | |
Preferred Name (First, Last) | preferred_first_name en preferred_last_name | |
Business Title | work_title | |
Supervisory Organization | attribute_Afdeling | |
Manager (Email - Primary Work) | attribute_Leidinggevende | |
Company of land | group/<naam> | 0 or 1 per group |
Licentieregel en Termination | Default_license_learning_proAllLanguages_status (active of inactive) | Column name depends on the LinkedIn product |
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