Summary: User Sync automates employee lifecycle management by connecting your HR system to Speakap. This guide is for admins and IT teams. It walks through the User Sync dashboard, the configuration and mapping logic, and the validation tools, with links to the detailed guide for each topic.
Getting started and logging in
Speakap gives administrators direct access to their User Sync dashboard, so you can manage your configurations yourself.
- Access: go to the User Sync portal and log in with your Speakap credentials.
- Permissions: access can be granted by your Customer Success Manager, who will arrange the necessary training and invitations so you can manage your configurations securely.
- Network overview: once logged in, you see a dashboard with one or more Configurations. Each Configuration is a source the User Sync uses for its user, group, and permission management. For example, if you have HR System 1 in the USA and a different HR System 2 in Europe, you can create two Configurations: one for the USA and one for the EU. Note: each user should only be in one source, to avoid data conflicts.
Configuration and connectors
Each sync starts with a Connector, which defines where the data comes from.
- Source diversity: Speakap supports dozens of pre-built connectors for popular HR tools (such as Workday, AFAS, ADP, Oracle, SAP, and Paycor) as well as secure file transfers (SFTP).
- Data verification: within a configuration, you can preview the raw data imported from your HR system before applying it to Speakap. This lets you check that fields like Email, Surname, Work Site, and Employee Status come through correctly. You can add as many fields as you need for group assignment and profile information.
- Export for audit: you can download your source data (the data imported from your HR system) as a CSV file at any time, to manually audit the records Speakap receives.
The mapping logic
Mapping is the translation layer that tells Speakap how to interpret your HR data. There are three types:
- Column mapping links your HR fields to Speakap profile fields. This is where you set the XID (the required, permanent account anchor), normalize data formats, and define which email address is primary. Full guide: Understanding Column mapping and its options in User Sync.
- Group mapping defines organizational placement and group membership per user, with rules based on any imported field (department, division, job title, start date, or a combination). Full guide: Understanding Group mapping and its options in User Sync.
- Role mapping determines the administrative permissions a user receives, from global Network Admin roles to local Business Unit Admin roles. Full guide: Understanding Role mapping and its options in User Sync.
All three mapping types can use custom expressions for flexible rules. See Guide to Custom expressions in User Sync.
Options, invitations, and schedules
The User Sync includes safety checks and customization settings to prevent mass errors, such as a safety abort that pauses the sync when too many accounts would change at once, customizable invitation messages, Identity Provider (SSO) settings, and the "Allow XID change on reactivation" option. You can also set the schedule (typically daily) for the sync to run automatically, or trigger a run manually. Full guide: Configuring options, invitations, and schedules in User Sync.
The Organizational Overview
Before running a sync, you can open the Organizational Overview in a new tab. It gives a high-level view of your network structure, showing how many users are allocated to each Business Unit, Local Department, and Topic Group. You can click into any group to see the names and XIDs of its current members.
Validation: the Dry Run
The Dry Run is the most important step before applying imported data to your network. It simulates the sync and summarizes the expected results: how many users will be added, changed, or marked inactive, plus flags for invalid emails, missing names, or unrecognized department codes. You can drill down into individual users to review the exact data update before applying anything. Full guide: Using the Dry run to validate and apply sync changes.
Before you go live
Two more resources round out the series:
- A practical pre-launch checklist: Checklist before running the user sync.
- A glossary of all User Sync terms: User Sync glossary of terms.
Still stuck?
Email us at technicalimplementations@speakap.nl with your network name, the configuration you are working on, and your question, and we'll help you out.