Edge Import - Employee Loads and Feeds - Overview

The Employee load type supports maintaining employees' organizational, employment, personal, contact, relational, and user record custom field data.

PERMISSION NAME PERMISSION DESCRIPTION CATEGORY
Access CHR - Employee Load Grants access to the Cornerstone HR (CHR) employee data load via Edge Import. This permission and data load type are only available to organizations using CHR. This permission cannot be constrained. This is an administrator permission. Edge Import
Access Edge Import Grants access to the Edge Import tool, which enables administrators to load data into their portal. This permission cannot be constrained. This is an administrator permission. Edge Import
Edge Import - Employee Load Constrained This permission enables organizations to constrain an administrator's ability to load employee data. Administrators can only load employee data if the employee is within the constraints on this permission. This permission can be constrained by OU. This is an administrator permission. Edge Import

Starter Guide

Select this link to download the Edge Import User & OU Loads and Feeds Starter Guide.

Acceptable Values and Codes

To determine what values are accepted for each field or to view a list of specific codes (e.g., country codes, time zone codes), refer to the latest template guide, which can be downloaded from the Edge Import Homepage.

Unique Identifier

Organizations can choose to use the User ID or Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) as the primary key or identifier for employees in their data loads and feeds.

  • User ID is the default identifier, and it can be used to update existing user records or create new user records.
    • If the User ID provided in the data load file already exists in the system, then the data load updates the existing user record. If the User ID does not already exist, then the data load creates a new user record.
    • When a User Name is not specified, the User ID is used as the User Name.
    • User ID and User Name are cross-unique, which means that a user cannot be loaded with a User Name that is already used as a User ID for another user. When a data load is attempted where the User ID and User Name values are not cross-unique, the data load fails.
    • When new users are loaded, a new unique Globally Unique Identifier is automatically generated for these users.
  • Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) can also be used to update existing user records or create new user records.
    • Every user record in the Cornerstone system has a GUID.
    • GUID values cannot be updated.
    • When the GUID option is selected for the primary identifier, the following is true:
      • User ID values are not created automatically, and they must be mapped and provided in the data load file.
      • If a GUID value is provided in the data load, then it must match an existing GUID value in the system in order to update the record. If the provided GUID value does not match an existing GUID value, then the data record is invalid and the data is not updated in the system.
      • If a GUID value is not provided in the data load, then the record is treated as a new record and a GUID value is automatically created. This is only true if GUID is selected as the primary identifier.
    • When the GUID (Update Only) option is selected for the primary identifier, all mapped fields become optional, including key fields like the User ID. In this scenario, there will not be a need to provide all "required" fields.

Passwords

All new employee records will be assigned the default corporate password, when configured. As a best practice, users should be required to reset their passwords upon initial login through a setting in Password Preferences. See Password Preferences - General.

Employee Relationships

Cornerstone supports standard employee relationships, such as Self, Manager, etc. Optionally, customers may configure custom employee relationships.

  • When validating standard employee relationships, if the related employee does not exist in the system and is successfully created in the same load file, the user relationships will be updated.
  • When validating custom relationships, if the related employee does not exist in the system, that user relationship will be skipped even if the user exists in the load file. The user itself will still be imported but with warnings.

Active Status

Active Status information fields can be updated using Edge Import.

  • The status information must contain both the Activation Date and Deactivation Date or only the Status.
  • If the Deactivation Date is not known, customers may use the maximum value, which can be found in the Acceptable Values section of the Template Guide.

Auto-Inactivate Users

The Inactivate employees not present in file configuration option (Auto-Deactivate) is used to automatically deactivate employee or organizational unit (OU) records that are not in the data feed or one-time data load.

  • The Allow Reconciliation user record field allows or prevents a given user from being automatically deactivated by a data feed or one-time data load that uses the Auto-Deactivate feature.
  • If Allow Reconciliation is set to Yes for a user, and the Auto-Deactivate feature is enabled, then any user that is not included in the data file is automatically made inactive.
  • Allow Reconciliation can be set on the User Record page in the system or in an employee load file.
  • By default, the Auto-Deactivate process is skipped if more than 10% of all active records are to be inactivated via Edge Import. This threshold can be increased or decreased by contacting Global Customer Support.
  • The Auto-Deactivate functionality should not be used in the following scenarios:
    • Delta feeds
    • Multiple feeds delivering different sets of employees
    • A single feed containing several files for different sets of employees.

Culture

By default, the language selected in the What culture should be used as a default configuration option is used for fields that require culture to insert and update the data in the system. This is relevant for all localized fields.

For example, if a portal's default language is English (US), and the Edge Import configuration's culture is set to German, all fields that require a culture in order to be inserted or updated are updated with the German translation if it is not provided in English (US).

When downloading a template guide for a translation load, the template guide shows only fields that are relevant for the translation load.

Data Retention and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)

To insert or update GDPR-related data via one-time loads or data feeds, the following fields need to be considered:

  • Active Status - The user needs to be inactive to trigger GDPR-related processes.
  • Legal Entity Organizational Unit - This organizational unit type is used to manage data retention settings. This organizational unit type can be inserted and updated via Edge Import as with other organizational unit types.
  • Employment Status - This includes User Type, Employment Status, and Termination data.

The Termination Date is the important field driving the GDPR process. To update the Termination Date, the data load needs to provide the User Type, Employment Status, Termination Type, Termination Reason, and Termination Date. These fields are conditionally required when updating the Termination Date.

Tip: Never load an employee's Legal Entity and their Termination Date in one data load. Always first load the Legal Entity with an effective date. Then, in a second load, update the employee with their Termination Date. If you include both in the same load, the anonymization or deletion will not be triggered.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1,000,000 records or rows. If more than the maximum number of allowed records are included in a data load, then Edge Import loads the defined limit and rejects records after the limit is reached.

Active and Inactive.

Yes. Regular expressions define a required format for User custom fields. If a RegEx custom field value does not satisfy the RegEx requirements, the value is not stored, and the field will have a warning.

This functionality is available for Cornerstone HR customers.

"Can User Relations accept inactive Users"

Yes.

No.

No. You cannot load passwords via Edge Import.

No. Deletion is not supported, but inactivation is supported.

In the Employee data load, you can do one of the following:

  • Set the user's display language in the data load.
  • Assign the user to a division organizational unit where the organizational unit's default language is set appropriately.

Yes. This is possible for organizations using the Recruiting module.

This capability is enabled with the Do you want to convert applicants to employees? option. When this option is set to Yes, the load will process employee and applicant records, and any applicants included in the load file are automatically converted to employees. When this option is set to No, the load will only process employee records, and any applicants included in the load file will return an error message.

Implementation

Organizations must activate Edge Import via the Edge Import tile in Edge Marketplace. To access the Edge Marketplace, go to Admin > Tools > Edge > Marketplace.

  • In Pilot and Stage portals, this functionality is available to be tested for free by selecting the Install button.
  • In Production portals, this functionality can be purchased and enabled by selecting the Purchase button.