Most modern employee survey tools connect to commonly used HR systems such as AFAS, Visma Raet, SAP SuccessFactors, and Workday via an API, SFTP file exchange, or a direct system integration. Which integration fits best depends on the HR system you use, the frequency at which you want to synchronize employee data, and the degree of automation you are aiming for. In this article, we answer the most frequently asked questions about HR system integrations for employee surveys.
What types of integrations are possible with HR systems?
There are three main types of integrations that employee survey tools use to communicate with HR systems: an API integration, an SFTP file exchange, and a manual import via a standardized file format such as CSV or Excel. The choice between these options determines how up-to-date your employee data is and how much manual effort is involved.
An API integration (Application Programming Interface) is the most direct and automated form. Two systems communicate directly with each other via a secure connection. As soon as an employee joins, switches teams, or leaves, that change is automatically passed on to the survey platform. There is no need to manually export or upload anything.
An SFTP integration works via a secure file transfer. The HR system exports a file with current employee data at fixed intervals, for example every night. The survey platform automatically retrieves that file and processes the changes. This is slightly less real-time than an API, but more than sufficient for most organizations.
A manual import is the simplest option and requires no technical integration. You export a file from the HR system yourself and upload it to the survey platform. This works well for annual surveys, but falls short if you want to continuously listen to your employees.
Which HR systems are most commonly supported?
The most widely supported HR systems for integrations with employee survey tools are AFAS, Visma Raet (YouForce), SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, and Personio. These systems are the most widely used in the Netherlands and internationally, and have well-documented APIs or standard export formats.
In the Dutch market, AFAS and Visma Raet are the most common HR systems among medium-sized and large organizations. Both systems support standardized exports and offer API capabilities for direct integration. For international organizations, SAP SuccessFactors and Workday are the dominant players, with extensive API documentation and a broad ecosystem of integration partners.
Personio is rapidly gaining ground among fast-growing organizations and scale-ups. The system has a modern REST API that is relatively straightforward to connect to survey platforms. For smaller organizations, Nmbrs and Loket.nl are also relevant systems that can be connected via file export.
How does an automatic integration work in practice?
An automatic HR system integration ensures that your survey platform always has access to the current employee list, including team composition, department, location, and employment details. When someone joins, that person automatically appears in the next survey round. When someone leaves, the invitation stops.
In practice, an automatic integration proceeds through the following steps:
- Set up the connection: You share the API key or SFTP login credentials of your HR system with the survey platform. This is a one-time technical step guided by the vendor.
- Define field mapping: You determine which fields from the HR system are imported, such as name, email address, department, team, and manager. This forms the basis for segmentation in reports.
- Choose synchronization frequency: You configure how often the integration runs: daily, weekly, or with every change via an API trigger.
- Activate triggers: Some platforms support event-driven triggers. For example, a new employee can automatically receive an onboarding survey as soon as they are created in the HR system.
- Test and validate: Before the integration goes live, you verify that the right employees end up in the right segments and that privacy-sensitive fields are properly restricted.
The result is that, as an HR Director or HR Business Partner, you never have to manually maintain an employee list again. The data in your survey platform is always accurate and your reports per team or department are immediately usable by managers.
What are the advantages of a direct integration over a manual import?
A direct integration saves time, reduces errors, and enables continuous listening. With a manual import, you are always lagging behind: employees who have already left still receive invitations, new colleagues are forgotten, and team changes are only processed at the next export. A direct integration eliminates these problems structurally.
The benefits at a glance:
- Always up-to-date data: The employee list in your survey platform reflects the real-time situation in your HR system. No outdated contact details, no missing team members.
- Less manual work for HR: You do not need to export, clean up, and upload files. This saves time and reduces the risk of human errors.
- Better segmentation: Because team composition and hierarchy are automatically included, you can display reports directly at the manager level without additional processing.
- Continuous listening becomes feasible: An annual employee survey is perfectly manageable with manual imports. But if you want to switch to pulse surveys or event-driven surveys, you need an automatic integration. Otherwise, the administrative burden becomes too great.
- Lower risk of privacy errors: Manual exports sometimes contain more data than necessary. A controlled API integration retrieves only the fields that have been agreed upon and documented.
What data security requirements apply to HR system integrations?
HR system integrations are subject to the requirements of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and, depending on the vendor, additional security standards such as ISO 27001. In concrete terms, this means that the integration must be encrypted, that a data processing agreement must be in place, and that only strictly necessary personal data is exchanged.
When assessing an HR integration, these are the most important security requirements to check:
- Encrypted connection: All data transmitted via an API or SFTP must be encrypted, at minimum via TLS 1.2 or higher.
- Data processing agreement: The survey platform processes personal data on behalf of your organization. This requires a written data processing agreement in accordance with the GDPR.
- Data minimization: Only connect the fields that are genuinely necessary for the survey. Salary information, national identification numbers, or medical data do not belong in a survey platform.
- Access control: Who has access to the integration and to the data? Ensure role-based access rights and log who has viewed or modified which data and when.
- Anonymization of results: The integration handles the correct invitation, but responses must be processed anonymously. Check how the platform handles small groups where individual responses could potentially be traced back.
A platform that is ISO 27001-certified has these requirements structurally embedded in its processes and has them externally audited annually. This provides additional assurance, especially when working with sensitive employee data.
When is custom development needed instead of a standard integration?
Custom development is needed when your HR system does not support a standard API or export format, when your organizational structure is too complex for a generic field mapping, or when you want to link specific triggers to processes that take place outside the HR system, such as a reorganization or a multi-phase onboarding.
In most cases, a standard integration is sufficient. But there are situations where custom development is the only working solution:
- You are working with an older or less common HR system that does not offer a modern API and where the export formats differ from what the survey platform expects.
- Your organization has a complex hierarchy with multiple layers, matrix structures, or employees who report to multiple teams. A standard field mapping cannot always handle this correctly.
- You want to link event-driven surveys to processes outside the HR system, such as a review in a separate performance management system or a training completion in an LMS.
- You have specific anonymization rules that differ from the platform's default settings, for example because you work with small teams where additional threshold values are required.
It is advisable, when selecting an employee survey platform, to always ask which HR systems are supported as standard and what the lead time and costs are for a custom integration. This prevents surprises after signing the contract.
How CYS Group helps with HR system integrations for employee surveys
CYS Group offers direct integration capabilities for employee surveys through the cx.management platform, including support for commonly used HR systems. The approach is focused on outcomes, not technology: the integration is a means to continuously and reliably listen to employees, without HR having to perform manual tasks each time.
What CYS Group concretely offers:
- Automatic synchronization of employee data from your HR system, so that invitations always go to the right people and team reports are accurate.
- Event-driven triggers based on HR events, such as onboarding, team changes, or departure, for targeted pulse surveys at the right moment.
- GDPR-compliant and ISO 27001-certified, with a data processing agreement and anonymous processing of responses, even for small teams.
- Team reports that managers can use directly, fed by the current organizational structure from your HR system.
- Custom development where needed, including guidance for complex organizational structures or less common HR systems.
Want to know whether your HR system can be directly connected to cx.management? Get in touch and we will explore the possibilities together. Make every experience count.
Frequently Asked Questions
Hoe lang duurt het gemiddeld om een hr-systeemkoppeling in te richten?
De doorlooptijd hangt af van het type koppeling en de complexiteit van je organisatie. Een standaard API- of SFTP-koppeling met een veelgebruikt hr-systeem zoals AFAS of Workday is doorgaans binnen één tot drie weken operationeel, inclusief testen en valideren. Bij maatwerkkoppelingen of complexe organisatiestructuren kan dit oplopen tot vier tot acht weken. Vraag bij je leverancier altijd vooraf om een concreet implementatieplan met mijlpalen.
Wat als onze medewerkerdata in het hr-systeem niet volledig of inconsistent is?
Een hr-systeemkoppeling is zo betrouwbaar als de data die erin zit: ontbrekende e-mailadressen, verouderde teamindelingen of inconsistente afdelingsbenamingen komen direct zichtbaar naar boven in je onderzoeksplatform. Het is daarom verstandig om vóór de implementatie een datakwaliteitscheck uit te voeren in je hr-systeem. Veel onderzoeksplatforms bieden een validatiestap tijdens de onboarding waarbij afwijkingen worden gesignaleerd, zodat je die kunt oplossen voordat de eerste uitnodigingen worden verstuurd.
Kunnen we meerdere hr-systemen tegelijk koppelen, bijvoorbeeld na een fusie of overname?
Ja, de meeste moderne onderzoeksplatforms ondersteunen koppelingen met meerdere hr-systemen tegelijk, wat veel voorkomt bij fusies, overnames of organisaties met aparte systemen per bedrijfsonderdeel. De uitdaging zit dan niet in de techniek, maar in de harmonisatie van velden: hoe zorg je dat 'afdeling' in systeem A hetzelfde betekent als in systeem B? Dit vraagt om een doordachte veldmapping en soms een tussenliggende datalaag. Bespreek dit scenario expliciet met je leverancier tijdens de selectiefase.
Hoe gaan we om met medewerkers die geen zakelijk e-mailadres hebben, zoals productiemedewerkers of winkelmedewerkers?
Voor medewerkers zonder zakelijk e-mailadres zijn er alternatieve distributiemethoden, zoals het versturen van uitnodigingen via een persoonlijk e-mailadres, het gebruik van unieke QR-codes of toegangscodes die via een leidinggevende worden verspreid, of integratie met een interne communicatietool zoals Microsoft Teams of een personeelsapp. Controleer bij de selectie van een onderzoeksplatform welke distributieopties beschikbaar zijn naast e-mail, zodat je ook deze doelgroep betrouwbaar bereikt.
Wat gebeurt er met historische onderzoeksdata als we overstappen naar een nieuw hr-systeem of onderzoeksplatform?
Bij een overstap naar een nieuw hr-systeem of onderzoeksplatform is datamigratiebeleid een cruciaal aandachtspunt dat vaak te laat wordt besproken. Historische onderzoeksresultaten zijn waardevol voor trendanalyses en moeten idealiter worden meegenomen of geëxporteerd in een gestandaardiseerd formaat. Vraag je huidige en toekomstige leverancier expliciet naar hun dataportabiliteitsbeleid, exportmogelijkheden en of historische segmentatiedata behouden blijft wanneer organisatiestructuren wijzigen.
Hoe zorgen we ervoor dat leidinggevenden alleen de rapportages van hun eigen team zien en niet die van andere teams?
Toegangsbeheer op rapportageniveau wordt in goed ingerichte platforms direct gekoppeld aan de hiërarchische structuur die vanuit het hr-systeem wordt gesynchroniseerd. Zodra de leidinggevende-medewerkerrelatie correct is vastgelegd in je hr-systeem en die koppeling actief is, krijgt elke leidinggevende automatisch toegang tot alleen de data van zijn of haar team. Controleer bij de implementatie of het platform rolgebaseerde toegangsrechten ondersteunt en of wijzigingen in leidinggevenden automatisch worden doorgevoerd zonder handmatige aanpassing.
Is een hr-systeemkoppeling ook zinvol als we maar één keer per jaar een medewerkersonderzoek uitvoeren?
Voor een jaarlijks MTO is een handmatige import vaak voldoende, maar een automatische koppeling biedt ook dan voordelen: je elimineert het risico op een verouderde medewerkerlijst op het moment van uitsturen en je bespaart de tijd van het opschonen en uploaden van een exportbestand. Bovendien legt een actieve koppeling de basis voor toekomstige uitbreiding naar pulse-onderzoeken of event-driven surveys, zonder dat je dan alsnog een implementatietraject hoeft te doorlopen. De investering in de koppeling betaalt zich terug zodra je ambities groeien.
