Platform access level: Org Admins
Connecting SuccessFactors to Arist keeps your learner roster current without anyone exporting a file. New hires, profile changes, and departures flow into Arist on a schedule, so the right learners are always reachable for training. This guide covers the inbound people sync, and is written for the IT and SuccessFactors administrators who set it up.
1. Inbound people sync overview
Arist connects directly to your SuccessFactors tenant over its OData v4 web services, authenticated with OAuth 2.0. It reads each learner's user record and HRIS metadata to create learners in Arist, segment audiences, and trigger automations. Those records and their metadata are synced into Learning from Employee Central upstream, so the fields you map in Employee Central become the fields Arist can read.
Note: Writing the courses and completions Arist generates back to SuccessFactors is a separate outbound flow, covered under Related articles.
2. Before you begin
Confirm these items in the weeks before your setup session, since each is a credential, an access grant, or a decision that can take time to settle.
Item | What to confirm |
OAuth client created | Generate the Client ID, Client Secret, and Company ID on the OAuth Token Server. Capture the secret at creation, since it cannot be retrieved later. |
API service account provisioned | A dedicated admin or API user for the sync to run as, with an active, non-expiring or rotation-managed credential. |
Root domain confirmed | The host of your SuccessFactors Learning environment, the base URL the integration connects to. |
HRIS metadata fields selected | Decide which user fields Arist receives, and confirm they are populated and synced from Employee Central into Learning. |
Learner identifier mapping confirmed | Identify the stable key for each learner, for example person ID or user ID, and whether it matches across Employee Central and Learning. |
3. Decisions to settle before mapping
These questions define who syncs to Arist and what happens when an employee's situation changes. They are the items most likely to surface mid-project if they are not decided up front, so bring answers to your first session.
Question | What to decide |
Which employee populations are in scope | Whether the sync includes full-time only, or also part-time, fixed-term, and external or contingent workers, and confirm the filters match. |
What happens when someone changes employment type | Conversions and transfers can issue a new person or user ID, so decide which record wins and whether learning history follows the person. |
How active and inactive employees are handled | Map employment status as a synced field, and decide whether someone on leave keeps receiving training, pauses, or deactivates. |
What happens at termination and rehire | How quickly messages stop, whether the learner record deactivates or is removed, and whether a rehire reuses the same person ID or a new one. |
Which email is authoritative | Employee Central email, corporate UPN, and Learning contact email can differ, so name the system of record and which address reaches each learner. |
What other systems create or update users | If Teams or a device-management sync also provisions learners, list every source and the identifier each keys on so no one arrives twice. |
Whether legacy, shared, or generic emails exist | Acquired-company domains, regional domains, and shared mailboxes break one person to one email, so decide how each is reconciled. |
How fresh the data must be | Agree a sync frequency that matches how fast your workforce changes. Daily is typical, so say so now if transitions must reflect within hours. |
Who is excluded | Executives, works councils, specific countries, or people without corporate email are easiest to handle as sync filters, so name them now. |
4. Credentials your IT team provides
Your IT team provides the five values below, all generated or located inside your SuccessFactors Learning administration environment. The credentials go to Arist, never the other way around.
Field | What it is | Where to find it |
Root Domain | Your SuccessFactors Learning instance URL | The host of your Learning environment, for example |
Client ID | The OAuth client (application) identifier | System Admin, Configuration, OAuth Token Server |
Client Secret | The secret paired with the Client ID, shown once | The same OAuth Token Server page. Regenerating it deprecates the previous secret |
Username | The admin or API service account the calls run as | Profile settings of the service account on your Learning instance |
Company ID | Your tenant identifier | The same page as the Client ID and Client Secret |
Important: Capture the Client Secret at creation. It cannot be retrieved later and must be regenerated if lost, which deprecates the previous secret.
5. Endpoints Arist reads
Arist reads from your Learning OData v4 services to identify learners and pull the metadata attached to each. Share this list with your security team, and apply any IP allow-listing your policy requires.
Purpose | Endpoint |
Find learners |
|
User record and HRIS metadata |
|
Existing learning history |
|
The Find learners and Learning history calls filter by a learner criteria such as learnerID or targetUserID, and Arist queries learning history per user so it has a complete view of prior completions.
6. HRIS metadata fields
The metadata Arist reads is what it uses to create learners and segment audiences, so any field you want to target on has to be available. Commonly mapped fields are Employee ID, Email, Manager, Department, Division, Business unit, Job title, Job code, Location, Country, Hire date, Employment status, Preferred language or locale, and custom fields custom01 to custom15.
Important: Confirm each field you want Arist to use is populated on the employee record and included in your Employee Central to Learning user sync. A field that is not mapped or kept current in SuccessFactors is not visible to Arist and cannot be used for targeting.
7. Matching learners on a stable identifier
Arist matches each learner on a stable key that survives job changes, transfers, and rehires, such as the person ID or user ID rather than email. Confirm that key is consistent across Employee Central and Learning, because a value that differs between the two systems can split one person into two learner records.
If another system such as Teams also provisions learners into Arist, agree which identifier each source keys on, so the same person is never created twice.
Related articles
LMS Integration - SuccessFactors
Arist and SuccessFactors - Technical Guide
HRIS Data Preparation
Note: Need help at any point? Reach out to your Arist Customer Success contact, or email [email protected].