HR integration guide
ADP + UbiGrowth workflows
ADP is a payroll and HR services provider, typically authoritative for payroll and workforce administration. This guide covers the records that matter, how the connection should be scoped, and what the first bounded workflow should be.
Introduction
Make ADP part of the workflow, not another silo.
Validate connector availability for your workspace
This guide covers how a team designs a HR workflow around ADP with UbiGrowth: which records stay authoritative, how the connection should be scoped, what the first bounded workflow should be, and how to tell whether it worked.
The records that matter are Worker, Pay Statement, Time Card, Position, Organization, and Payroll Run. ADP identifies workers with an associate id that differs across ADP products, and a company running more than one ADP product has more than one id for the same person.
ADP is not currently on UbiVibe's verified connector list. This page is an implementation design reference: use it to specify the workflow, then validate whether the connection is available and correctly scoped for your workspace before you make it a dependency. The verified UbiVibe connections today are Salesforce, HubSpot, Gmail, Google Drive, Slack, and GitHub.
The platform layer is the usual destination for this connection, because the value shows up as governed context and execution shared across more than one team.
Why teams evaluate this connection
Integrations create value when they remove operating friction.
The first design decision is not which API endpoint to call; it is which system owns the record, what event should trigger work, who owns the exception path, and what successful completion means.
HR systems hold the most sensitive data in the company and are usually the least connected, for good reason. Anything reading ADP is reading personal data, and the default answer to a casual integration request should be no.
That caution has a cost, though. People-operations work is full of repetitive coordination — onboarding checklists, access requests, candidate scheduling, document collection — that stays manual because the systems that could automate it are the ones nobody wants to connect broadly.
You're likely here because
- Onboarding and offboarding run on a manual checklist
- Candidate or employee coordination consumes disproportionate time
- People data cannot be connected without a privacy review nobody has scheduled
Record model
What a ADP integration actually reads and writes.
Integration design starts from the objects the system really exposes, not from a generic connector diagram. These are ADP's.
Identity and matching
ADP identifies workers with an associate id that differs across ADP products, and a company running more than one ADP product has more than one id for the same person.
Start here
Read Time Cards with exceptions before the payroll cutoff and route them to the approving manager while there is still time to correct.
What this will not do
It will not adjust pay. Payroll changes are governed and auditable, and ADP enforces that; the workflow prepares the change and escalates it to whoever holds the authority.
The constraint to plan around
ADP API access requires certificate-based authentication and per-product entitlements granted through ADP, so access is an onboarding process with lead time rather than a self-serve key.
Build notes
What you actually have to reason about in ADP.
The fields that carry meaning, how the connection authenticates, and whether the event surface can be trusted. This is the part that decides whether the integration works in month three.
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| associateOID | differs across ADP products, so one person has several identifiers |
| worker status | active, terminated, or on leave, each affecting pay differently |
| time card exceptions | the pre-payroll signal worth acting on while correction is still possible |
| pay cycle / cutoff | the deadline that makes an exception urgent |
| position / job code | the organisational structure used for reporting |
Authentication
Certificate-based mutual TLS with per-product entitlements granted through ADP. This is an onboarding process with real lead time, not a self-serve key, and it should be started early.
Events and delivery
Event notification is available for some products through ADP's event framework, with polling common otherwise. Product entitlement decides what is available.
Workflow
How the ADP workflow runs.
The operating sequence, from reading the source system through to the result landing back where it belongs.
Step 01
Complete the privacy review
The data-protection assessment happens before the connection exists, and defines what is in and out of scope.
Step 02
Connect at the narrowest scope
Only the ADP fields the named workflow requires are connected, with sensitive categories excluded by explicit decision.
Step 03
Coordinate, do not decide
The workflow tracks tasks, sends reminders, and schedules, while every decision affecting an individual stays with a person.
Step 04
Surface status without exposing detail
Progress is visible to the people who need it without opening the underlying personal records more widely than the workflow requires.
Design decisions
The HR decisions this connection forces.
Each of these has to be settled before the ADP workflow is allowed to write anything.
Step 01
Scope to one workflow, not to the system
Connect ADP for a specific workflow with the narrowest access that supports it. Employee data should never be connected broadly because it might be useful later.
Step 02
Exclude sensitive categories deliberately
Compensation, health, performance, and disciplinary data should be excluded by explicit decision rather than by assuming a scope will not reach them.
Implementation path
How to implement the ADP workflow.
- 01
Complete the privacy and data-protection review before connecting anything; this is a prerequisite, not a follow-up task.
- 02
Pick one workflow — coordination, scheduling, or status — and scope the ADP connection to exactly what it needs.
- 03
Document which data categories are explicitly excluded and confirm the scope cannot reach them.
- 04
Once time-card exceptions route before cutoff, add overtime-trend reporting so scheduling changes rather than the exceptions repeating.
Governance
Controls that matter.
Control 01
Employment decisions stay with people. Automation coordinates and prepares; it does not evaluate or decide.
Control 02
Access is scoped to a named workflow, reviewed on a schedule, and revoked when the workflow ends.
Control 03
Compensation, health, performance, and disciplinary data are excluded unless there is a specific, reviewed reason to include them.
Failure modes
How a ADP integration breaks in production.
Not generic integration advice. These follow from how this system actually behaves, which is why they look nothing like the list on the next guide over.
Symptom 01
The same person has different identifiers in two reports.
Cause
associateOID differs across ADP products.
Fix
Maintain a cross-product identity map rather than assuming one identifier.
Symptom 02
Integration setup takes far longer than planned.
Cause
Certificate-based auth and per-product entitlements are provisioned by ADP.
Fix
Start credentialing at project kickoff; it has real lead time.
Symptom 03
Time card corrections arrive after payroll.
Cause
Exceptions were surfaced after the cutoff.
Fix
Align the check to the pay cycle cutoff with enough lead time for a manager to act.
What changes at scale
Volume scales with headcount, and entitlements gate which data is reachable at all. Plan the entitlement set before designing the workflow.
Examples
What a working ADP workflow looks like.
Bounded scenarios rather than a feature list. Each one can be verified against work the team already does.
Payroll operations
With ADP connected at a narrow scope, a coordination workflow can run from real records instead of a manually-maintained checklist.
Onboarding coordination
Tasks, access requests, and document collection are tracked as records with owners and status, so the checklist is not held in one person's head.
Limitations and considerations
What to validate before you depend on this.
- ADP API access requires certificate-based authentication and per-product entitlements granted through ADP, so access is an onboarding process with lead time rather than a self-serve key.
- Payroll writes are governed and auditable, and errors have legal and financial consequences for real people. Automation should prepare and escalate rather than commit.
- When rapid integration is needed. The credentialing and entitlement process means ADP is a planned integration rather than an opportunistic one.
- ADP holds personal data. Connecting it requires a privacy and data-protection assessment before, not after, implementation.
- Employment decisions are legally regulated in most jurisdictions. Automated assistance must keep the human decision explicit and documented.
FAQ
ADP integration questions.
What records does a ADP integration actually work with?
The primary records are Worker, Pay Statement, Time Card, Position, Organization, and Payroll Run. ADP identifies workers with an associate id that differs across ADP products, and a company running more than one ADP product has more than one id for the same person.
What should the first ADP workflow be?
Read Time Cards with exceptions before the payroll cutoff and route them to the approving manager while there is still time to correct.
What will a ADP integration not do?
It will not adjust pay. Payroll changes are governed and auditable, and ADP enforces that; the workflow prepares the change and escalates it to whoever holds the authority.
What is the main constraint to plan around?
ADP API access requires certificate-based authentication and per-product entitlements granted through ADP, so access is an onboarding process with lead time rather than a self-serve key.
What changes about a ADP integration at scale?
Volume scales with headcount, and entitlements gate which data is reachable at all. Plan the entitlement set before designing the workflow.
How does authentication work for ADP?
Certificate-based mutual TLS with per-product entitlements granted through ADP. This is an onboarding process with real lead time, not a self-serve key, and it should be started early.
Does ADP support webhooks, and can they be trusted?
Event notification is available for some products through ADP's event framework, with polling common otherwise. Product entitlement decides what is available.
What is the risk of writing to ADP?
Payroll writes are governed and auditable, and errors have legal and financial consequences for real people. Automation should prepare and escalate rather than commit.
When is connecting ADP the wrong call?
When rapid integration is needed. The credentialing and entitlement process means ADP is a planned integration rather than an opportunistic one.
What should a ADP integration automate first?
Start with one bounded workflow that removes a measurable handoff, duplicate-entry step, reporting delay, or follow-up gap. Expand only after the first workflow is reliable.
Does UbiGrowth require ADP to be replaced?
No. The operating model is designed around connecting to systems that should remain authoritative and building workflows around them rather than forcing a wholesale replacement.
Is connector availability identical for every workspace?
No. Availability can depend on provider configuration, authentication, scopes, workspace setup, and deployment state. Validate the required connection before treating it as an operational dependency.
Is it safe to connect ADP?
Only at a narrow, reviewed scope for a specific workflow, after your own privacy assessment. Employee data should not be connected broadly on the chance it becomes useful.
Can this screen or evaluate people?
No. Employment decisions stay with people. These workflows coordinate, schedule, and track — they do not evaluate individuals.
What data should be excluded?
Compensation, health, performance, and disciplinary data unless there is a specific, reviewed reason to include it. Exclusion should be an explicit decision.
How this access is governed
What ARIA is allowed to do in ADP, and who decides.
Connecting ADP is a permission decision, not just a setup step. These are the controls that decide what ARIA can reach, what it can change, what gets recorded, and how you take the access back.
Required permissions
ARIA works through the scopes the connection was granted, and no others. Authorization happens at the provider, so the permissions being requested are shown by the system itself before anything is connected.
What it can reach
Reachable systems are the intersection of what your organization approved in the connector registry and what the requesting identity is permitted to use. Identity resolves before execution, not after.
What it can do
Actions run through explicit execution paths with state, spend, and failure boundaries — a bounded worker path rather than an open-ended agent loop with a credential.
Credential handling
Credentials live in the governed connection layer and are resolved through canonical connection identity. They are not pasted into individual workflows, prompts, or generated artifacts.
Action logging
Execution carries state and traces: what triggered the work, which connection it used, and what came back — including an explicit failure when something did not run.
Approval and revocation
Consequential actions can be made to require a person to approve them. Access can be changed or revoked at the connection, and ARIA loses that reach without unpicking the work already completed.
Start with ARIA
Ask ARIA to run this integration.
Describe the outcome you need across this system. ARIA works out the scopes, data, and actions the job requires, and operates inside the access you grant — which you can change or revoke.
- ARIA acts only through the systems and permissions you connect.
- Connections use scoped credentials you can change or revoke.
- Actions are recorded, and consequential ones can require approval.
Start here
Turn the integration into a working business outcome.
Start with ARIA to describe the outcome, then continue into the product path that fits the workflow. Connector availability and required scopes should be validated for the specific workspace before production use.