Sometimes it is required to sync workspace users based on data on some other system (CRM, Member register, other database). Howspace offers two ways to manage this kind of syncing:
SCIM (Read more here)
Remote Sources (SFTP & CSV based syncing)
CSV-format
For syncing to work, you need to have participants defined in a CSV file. Here are the requirements for CSV:
UTF-8 encoding
Comma as separator
Double quotes (") as an optional enclosure character
Double quotes should be escaped using double double quotes ("")
Multiple values should be separated as newlines (these can be matched against multiple choice profile fields)
You can name the file as you see fit
Always include the header row
Required columns are:
ID (unique ID from the source database)
Email (must be unique)
First name (value can be empty)
Last name (value can be empty)
Mobile (value can be empty)
After the required columns, you can define custom columns that will be imported if the column name matches the profile field name on the workspace.
Only include active participants, we handle create, update, and delete activities as needed
Example CSV
ID,Email,First name,Last name,Mobile,Role,Region,Birthdate 12345,john.doe@example.com,John,Doe,,"Manager Region Lead","EUROPE ""COMMUNITY"" REGION",1984-01-23 23456,peter.pan@example.com,Peter,Pan,+358123123,Employee,"ASIA, AFRICA & AUSTRALIA",1953-02-05
Defining the remote source
Remote Source means connection to another service. Currently only supported connection type is SFTP. You need to define the remote source once and you can then use it for multiple workspaces.
Creating a new Remote Source from the Account Manager:
Click "Remote Sources" from side menu
Click "Create a new Remote Source"
Fill out the form. You need to know these:
Host
Port (defaults to 22)
User
Password or Private Key
Click "Create a new Remote Source"
You should now see Remote Source on the page
If your SFTP server has IP restrictions, these are the IP addresses that we are using to fetch data and need to be whitelisted:
13.49.119.44
13.49.168.26
Attach CSV from Remote Source to a workspace
After creating a Remote Source connection, you can attach a CSV file from a Remote Source to a workspace. This happens from the Account Manager => Workspaces view.
Find the workspace where you want to sync users from CSV
Click "..." button from the Actions column
Choose "Attach Remote Source"
Choose the wanted Remote Source from the dropdown and define the file path to your CSV file. The file path is relative to the user's home folder.
Click "Save Remote Source"
If you now navigate to Remote Sources, you should see the Workspaces on the list of workspaces with attached remote sources.
You can test the sync by clicking "Sync now" from "..." menu.
After the sync you can check the possible errors and warnings from "View last sync results"
Automated sync will happen now once every 24 hours. If you notice any hiccups, you can always check the results from the last sync. Also please note that sync will only update and delete users added to the workspace through the sync. It will not delete manually created admins and participants, even when they do not exist in the CSV file.