User Provisioning: Adding Your Employees to Recognize

When setting-up your company's Recognize platform, user accounts will need to be created for each employee. This can be conducted through what we refer to as the user provisioning process.

There are 3 main methods available for user provisioning on the Recognize platform:

Bulk Edit
Spreadsheet Import
User Sync

If you are receiving errors on your file, please check out the below section on Common Manual Spreadsheet Import or sFTP Errors.

If you need to update an email address for a user with an existing account, please see the below section on Updating an Email Address.

Bulk Edit:

If you wish to add just one or two users and your user data is not managed automatically, you can do this manually from the Users section of your Admin Portal.

After signing into Recognize, select 'Menu' from the upper left corner of the page
From the drop-down menu, select 'Company Admin' to access your admin portal
Once the admin portal populates, select 'Users' from the navigation bar on the far left
Select the “Bulk Edit” button in the upper right corner.
Once you’ve opened the bulk edit screen, select “Add User” from the top right navigation.
A new, blank row will be added to your table of users - enter the applicable values in the new user row.
You may also edit existing user information on this screen. To do this, type in the name of a specific user in the 'Search' field to locate and edit applicable information.
Once you’ve added/edited the user information, select 'Save' in the top right navigation.

To find out how to Invite your new users to Recognize, see our step-by-step instructions here: User Authentication: Getting Access to Recognize.

Spreadsheet Import:

If you need to manage user data for multiple users, Recognize's Spreadsheet Import can be a convenient way to add users, update email addresses, and update user information such as display name, team, roles, managers, and anniversaries. This spreadsheet can be imported directly from within Recognize by a Company Admin.

How To Import a Spreadsheet

Click 'Menu' in the upper right corner of Recognize
Select 'Company Admin' from the drop-down menu
Select 'Users' from the navigation menu on the far left
Select 'Import' from the top-right menu on the 'Users'' page
Once the 'Spreadsheet Import' page has populated, download the sample spreadsheet to fill out

NOTE: use the sample spreadsheet template to ensure proper data import. Do not rename the columns, or the information will not be imported correctly. Delete any columns that you are not filling out, as columns that are left blank could overwrite any previously uploaded data. Format dates as strings, and use commas to separate roles or teams.
To upload your users’ data, Select 'Choose File' and select the completed spreadsheet
Checking the box, 'Update Only' will only update the attributes of users in the data-sheet who are found in Recognize. If new users are found in the data-sheet, they will not be added
Checking the box, 'Remove Users' will update the attributes of users in the data-sheet and disable users who are not present in the data-sheet
Checking the box 'Dry Run' runs the data-sheet and gives a report of potential changes or errors without actually making any changes. *Do not select this when you are ready to make changes.
If 'Send Invitations to new users' is enabled and users are added, invitations will be automatically sent out. If not enabled, users who are added will remain in a "pending invite" state and can be sent an invitation at a later date.
Select 'Import'. By default, uploading a spreadsheet will add new users and update existing users' email addresses unless you have checked the above options

Please Note the Following:

Your import will be queued and processed in the background.
Stay on this page to watch the progress.
You can leave this page and the import will continue in the background.
You will be emailed when the import is complete.
If there are any errors, a spreadsheet will be created with the results. This spreadsheet is accessible from the completion email as well as from the "Last Import" section on the Spreadsheet import page above.
If you are using the Spreadsheet Import to change a user's email address, it is important to remember that each time a new email address is added to the Spreadsheet Import, it will create a new profile and disable the profile associated with the previous email address. To avoid this, we suggest using the Employee ID column in the spreadsheet import. This way, we can identify users based on the Employee ID instead of the email address, which will prevent the creation of multiple accounts.

NOTE: If you have a case of duplicate accounts, please contact us at support@recognizeapp.com with the User’s name, original email address, and the new email address that you would like the original account information to be merged into, and we will merge the accounts for you.

User Sync:

The Recognize user sync is a process that provides a way for companies to keep their Recognize user directory in sync with their corporate user directory. Once initial settings are established, the user sync options allow you to manage your users in Recognize automatically.

How it Works

We connect to the identity provider and user directory of your choice (see below) and synchronize the users based on a few parameters. You can sync your entire organization or you can pick groups to synchronize. You can also manually initiate a sync at any time via the Settings page in the company admin portal. The time it takes to execute a full sync depends on the size of your directory and the size of the queue in our background tasks server. For most of our customers, it can range from 15m to 2 hours. The user sync is run nightly or weekly depending on your subscription package.

Identity Providers

We currently support user syncing through Yammer and the Microsoft Cloud (i.e, EntraID, formerly known as Azure AD). We offer an SFTP (secure file transfer protocol) option as well. To learn more, please see our sFTP Implementation Guide.

If you do not want to or cannot sync your user directory, we support "just-in-time" user provisioning. This is where we create accounts and permit access to Recognize when a user logs in via OAuth or SAML. See more information about SAML in our resources section here.

You can also take a look at our comprehensive User Sync Guide for more detailed information, requirements, and step by step instructions for enabling user syncing through Yammer or Microsoft Cloud.

What information can we sync?

You can specify if you would like to sync Recognize Teams to your directory’s groups to more closely mirror your internal structure. Some of the other information that we currently allow includes:

email
first name & last name
phone number (optional, mobile phone for SMS notifications)
display name (optional)
manager (optional)
birthday(optional, day/month only)
hire date (optional, not available with Yammer)
job title (optional)
department (optional)
country (optional)

Are notifications or invites sent out?

When users are synced, they are provisioned with an account and added to the Recognize directory, but no emails or notifications are sent out. We have a "bulk invite" feature on our User tab page in the Company Admin portal where you can customize the invitation email and send it out at a time of your choosing. We also offer an 'auto-invite' feature (mentioned in the settings below) which works well for inviting users who join the company after your initial launch. See our article on how to invite users to Recognize for more information.

What are the steps to set up user sync?

You can establish a user sync from within the Recognize Company Admin portal. A best practice for setting up the user sync is to first create a Service Account in your Microsoft tenant (which can typically be done by a Global Microsoft administrator) and then create a corresponding Service Account within Recognize with a Company Admin designation. Make sure the Service Account created in Microsoft has a role that can grant the below permissions. Once you have established these, log in to Recognize with the Recognize Service Account credentials, and establish the sync owner (steps shown below) as the Service Account.

Permissions needed for Service Account in Microsoft:

offline_access
User.Read
User.ReadBasic.All
GroupMember.Read.All
Directory.Read.All

Steps to set up the sync:

Select 'Menu' from the top right corner of the screen
Select 'Company Admin' from the drop-down to open the Company Admin portal

NOTE: If you do not see this option, it means you haven't been made a Company Admin for the Recognize platform, and you'll need to reach out to the business owner within your organization to grant this access.
Select 'Settings' from the left side menu to take your to your organization's platform settings and configuration
Select 'User Management' from the right-hand navigation pane
Under the section for 'User sync,' you'll see a drop-down to choose your sync provider, where you'll select 'Microsoft/Office 365'
You'll also see a toggle to 'Enable sync,' which will set your user sync to run at the next scheduled nightly run
Additionally, there will be a set of options for what you'd like to include in your sync, where each can be toggled on or off independently - make sure that each of the fields you choose to turn on has corresponding data to be brought in, and for any fields that don't, keep the toggle 'OFF'
Only a Microsoft administrator for your company will be able to facilitate the initial linking of your Microsoft data with the Recognize platform by clicking the 'Microsoft' button under 'Connect with Microsoft/Office 365 to pull in user data'
Anyone with Company Admin access will be able to test the connection of the sync by selecting the 'Test Connection' button
Company Admins are also able to select 'Run User Sync' if they'd like to run the sync to refresh data on demand
The Sync owner can be clearly identified in this section as well to show who to contact regarding the sync set-up
Note that only a Global/Microsoft administrator will be able to make any changes to the sync configuration or re-authenticate the token, which is why we highly suggest naming a Sync Owner
Lastly, you will find the 'Auto send invites' setting in this section as well - we recommend turning this on only after you've launched and sent initial invites
Global Administrators that are setting up the user sync will also see additional options, one of which will be the ability to sync specific groups from Microsoft/Office 365 - if no groups are specified, the entire company will be synced
Global Administrators can also determine whether disabled users can be synced (or not synced) under the 'Sync Options' section
Global Administrators can also sync teams directly from Microsoft/Office 365 if desired

Common Manual Spreadsheet Import or sFTP Errors

If your company uses an sFTP import/sync to manage users, then you may be aware that errors can occur from time to time as the org changes and users turnover. We want our customers to be armed with the knowledge of how to move forward after receiving sFTP errors. To that end, we've compiled a list of the most common sFTP errors and their solutions, as well as general rules to keep in mind, and things to check.

💡 To access your sFTP spreadsheet from your company's Recognize Account, go to:

Company Admin > Documents > Uploads (to view the whole spreadsheet) Company Admin > Documents > Downloads*(to view errors only)*

General Rules to Keep in Mind:

Each account has a main identifier. If an Employee ID is present, that will be the main identifier, and the email address will be the secondary identifier. If there is no Employee ID present, the user’s email address will be the main Identifier.
Because an Employee ID serves as the main identifier for an account, when a new Employee ID is included in an import, our system thinks that a new account is being created. An exception to this is that we will first check to see if there is a matching account based upon the user's email address that doesn’t have an Employee ID present. In which case, we will update that employee record to have that Employee ID.
An Employee ID or email address can only exist once in a company's Recognize platform. Note: the same is true for phone numbers.
If an account already has an Employee ID present, it can not be updated in the sFTP spreadsheet upload until it has been cleared on our backend by our Engineering Team.

Flow Chart for User lookups

Things to Check:

Check to see if the email address already exists in Recognize with a different Employee ID.
Check to see if the Employee ID in the spreadsheet already exists on the platform next to a different email address.
Check the spelling/accuracy of the Email Address and Employee ID to ensure they match, and there isn’t a typo causing the issue.

Error Code Descriptions and Resolutions

Select the error code from the below list that you'd like to learn more about to jump to the relevant information.

'Email has already been taken. If this is you, you may reset your password <a href='https://recognizeapp.com/password_resets'here.</a>'

Issue Reason: This error occurs when the Employee ID listed on the spreadsheet does not match the Employee ID that we have listed with the same email in Recognize. Employee IDs and Email Addresses can only exist once on a Company account. Because Employee ID’s are the main account identifier, when a new Employee ID is included in an import, the system thinks that a new account is being created, but because the email address already exists and is paired with a different Employee ID, we encounter an error.

Example: In the client’s sFTP spreadsheet, the Employee ID listed with the email address John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com is CF456. However, The email address John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com is already present on the company’s account with the Employee ID AB123.

The Solution: The Employee ID needs to be cleared by Recognize Engineering so it can be updated in your next user sync.

Please contact Support@recognizeapp.com for help with this and include the following details:

Ask to please Merge Johnathen.Smith.2@Recognizeapp.com → John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com, specifying which profile to delete and which to keep active.
Confirm the correct Employee ID for the user

Note: The data in your spreadsheet must match the active account and correct Employee ID.

'Employee ID cannot be modified once set'

Issue Reason: This error appears when there is an attempt to add an Employee ID and an Email Address that were both found in our system, but not together. To elaborate, if an Employee ID and Email address are included in an import and those both already exist on two separate accounts, our system will assume that you are attempting to update the Employee ID.

Example: John Smith is listed in the import spreadsheet under the email address John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com and the Employee ID AB123. In Recognize, there are two accounts that already exist for John: John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com is listed with the Employee ID CF456, and the Employee ID AB123 is listed next to John.Smith.2@Recognizeapp.com. Because both the Employee ID ‘AB123’ and Email Address ‘John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com’ both exist in Recognize but on two separate accounts, we get the error 'Employee ID can not be modified once set'.

The Solution: Because an Employee ID is the main identifier on a user’s profile, it cannot be updated via Spreadsheet Import until we first ask our Engineering Team to clear the old Employee ID. Then, the new Employee ID can be added to the user's profile in your next Spreadsheet Import (provided the email address did not also change, as that is the secondary identifier on an account). So in summary, the solution is to email Support@recognizeapp.com and request to clear the old Employee ID so that it can be replaced during the next user sync.

'Mysql2::Error: Duplicate entry 'User@domain.com-domain2.com' for key 'index_users_on_unique_key’'

Issue Reason: This error appears when an account was previously soft-deleted by our Engineering Team (usually during an account merge), and while no longer visible on the front end, that account still exists in our back end, and so cannot be updated via Spreadsheet Import until it has been archived.

Example: John Smith is listed in the import spreadsheet under the email address John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com. Let's say our Engineering Team was instructed to merge John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com with Johnathan.Smith@Recognizeapp.com and leave the active account under Johnathan.Smith@Recognizeapp.com. Upon completing this request, they will have soft-deleted the email address John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com. When an import is attempted with the previously soft-deleted email address John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com attached to a new user, our system will see it as a duplicate entry and will return the above error.

The Solution: If you cannot find the duplicate email or employee ID in your company's Recognize account, it is likely that the account was previously soft deleted by Recognize Engineering, and while not visible in the company account, it still exists in the back end. Please reach out to Support@recognizeapp.com to confirm if this is the case. If the Recognize Engineering Team confirms that this account has been soft-deleted, you can then give our team permission to archive the email address so that it can be updated in your next sync.

Start date invalid/birthday invalid

Issue Reason: This error appears when a date isn't in the correct format.

Example: John Smith has a birthday of May 25, and in the user file, the birthday is listed as 25 May.

The Solution:

- Format date columns as strings and follow formats in sample spreadsheet
- Date formats, such as birthday should only be in 05/25 format
- Formatting must be consistent throughout the spreadsheet

Phone already taken

Issue Reason: The spreadsheet already contains a user with the same phone number.

Example: John Smith has a phone number of 555-5555, and Jane Doe is included in the user file with the same phone number of 555-5555.

The Solution:

Because phone number is a unique identifier, all phone numbers in the platform must be unique.

Formatting issue

Issue Reason: The spreadsheet contains data in an invalid format.

Example: John Smith is listed as 'Smith, John' in the spreadsheet.

The Solution: All formatting must follow our sample spreadsheet, with names not comma separated, and dates in string format.

Locale ‘example’ is not one of the supported locales

Issue Reason: The spreadsheet contains an unrecognized locale code in the 'Locale' column.

Example: John Smith has a locale of 'tx' in the user file.

The Solution:

'Locale' can ONLY be set as one of the following supported locales, and these locales are generally used to support languages in the platform:

'ar' or '(Arabic) العربية'

'en-AU' or 'Australian English'

'de' or 'Deutsch (German)'

'es' or 'Español (Spanish)'

'fr' or 'Français (French)'

'fr-CA' or 'French Canadian'

'en-GB' or 'Great Britain English'

'pt' or 'Português (Portuguese)'

'en' or 'United States English'

'mn' or 'ˈmɔ̙̃ɴɢɞ̜̆ɮ çe̝ɮ (Mongolian)'

'zh-CN' or '中国人 (Chinese Simplified)'

'zh-TW' or '中國人 (Chinese Taiwan)'

'ja' or '日本 (Japanese)'

Manager email not found

Issue Reason: If you're doing a "dry run" and the manager isn't already in the system, it'll return the manager error, even if the manager is in the upload you are currently dry-running. If you're not doing a dry run, and you get that manager error, it's because the manager isn't already in our system, and they're not in the current upload.

Example: You can see if an sFTP import was a dry run by following these steps:

Within the Company Admin Portal, go to the 'Users' tab on the left side menu
Select 'Import' from the top right tertiary menu
Under 'Last Import', check 'Dry run' status: True means the last upload was a dry run. False means it was not a dry run.

Solution: For Dry run = True, once you are happy with all other data in the file, uncheck the box for dry-run so that the manager's info can be uploaded, and the error should no longer occur. When Dry run = False, you will need to include that manager in the current user upload to resolve the error.

Updating an Email Address

If a user’s email address changes, or has been entered incorrectly, updating this information in Recognize is simple. The first step is to determine how you get employee information into Recognize: User Sync, sFTP import, or Manual Entry.

User Sync

If you are updating employee information through our User Sync function, you will need to change the email address in your organization’s Active Directory, and the next time your Active Directory syncs, the information will automatically be updated in Recognize.

Note: The User Sync will be treated as the source of truth, and as such, will overwrite any manually entered data.

sFTP Import

Each time a new email address is added to the sFTP spreadsheet, it will create a new profile and disable the profile associated with the previous email address. To avoid this, we suggest using the Employee ID column in the spreadsheet import. This way, we can identify users based on the Employee ID instead of the email address, which will prevent the creation of multiple accounts.

Note: If you have duplicate accounts, please contact us at support@recognizeapp.com with the User’s name, original email address, and the new email address that you would like the original account information to be merged into, and we will merge the accounts for you.

Note: This spreadsheet will be treated as the source of truth, and as such, will overwrite any manually entered data.

Manual Entry (Bulk Edit)

To manually change or add one or a few email addresses, follow the instructions below:

Click ‘Menu’ in the upper right corner of the page
Select ‘Company Admin’ from the drop-down menu
Select ‘Users’ from the navigation bar on the far left
Select ‘Bulk edit’ from the menu in the upper right corner of the ‘Users’ page
Locate the user whose email address you would like to edit. You can type their name into the 'Search' Field above the user table
In the ‘Email’ column, enter the user’s new email address
Once you've added the user’s new email address, select ‘Save’ in the top right navigation
When you are done adding/editing users, select ‘Done’ and you will be redirected back to the main Users page

Manual Entry (Spreadsheet Import)

Each time a new email address is added to the Spreadsheet Import, it will create a new profile and disable the profile associated with the previous email address. To avoid this, we suggest using the Employee ID column in the spreadsheet import. This way, we can identify users based on the Employee ID instead of the email address, which will prevent the creation of multiple accounts.

To manually change or add several email addresses, follow the instructions below:

Click ‘Menu’ in the upper right corner of the page
Select ‘Company Admin’ from the drop-down menu
Select ‘Users’ from the navigation bar on the far left
Select ‘Import’ from the menu in the upper right corner of the ‘Users’ page
Once the 'Spreadsheet Import' page has populated, download the sample spreadsheet to fill out.

Note: use the sample spreadsheet template to ensure proper data import. Do not rearrange the columns or rename the columns, or the information will not be imported correctly. Delete any columns that you are not filling out, as columns that are left blank could overwrite any previously uploaded data
To upload your users’ new email address data, Select 'Choose File' and select your filled-out spreadsheet.
Checking the first box, 'Update Only' will update the attributes of users in the data-sheet who are found in Recognize. If new users are found in the data-sheet, they will not be added.
Checking the second box, 'Remove Users' will update the attributes of users in the data-sheet and disables users who are not present in the data-sheet.
select 'Import'. By default, uploading a spreadsheet will add new users and update existing users' email addresses unless you have checked the above options.

recognize-user-sync-guide.pdf
2 MB Download
recognize-sftp-implementation-guide.pdf
500 KB Download

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