Integrations FAQ
Frequently asked questions related to building integrations using our APIs
Who is this site for?
This site is intended for software development teams (in-house or contract) employed by Paylocity customers or technology partners for the express purpose of building a new integration to the Paylocity solution and owning the maintenance of that integration in accordance with API Terms of Use and Data Privacy policies.
If you are an HCM administrator looking for a list of pre-built integrations that can be easily enabled, please visit our Paylocity Integrations Marketplace.
What does Paylocity consider a Customer vs. a Technology Partner?
- A technology partner is an organization that wants to build an integration with Paylocity and make it widely available to Paylocity customers. Integrations with technology partners will be advertised on our Integrations Marketplace.
- A customer is an organization that uses Paylocity’s HCM solution and wants to build a custom integration for their company or company set that will not be advertised on our Integrations Marketplace.
What do I need to build an integration?
First, let's define the term integration. An integration is commonly understood to be a connection between two or more applications that enables the systems to exchange data via one or more APIs or Application Programming Interfaces. An API is a software interface that provides a way for two or more applications to communicate with each other through a seamless, real-time exchange of data.
To build an integration using Paylocity-provided APIs, you should have:
- A business case for the integration (what data you need and why).
- An understanding of security protocols to implement it, if handling PII.
- An application that can connect to the Paylocity solution with the ability to take in or transmit data via our APIs.
- OR a development team experienced with building and implementing API integrations.
How long does it typically take to build an integration?
The time to build an integration depends on the complexity of what you are trying to accomplish. Are you reading data or do you need to both read and push data? How complex is the data that you are handling? Do you require a legal team to review the contractual obligations? The average time to build and implement an integration is between 4 and 16 weeks for common HCM use cases.
How does Paylocity help to launch the integration?
We are committed to providing comprehensive support to successfully build and launch integrations using our platform including:
- Guide and Technical Documentation: We offer detailed documentation, including API specifications, code samples, and integration tutorials. These resources are designed to help developers of all levels understand our APIs and get started with integration implementation.
- Testing and Sandbox: We provide access to testing environments with a wide range of sample data that will help simplify the integration process and ensure compatibility with our platform.
- Developer Support: Our experienced team is here to address your technical questions including:
- Clarifying API Data-Elements and how they relate to the Paylocity Module UX/UIs.
- Clarify Enumerated Error Responses and Required Field Responses, we will provide a best practice on how to handle said error; or what likely triggered it.
- Testing & Troubleshooting Support - Assess test scenarios and provide guidance on "What Happened" vs. "What you wanted to Happen".
- Scoping & Capabilities Confirmations.
How do I get access to API credentials for a testing environment?
You will need to review our Integration Requirements guide and follow the steps outlined in the Discovery and Implementation phases.
Demo Access Approval
To be approved for access to a demo environment, you must be an existing Paylocity customer or have at least one (1) existing Paylocity customer willing to participate in early adoption testing, advocate for the level of access required to drive your integration, and provide appropriate signoff to change requests for your integration access during development and testing.
What are the requirements to get production credentials and launch my integration?
To be approved for go-live production, our team will review your integration to ensure you have completed all activities and deliverables specified in the Integration Requirements guide.
If you want your integration advertised in the Paylocity Integrations Marketplace, you must be a technology partner and complete additional review and contractual agreement steps.
What are my responsibilities as an integration owner?
All integration-owning organizations must maintain a communication channel with Paylocity Support:
- Provide Paylocity with updated business and technical contact information for ongoing support and escalations.
- Pass yearly reviews of integration stability and customer integration relationship states.
- Attend regularly scheduled touchpoint calls with the Paylocity Integration team.
- Discuss identified issues that Paylocity needs an integrator to address.
- Discuss planned maintenance and API updates/changes/deprecations.
- Address needed changes to supported integration (e.g., expanding endpoint access, changing renewal contacts, updating production webhook URLs or authorization details, process enhancements, and partner feedback, etc).
Technology partners must also meet the following to keep their partner status:
- First Level (tier 1) Support: Scope and filter any low-level customer concerns that can be handled in processing documentation and support articles.
- Acceptable error rate of API calls (5% or less; varies by scope and complexity of integration).
- Acceptable response time on communications from Paylocity Support and Implementation teams (48 hours).
- Automated renewal of API credentials annually.
What authentication method do you use to access your APIs?
We use the client credentials flow from OAuth2 to authenticate Paylocity APIs. Every call to a Paylocity API will have an HTTP authorization header with a value that includes a short-lived bearer token obtained from the Paylocity Identity Provider (IDP). See our Authentication guide for more details.
How do I find APIs that fit my use case?
[Option 1] Refer to this guide on which APIs solve common use cases.
[Option 2] Refer to our API References section for an overview and summary of use cases.
[Option 3] If you can’t find an answer using the first two options, send an email to [email protected] with the subject line "What APIs do I need" and include a summary of the use case for the integration and what data points are needed.
Do you have Postman collections for download?
We do not have Postman collections for download at this time.
Is there a cost for using Paylocity’s APIs?
For details on our Integration and API pricing, customers can contact their Paylocity account executive. Paylocity’s technology partners can reach out to their business development contacts to learn more about integration pricing and monetization opportunities.
I need help troubleshooting an issue or have additional questions. What should I do?
When submitting a request to Paylocity Web Services or management for support, do not include the end user who reported the issue. Paylocity will work directly with your support team to identify the root cause, and your support team can provide direction from there - in conjunction with the customer's available resources at Paylocity if necessary. Do NOT include personally identifiable information (PII) about an employee or company sensitive information in the initial email.
Not the integration owner?
Customers subscribed to a partner integration from the Paylocity Marketplace should engage with the partner’s support team to troubleshoot issues.
EMAIL SUBJECT
- PCTY x -- API Concerns
EMAIL BODY DETAILS
- Provide, in a detailed summary, the EXPECTED vs. ACTUAL results and what troubleshooting has been completed thus far from the teams involved. This context is important as it helps us confirm root issues as quickly as possible.
- Provide the FIRST or LAST 7 characters of the API client ID that was used to authenticate the connection for the queries/responses in question.
- Provide the individual Paylocity company IDs and employee IDs (if applicable) affected by the concern or brought to light from Lv1 testing thus-far.
- Provide the REQUEST URI that was used that generates the error response or received "incorrect data."
- Ex: GET EMPLOYEE –
- https://api.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/6700/employees/123
- Provide the DATE/TIME stamps from your system-logging for the error/event. This helps us reconcile against our systems.
- Ex: GET EMPLOYEE –
For more details on support expectations, check out Getting Support (Pre- & Post-Production).
If I have additional questions, where can I get support?
If you have questions, our developer support team is ready to help. Please email [email protected]
Updated 8 months ago