❗ If you have Paycom, Workday, or isolved, please reach out to Nectar Support or your Nectar account manager for those services’ SFTP information.
SFTP Overview
Save time and reduce manual work by connecting your HRIS to Nectar via Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). SFTP is like a locked, secure mailbox where your HR system automatically “drops off” employee data files for Nectar. Only authorized systems, using the provided SSH Key, can open it and pick up the contents. This allows employee data to automatically sync into Nectar — keeping your user list accurate and up to date.
Setting up SFTP may require assistance from your IT team or HRIS integration specialist, depending on your system’s capabilities. Some HRIS providers may charge a setup fee for enabling custom exports.
Is SFTP Right for Your Team?
Before you start the process, you will want to determine if SFTP is the right User Provisioning method for your team. We recommend having a discussion with your Customer Success Manager to determine if SFTP is how you should proceed. In most cases, SFTP is going to be our top recommendation for user provisioning as it provides the most customization and easiest troubleshooting process.
Step 1: Create a Custom Report
You’ll first need to create an employee data report in your HRIS that includes all users you want to sync to Nectar. This report will serve as the source of truth for your user data.
Our SFTP File Template is the same as our Bulk Upload template and can be found here. If you have any questions about what to include after reviewing the below table, please let your Customer Success Manager know.
👈 What to Include on the File
👈 What to Include on the File
❗ Highlighted columns are required. If any of that information is missing, the user will not be synced.
File Header | Corresponding Nectar Field | Purpose |
first_name | First Name | Will show as their first name unless they have a Preferred Name set in which case this is only visible on their profile page |
last_name | Last Name | Will show as their last name - currently no option for Preferred Last Name |
preferred_name | Preferred First Name | Will display on the frontend instead of the First Name ⬇️ |
*This will only sync if the field is blank in Nectar! This is to allow user’s control over this field themselves. SFTP cannot be used to change this field, just fill it in for the first time. | ||
This will set the email their account is created with and uses. We recommend using work emails. ⬇️ | ||
*This is the unique identifier if you don’t use EEID or if that EEID is not unique across the account. | ||
employee_id | Employee ID | This will act as the unique identifier over email if it is unique across the account. This means if the email changes on the report and we have this field, the email will update in Nectar seamlessly instead of creating a duplicate account. ⬇️ |
Highly encouraged to use!!! | ||
manager_email | Manager’s Email | This will properly assign Manager roles/permissions and assign their teams in Nectar. This automates things like Team Insights and other Analytics. |
department | Department | This will set the user’s department. ⬇️ |
*Functionality is for our system to ignore any special characters or spaces here to avoid any duplicate departments being created. | ||
For example:
| ||
birth_date | Birthday | We do not process birth year. This is a required field if you want to send birthday shoutouts. |
hire_date | Hire Date | We do need the year here so we can properly process the anniversary award. This is a required field if you want to send anniversary shoutouts. |
office_location | Office Location | Sets their office location which can be filtered for in Analytics and utilized in Group Give. |
active | Active | This is an optional field. See more below and discuss with your CSM if you need this. |
phone_number | Phone Number | Used for Internal Comms SMS capabilities. |
country_code | Country | Used to lock rewards and for PPP. |
language | Language | Used for Internal Comms language translation. |
$CustomField or _CustomField | Maps to the matching Custom Property | This will create and/or update Custom Properties. The character in front is what tells our system it’s a Custom Property and different systems can use one or the other (i.e. some systems can’t export the $ so they have to use _). ⬇️ |
*Functionality is the same as with Departments. |
Tips:
Include Employee ID’s
Employee IDs, or EEIDs, act as a unique identifier for each user coming through an SFTP integration. When included in a your HRIS report, Nectar uses the EEID to accurately match and update existing users — even if other details like name or email change. This ensures that data stays consistent and users aren’t accidentally duplicated.
If you do not include EEIDs, Nectar relies on email addresses instead, which can cause new accounts to be created when emails change. If you are unable to include EEIDs on your SFTP report, please talk to your Customer Success Manager about how email updates should be handled to avoid duplications.
2. Determine If You Need the Active Column
When an SFTP integration is configured, only users included in the HRIS export file can exist in your Nectar account.
This means if someone isn’t listed in your report, they’ll be automatically deactivated each time a new file syncs.
Sometimes you may want to include users not managed in your HRIS, such as:
Contractors who aren’t tracked in the HRIS
International employees managed in a separate system
Solution 1 (Recommended)
If you need the ability to manually add users to Nectar (outside of the SFTP connection) without those users being deactivated during syncs — there’s a way to configure this!
1️⃣ Update the SFTP Report
You need to add a new column to their SFTP export titled active.
Every employee currently active in the HRIS should have the value true in this column.
2️⃣ Automate Status Changes
You will need to be sure that active column will be automated based on each user’s employment status.
If a terminated user is removed entirely from the SFTP report instead of being marked as false, Nectar will not deactivate them — because the system can’t detect that they’ve left. They’ll remain active in Nectar until manually updated or removed.
3️⃣ Configure active Column Use with CSM
Once your SFTP report includes the active column, you can let your Customer Success Manager know and they will configure that on our end so we read that column with your syncs.
Solution 2
If you do not want to/cannot add an active field to your report and only have a handful of users you need in the system that will not be on the report, your CSM can add them to a special field on our backend.
Step 2: Generate an SSH key pair
An SSH key pair ensures that your data is transferred securely between your HRIS and Nectar.
This pair includes:
A private key (kept securely by your HRIS or IT team, typically on the backend and not visible to you)
A public key (shared with Nectar to authorize the connection)
You’ll generate these keys on your side, and only the public key should be shared.
To generate keys:
Use your HRIS or SFTP client’s key generation tool.
Confirm that the key format is OpenSSH (not SSH2).
If your tool creates SSH2 keys, convert them to OpenSSH before uploading.
Copy the public key and paste it into Nectar under
Workspace Settings → Integrations → HRIS SFTP Sync → Public Key field.
⚠️ Note: Your private key should never be shared with Nectar or anyone outside your organization.
*Typically this private key is stored on the backend of your system and many times won’t be visible to you on the frontend.
Step 3: Connect Your HRIS/SFTP Client to Nectar
Use the below information to create the server connection:
Field | Description |
Protocol | SFTP |
Authentication Level | Public key |
Password for Connection | Private key matched to the public key provided and inputted in Nectar |
Host / Hostname | Provided in Nectar on the Integrations page |
Username | Provided in Nectar on the Integrations page |
Port | 22 |
Destination Directory | Use Root |
Delivery Directory | /csvs-to-be-processed/username (see above for your username information) |
Outbound File Name | Whatever you’d like, but must have the file extension of .csv or .xlsx
We recommend some variation of "CompanyNameNectarUsers.csv" |
Export File Type | CSV (preferred) or XLSX |
Delivery Frequency | We recommend a daily schedule in the early morning M-F. You can check with your CSM to make sure this schedule is best for your team. |
Nectar Technical Contact | Your CSM will be the technical contact for Nectar. In some scenarios they may include our Integrations Specialist as well. |
File Encryption | None. SFTP already encrypts by default. |
Step 4: Email Invitations
On the Integrations page within your Nectar account, there’s a setting to send invites to new users created through the sync.
This setting defaults to and should remain OFF until launch to prevent invitations from being sent prematurely.
After launch, you can turn it ON if desired, and Nectar will automatically send an email invitation to any new users created through the SFTP sync.
If users are added manually (outside of the sync), their email invitations must also be sent manually — they won’t be included in the automated invite process.
Step 5: Verify and Test Your Connection
After setup:
Run a test export from your HRIS.
Check with your Nectar representative to confirm the file was received and processed correctly.
Once verified, you can schedule automatic file transfers (usually daily or weekly).
Troubleshooting
If you experience issues syncing your data:
Confirm your file headers match the Nectar field naming and formatting requirements (see section 2 above).
Check that your public key was added correctly.
Ensure your SFTP client or HRIS has permissions to connect to Nectar’s server.
Have your Customer Success Manager ensure that things are configured properly on Nectar’s backend. In some cases, they may have you try a different Delivery Directory.
If you are still experiencing issues, you can take a look at our more technical documentation below.