“Integration” gets thrown around a lot in the RMC world. Vendors use it to describe everything from a robust API connection to a scheduled file export that someone checks on Tuesdays. If you have ever been promised a connection that requires no manual work, only to find your team re-entering data between systems, you know how wide that range can be.
Here is what it should mean, and what to look for.
What an API Integration Is
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a structured conversation between two software systems. It allows those systems to exchange information automatically, accurately, and in real time, without anyone exporting data from one platform and uploading it to another.
Your RMC needs data from your HRIS and financial systems to do its job well. Employee records, job levels, cost centers, and compensation details drive relocation policy assignment, budget management, and reporting. When that data travels through manual processes, you get delays, errors, and gaps.
A true API integration removes those manual steps. Data moves when it should, in the format it should, without human intervention in between.
What You Need From an Integration
Integration does not have to mean a two-way data exchange. For most mobility programs, the requirement is reliable inbound data: your RMC needs accurate employee information from your HRIS and financial systems to initiate and manage relocations. Ask about the direction of the data flow before you ask about the technical complexity of the connection.
What you should expect:
- Reliable data intake: Your RMC should be able to receive employee and organizational data from your HRIS and financial systems without manual handoffs.
- Flexibility across platforms: Whether your organization runs a legacy system or a modern cloud-based platform, your RMC should be able to work with it.
- Data accuracy and consistency: Integrated systems reduce the risk of outdated or mismatched employee records driving the wrong decisions.
- Security throughout the data exchange: Any integration should meet the same data protection standards you expect from the RMC’s core platform.
- Transparency about what the integration covers: A good RMC will tell you exactly what data they receive, how, and how often. If that answer is vague, keep asking.
The Right Questions to Ask
When evaluating an RMC’s integration capabilities, ask how the transfer works, what data they receive, how that transfer is secured, and what happens when something breaks. Those answers will tell you how seriously they take the operational side of the partnership.
Modern mobility management depends on clean, timely data. An RMC that cannot connect reliably to your systems will add work for your team.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between an API integration and a file feed?
A file feed is a scheduled export. Data leaves one system on a set interval, lands somewhere, and gets picked up by the other system, often with a person confirming the handoff. An API connection exchanges data directly between the two systems as records change. Both approaches can move the same information. An API connection updates faster and removes the manual steps where a delay or an error can enter.
Does an RMC integration have to be two-way?
No. Reliable inbound data is the baseline requirement for most mobility programs. The RMC receives employee and organizational records from your HRIS and financial systems so it can initiate and manage relocations accurately. Some programs have a use case for sending data back to the HRIS, and that capability is worth discussing during evaluation.
Which HR systems can Plus Relocation integrate with?
Plus Relocation builds payroll and HRIS interfaces for nearly any client system, using pre-built APIs and webhooks. Our platform interfaces with Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle HCM, PeopleSoft, UKG, ADP, Dayforce, and Paychex, among others. We can also build bi-directional connections where a program calls for them. If your organization runs a system that is not on that list, we can scope a connection to it.
