HRIS as the Source of Truth for Email Signatures: Workday, BambooHR, Rippling, HiBob and More (2026)
How to keep email signature titles, departments and phone numbers correct by reading each field from the system that owns it: directory vs HRIS ownership, the 14 HR and identity tools Scribe connects to, record matching, precedence, sync timing, the employee lifecycle and unsupported HR systems.
Sophie Grant
Email Signature Specialist, Scribe
On this page
- Directory or HRIS: which system should own signature data?
- Which HR tools does Scribe connect to, and how is each set up?
- How are HRIS records matched to mailboxes?
- What happens when the directory and the HRIS disagree?
- How fresh is HRIS data in the signature?
- How do signatures follow onboarding, transfers and offboarding?
- Can phone systems, calendars and sales tools feed signatures too?
- What if your HRIS isn't on the list?
- What will security and HR ask before connecting an HRIS?
- Where does Scribe fit?
- Frequently asked questions
- Which HRIS tools can sync with Scribe email signatures?
- Should job titles come from the directory or the HRIS?
- What happens if the HRIS and Entra ID have different titles?
- How does Scribe match HRIS employees to mailboxes?
- How often does HRIS data update in signatures?
- Does the HRIS create or remove teammates in Scribe?
- Can Scribe pull signature data from Salesforce or HubSpot?
- What if our HR system isn't supported?
- Related Handbook guides
TL;DR: In most companies over 100 people, HR owns job titles and departments, IT owns mailboxes, and a phone system owns direct lines. Signatures stay correct when each field is read from the system that owns it. Scribe can pull Smart Field data from 14 HR and identity tools (BambooHR, Ceridian Dayforce, ChartHop, Deel, Gusto, HiBob, Lattice, Lucca, Okta, PayFit, Rippling, UKG, Workday, Workleap Pingboard), plus phone systems, calendars and Outreach. Each Smart Field has exactly one data source, so you decide ownership field by field. Teammates themselves still come from Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID or Zoho Mail, and data syncs once a day or on demand.
Last reviewed: October 2026. Covers Scribe's HRIS, phone-system, calendar and sales-tool Smart Field integrations, and Microsoft Entra inbound HR provisioning.
This guide is for IT and People Ops teams who are tired of signature titles that lag behind promotions. It explains how to decide which system owns each field, which HR tools Scribe connects to and how each one is set up, how records are matched and refreshed, what happens at onboarding and offboarding, and what to do if your HRIS isn't supported. If your directory is the source of truth and you only need Microsoft's side, read Sync signatures from Microsoft Entra ID instead.
Directory or HRIS: which system should own signature data?
A signature is a public copy of a few employee attributes. The question is not "directory or HRIS" but "who updates this field first when it changes". In most organizations the answer looks like this:
| Signature field | Usual owner | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Name, email address, aliases | Directory (Entra ID, Google Workspace) | IT creates the mailbox; the address must match the mailbox exactly |
| Job title, department, division | HRIS | Promotions and transfers are HR transactions; the directory is often updated later, or never |
| Office location and address | HRIS or directory | Whichever system facilities and HR keep current |
| Direct line | Phone system (Aircall, Dialpad, CloudTalk, Nextiva) | Numbers are assigned and reassigned in the phone system |
| Mobile number | HRIS or the employee | Often absent from both; collect it from the person |
| Booking link | Calendar tool (Calendly, Chili Piper, Cal.com) | The link belongs to the scheduling account |
| Photo, pronouns, certifications | Employee or HRIS | Personal or role data the directory rarely holds |
Scribe's own documentation frames HRIS sync the same way: it is useful "when your directory isn't up to date but your HRIS data is", and fields synced from an HRIS are locked on the teammate profile just like directory fields (Teammate profile).
There is a second architecture worth considering if you run Microsoft 365: make Entra ID accurate by provisioning it from HR, then let the signature tool read Entra ID only. Microsoft Entra supports inbound user provisioning from cloud HR apps such as Workday and SuccessFactors, including creating accounts for new hires (Plan cloud HR application to Microsoft Entra user provisioning), and API-driven inbound provisioning for any other system of record, including CSV extracts (API-driven inbound provisioning concepts). Microsoft lists an Entra ID P1 or P2 license as a requirement for the cloud HR integration. The trade-off is simple: HR-to-directory provisioning fixes data for every app that reads Entra ID, while a direct HRIS connection in the signature tool fixes only signatures but takes minutes to set up.
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Which HR tools does Scribe connect to, and how is each set up?
Scribe's Smart Fields page lists 14 tools in its HRIS category: BambooHR, Ceridian Dayforce, ChartHop, Deel, Gusto, HiBob, Lattice, Lucca, Okta, PayFit, Rippling, UKG, Workday and Workleap Pingboard (Smart Fields). Okta is an identity provider rather than an HRIS, but it is grouped there and works the same way. Setup differs by tool, and for several of them it starts with a support request rather than a button:
| Tool | How it connects | Admin role needed | Scribe doc |
|---|---|---|---|
| BambooHR | Subdomain plus an API key; optional custom report ID for extra and custom fields | API key access | BambooHR |
| Ceridian Dayforce | Activated by Scribe support | Dayforce Admin | Dayforce |
| ChartHop | Install the Scribe app in Apps & Bundles, then paste its API token and your org nickname | Access to Apps & Bundles | ChartHop |
| Deel | OAuth from the Deel Marketplace listing | Deel Admin | Deel |
| Gusto | Activated by Scribe support | Not stated | Gusto |
| HiBob | Activated by Scribe support | Not stated | HiBob |
| Lattice | Activated by Scribe support | Not stated | Lattice |
| Lucca | Instance domain plus an API key with the Co-workers scope; listed on the Lucca Marketplace | Lucca admin | Lucca |
| Okta | An OIDC single-page app in Okta with the okta.users.read and okta.schemas.read scopes granted | Okta admin console | Okta |
| PayFit | OAuth, read-only scopes | PayFit Admin | PayFit |
| Rippling | Install from the Rippling App Shop, authorize read-only scopes | Rippling Admin | Rippling |
| UKG | Activated by Scribe support | Not stated | UKG |
| Workday | Activated by Scribe support | Not stated | Workday |
| Workleap Pingboard | A Pingboard API service account; paste its client ID and secret | Pingboard admin | Pingboard |
For Workday, UKG, HiBob, Gusto, Lattice and Dayforce, Scribe's public docs stop at "contact support", so they don't say which fields are available or what access your HR admin will need to grant. Ask for that list during evaluation, and put the HRIS admin in the setup call.
Where Scribe publishes a data-collection page, it lists exactly what is stored:
| Tool | Fields Scribe stores (from its data-collection page) |
|---|---|
| BambooHR | Photo, first and last name, job title; work phone, extension, mobile and home phone; department, division, location; address; age and date of birth; LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest URLs. With a report ID, only the fields in that report (source) |
| Rippling | First, last and full name, job title, work email, work location (street, city, state, zip, country code, phone, nickname) (source) |
| Okta | First, last and middle name, honorific prefix and suffix, title, display name, nickname, secondary email, mobile and primary phone, address, employee number, cost center, organization, division, department, manager (source) |
| ChartHop | Photo, names, job title, work and mobile phone, department name, personal and work address (source) |
| Dayforce | First and last name, job title, mobile phone, work location (source) |
One privacy point for your review: BambooHR's default sync stores age, date of birth and home phone, which no signature needs. BambooHR's custom report option exists for adding custom fields, but Scribe also states that with a report ID it stores only the fields in that report (Scribe docs). Build a report with work email plus the fields you will actually show, and you get data minimization for free. The GDPR guide covers the wider question.
How are HRIS records matched to mailboxes?
An HRIS doesn't create Scribe teammates. Scribe's automated teammate sources are Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID and Zoho Mail; manual entry and CSV upload cover the rest (Teammates overview). The HRIS then fills Smart Fields for teammates who already exist, so every HR record has to be matched to a teammate.
For BambooHR, Scribe documents the rule: it matches the teammate's primary email in Scribe with the work email field in BambooHR. If work email is empty, the person doesn't sync, and a custom report must include work email (BambooHR sync not working). Scribe doesn't document the matching key for the other tools; plan as if it is the work email and confirm with Scribe. Before connecting any HRIS, check three things:
- Every active employee has a work email in the HRIS.
- It is the primary address of their mailbox, not an alias or a pre-rename address.
- Contractors and employees of acquired entities use the same convention, or you know which ones will not match.
What happens when the directory and the HRIS disagree?
Nothing is merged. In Scribe, each Smart Field has one data source and one source field, chosen on the Smart Fields page. A field can come from Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID, Zoho Mail, any connected HRIS, phone, calendar or sales tool, or from Scribe itself as a manually filled value (Smart Fields). Whatever that source says is what the signature shows.
That makes precedence a design decision you take once, per field:
- List the fields your templates use (only those count; Scribe recommends marking only used fields as required).
- For each, pick the owner from the table above and set it as the data source. Default fields such as First name, Job Position and Work phone number can't be deleted or renamed, but their data source can be changed (Smart Fields).
- Check the Information completion column. If the HRIS fills job title for 98% of people but the directory filled it for 70%, you have your answer.
- Write the decision down in your signature policy, so nobody "fixes" a title in the wrong system.
Scribe's docs don't describe a fallback, such as "use the HRIS title, and the directory title if it's empty". If a source is empty for someone, the block is left out of their signature rather than borrowed from another source (Smart Fields). If you need fallback logic, ask Scribe, or fix the gap at the owning source.
How fresh is HRIS data in the signature?
Each HRIS page says changes "auto-sync to Scribe", and the Smart Fields page gives the mechanism: connected sources sync automatically once a day based on your time zone, and Refresh triggers a manual sync of all sources at any time (Smart Fields). Hovering a field's data source icon shows when it was last refreshed.
For most changes a day is fine: a promotion doesn't need to be in the signature within the hour. For the ones that do (a new executive's first day, a corrected phone number on a customer-facing team), update the HRIS and click Refresh. If you chose HR-to-Entra provisioning instead, add that pipeline's own interval in front of the signature sync.
How do signatures follow onboarding, transfers and offboarding?
Put together, the employee lifecycle runs like this:
| Lifecycle event | What has to happen | How it happens in Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| New hire | Mailbox created by IT, HR record created by HR | Directory sync imports the teammate (auto-sync per scope); HRIS fills their fields on the next sync; a rule-based signature with "auto-assign to all future teammates" picks them up (Assign teammates) |
| Promotion or transfer | HR updates title and department | Smart Field values change on the next HRIS sync; the signature follows |
| New phone number | Number reassigned in the phone system | Phone-system Smart Field updates on the next sync |
| Departure | Account disabled, license removed | Scribe's pricing FAQ: deactivating the license in Google Workspace or Entra ID removes the signature from Scribe and the seat from billing (pricing) |
If other systems need to react to the same events, subscribe to Scribe's teammate.created and teammate.deleted webhooks. They fire whether the change came from the dashboard, the API or a directory sync, and Scribe's use-case page shows them driving ITSM tickets and offboarding records (Webhook use cases).
A Rippling-specific note: during installation Rippling asks who should get a Scribe account and when. Scribe's recommended answers are "Everyone except contractors" and "As soon as they've signed their offer letter or agreement" (Rippling setup). Decide deliberately: contractors who send external email under your brand may need signatures too.
Can phone systems, calendars and sales tools feed signatures too?
Yes, through the same Smart Field mechanism (Smart Fields):
- Business phone systems: Aircall, CloudTalk, Dialpad and Nextiva, for direct lines. Aircall connects by OAuth with an Aircall admin; Dialpad is activated by support (Aircall, Dialpad).
- Calendars: Cal.com, Calendly and Chili Piper, so each person's booking link stays current (Calendly, Chili Piper).
- Sales execution: Outreach. Note that this connection asks for read and write access to mailboxes, unlike the read-only HR connectors, so expect a closer look from security (Outreach).
Scribe does not pull Smart Field data from CRMs: there is no Salesforce or HubSpot data sync. Its Salesforce integration installs signatures in Salesforce on the web, set up by a Salesforce admin (Scribe: Salesforce); it is not a CRM data source, and there is no HubSpot integration.
What if your HRIS isn't on the list?
You still have four options, in order of how much they automate:
- Provision your directory from HR. Microsoft's API-driven inbound provisioning accepts data from any system of record, including CSV or SQL exports moved by your own automation (Microsoft Learn). Once Entra ID is right, the Entra ID sync carries it into signatures.
- Push values with the Scribe API.
PATCH /v1/teammates/{id}sets a teammate's Smart Field values; an unknown field returns a 422 (API reference). Run it from your iPaaS when the HR record changes. Scribe's docs don't say whether the API can overwrite a field whose data source is a synced integration, so target custom fields stored in Scribe. - Upload a CSV of Smart Field values on a schedule (Smart Fields).
- Invite teammates to fill their own missing fields from a restricted profile view (Smart Fields).
What will security and HR ask before connecting an HRIS?
- Access level. Rippling and PayFit setups state Scribe has read-only access (Rippling, PayFit). API-key tools (BambooHR, Lucca, ChartHop, Pingboard) inherit the key's permissions, so create a dedicated key or service account named for Scribe; Lucca's setup asks for the Co-workers scope with "Consult / create / modify users", which is broader than reading.
- Data stored. Use the data-collection pages above, and restrict BambooHR with a custom report.
- Certification. Scribe states it is SOC 2 Type II compliant and publishes a Trust Center (Scribe security).
- Write-back. None of the HRIS pages describes writing back to the HRIS. Synced data flows one way, into Scribe (Teammates overview).
Where does Scribe fit?
Scribe treats HR, phone and calendar tools as Smart Field sources alongside the directory, so one template can carry the HRIS title, the Aircall direct line and the Calendly link. Website pages exist for Workday, BambooHR, Rippling, HiBob, UKG and the others in the table. The HR solution page covers what People Ops can do with signatures once the data is right, and the API covers the long tail. Plans are per user, billed only for people whose primary email has a signature (pricing).
Frequently asked questions
Which HRIS tools can sync with Scribe email signatures?
Scribe's Smart Fields documentation lists 14 tools in its HRIS category: BambooHR, Ceridian Dayforce, ChartHop, Deel, Gusto, HiBob, Lattice, Lucca, Okta, PayFit, Rippling, UKG, Workday and Workleap Pingboard. Workday, UKG, HiBob, Gusto, Lattice and Dayforce are activated through Scribe support; the others are self-serve with OAuth, an API key or a service account.
Should job titles come from the directory or the HRIS?
From whichever system HR updates first when someone is promoted, which in most companies over 100 people is the HRIS. Keep name, email and aliases on the directory, direct lines on the phone system, and booking links on the calendar tool. In Scribe each Smart Field has one data source, so you set this per field.
What happens if the HRIS and Entra ID have different titles?
Scribe doesn't merge them. Each Smart Field reads from the one data source you chose for it, and the signature shows that value. If that source is empty for a person, the block is left out of their signature rather than filled from another source.
How does Scribe match HRIS employees to mailboxes?
For BambooHR, Scribe matches the teammate's primary email with BambooHR's work email field, and employees without a work email don't sync. Scribe doesn't document the key for other tools, so make sure every HR record carries the mailbox's primary address and confirm with Scribe.
How often does HRIS data update in signatures?
Connected sources sync automatically once a day based on your workspace time zone, and an admin can click Refresh to sync all sources immediately.
Does the HRIS create or remove teammates in Scribe?
Teammates come from Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID or Zoho Mail, or are added manually or by CSV; HRIS integrations fill their Smart Fields. Departures are driven by the directory: Scribe's pricing FAQ says deactivating a license in Google Workspace or Entra ID removes the signature and the billed seat.
Can Scribe pull signature data from Salesforce or HubSpot?
No. Scribe has no CRM data sync and no HubSpot integration. Its Salesforce integration installs signatures in Salesforce on the web; it doesn't read CRM records into Smart Fields.
What if our HR system isn't supported?
Provision Entra ID from HR with Microsoft's API-driven inbound provisioning and sync signatures from Entra ID, push values to custom Smart Fields with Scribe's API (PATCH /v1/teammates/{id}), upload a CSV, or invite employees to fill missing fields themselves.
Related Handbook guides
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