This guide is self-contained — every credential and capability required is listed in the steps below. For why each is needed, alternative permission models, and permission-propagation details, see Permissions & Security - BambooHR.

Prerequisites

Who you need to be

• BambooHR administrator (or ability to create access levels, users, and API keys)

• Simpplr administrator with access to Manage Features → Enterprise Search

Network and firewall

• Outbound HTTPS access from Simpplr Enterprise Search to https://{your-company-domain}.bamboohr.com

Step 1 — Prepare BambooHR

Credentials you will need from BambooHR

• Company Domain (the subdomain before .bamboohr.com)

• API Key for a dedicated service account

The service account does not need BambooHR administrator rights. A read-only custom access level is enough.

1. Sign in to BambooHR as an administrator.

2. Create a custom access level for the connector:

   • Go to Settings → Access Levels → + → Custom Access Level.
     

   • Skip "What this Access Level Can Do" for employee actions.

   • Under Company Files, grant Access company files for every category that should be searchable. Leave upload and e-signature options off.
     

   • Important: When a new Company Files category is created later in BambooHR, return to this access level and grant access to that category. New categories are not added automatically to an existing custom access level.

   • Under What This Access Level Can See → See About Other Employees → Personal → Contact, grant View (view only) on:

     • Work Email

     • Home Email

   • Leave all other employee field categories at No access.
     

3. Create a dedicated non-employee BambooHR user and assign that custom access level.

4. Generate an API key as that service user: click the user name → API Keys → create a key.
   

5. Note your Company Domain. If employees open BambooHR at https://acme.bamboohr.com, the domain is acme.

Step 2 — Add BambooHR as a source in Simpplr Enterprise Search Admin Panel

1. In Simpplr, go to: Manage features → Enterprise search → Add source.

   
   Search for and select BambooHR.
   

2. Enter a Connection Name for this instance.

3. Enter the credentials from Step 1:

   • BambooHR Company Domain

   • API Key

   • Optionally turn on Enable document level security if you want indexed shared files trimmed to synced BambooHR employees. This relies on the Work Email and Home Email view access granted in Step 1.
     

4. Click Save configuration and confirm.

Step 3 — Add filters and ingestion scope

Filters control which content gets indexed. Document age defaults to the last 2 years (by file creation date). File Category filters are optional — if none are set, all categories visible to the API key are considered (still subject to the share-with-employees gate).

1. Set filters — configure which content to include or exclude from indexing.

   Document age

   • Default: files created in the last 2 years.

   • BambooHR Company Files do not expose a last-modified date, so this filter uses creation date.

   File Category

   • Include specific categories: index only files in named BambooHR Company File categories (exact names as shown in BambooHR).

   • Exclude specific categories: skip files in named categories.

   • Category names are case-sensitive and must match BambooHR exactly.

   • File Category filters only apply to categories the service account can already see. Grant new categories on the custom access level first (Step 1), then optionally refine with include/exclude filters here.

2. Set Audience configuration (optional) — restrict the connector to a specific Simpplr audience. Only members of the selected audience will be able to find this content in Enterprise Search. If left unset, all users with access can search this content.

3. Click Save and sync — this saves the configuration and initiates the first full sync.

   Alternatively, click Exit to save and resume setup later. To start the sync manually, go to Enterprise Search → BambooHR → Status and click Sync now.
   

Step 4 — Verify the sync

1. Monitor progress at: Enterprise search → BambooHR → Status.

2. The dashboard shows sync status, total items indexed, and any errors.
   

What success looks like:

• Shortly after the connector is initialised, the status shows In progress and the item count begins increasing.

• When the initial full sync completes, the status shows Success and BambooHR Company File results appear in Enterprise Search for users with access.

• Initial full sync duration depends on how many shared files are in scope — larger libraries take longer because every in-scope file is downloaded on full sync.

If the sync stays in Pending, fails, or completes with far fewer items than expected, see Troubleshooting - Enterprise Search Connectors and Troubleshooting & FAQs - BambooHR.