How integrations create value for your contingent workforce program

Table of Contents

Executive summary

In today’s fast-paced digital environment, businesses require systems that are responsive, scalable, and capable of handling vast amounts of data seamlessly across various platforms in a standard manner. Two of the key challenges companies face are data synchronization between multiple applications and data validation to maintain the accuracy and integrity of this data.

Data synchronization ensures that multiple systems or platforms have the same data, ensuring consistency across applications, databases, and services. Data validation ensures that the data being transferred is accurate, complete,and conforms to defined standards. Validation is crucial to maintaining the integrity of business processes, especially when data flows across multiple systems.

Traditionally, contingent workforce programs managed their data through batch processing or periodic updates, which were prone to errors and delays. Today, application programming interfaces (APIs) have revolutionized data synchronization by offering real-time, seamless integration capability.

This white paper explains how Beeline uses APIs, webhooks, connectors, and other integration techniques to manage the seamless, secure, and accurate interchange of contingent workforce data across the systems that support our clients’ contingent workforce programs. This results in enhanced system interoperability, automated business processes, and error-free operations.

How contingent workforce data integration has changed

For more than two decades, the preferred extended workforce management solution has been the vendor management system (VMS). Originally designed to manage contingent workers sourced through staffing agencies, VMS solutions have become end-to-end external talent management platforms. In addition to managing staff augmentation via staffing vendors, most VMS solutions now manage all categories of external talent, including statement of work (SOW)-based contractors, consultants, professional service providers, and independent contractors (ICs).

Managing each category of external workers requires a separate set of integrations with internal and external systems. How the VMS provider handles these integrations and which integrations they provide can determine the effectiveness and efficiency of your contingent workforce program.

Solving business challenges in real-time

One way a VMS delivers value is its ability to automate manual processes, saving time, reducing errors, and minimizing administrative tasks. To accelerate these processes and ensure data synchronization, Beeline has developed an extensive library of more than 350 APIs and connectors that streamline data flow and enhance system interoperability, providing real-time updates and error-free operations.

Each API connects two applications in a specific way to accomplish a particular data exchange in real time. Each connector is like a suite of APIs with multiple points of connectivity performing multiple processes to solve a specific business problem. Beeline VMS implementations for clients typically include many different APIs and connectors.

Proven industry-standard APIs

Beeline’s APIs are built to the REST (Representational State Transfer) architectural standard, which is considered most efficient for internet use. Each conforms to Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) specifications.

Most of our REST, or more precisely, RESTful APIs, are self-service, ready to set up and go, with no configuration required. They are available at our Developers Portal, where clients, MSPs, and other developers can access documentation and learn how Beeline APIs can streamline data exchange and integrate Beeline platform data with other applications.

Webhooks: accelerating productivity

Some integrated applications query our VMS periodically to determine whether a particular action has occurred. To make these integrations smoother and more efficient, we often add webhooks to our APIs and connectors.

Webhooks are user-defined communications in which one action, like creating a job requisition in Beeline VMS, sends a message to another application, initiating another action. The webhook’s real-time, push-pull communication is more efficient than waiting for a scheduled one-way call to determine whether to take the next step in a process or begin another activity.

APIs are just the beginning

APIs are increasingly popular because they can transfer data in real time. However, APIs are not the only integrations that are available. Our approach is to deliver a variety of integrations to ensure the right fit for each client’s particular needs.

In addition to our own APIs, we also offer Partner Connectors containing multiple transfer points and operations that can accelerate business workflows, improve data accuracy, and ensure that critical information is always up to date across all platforms.

With APIs, connectors, standard flat file data feeds, and flexible, fast-deploying integration-platform-as-a-service and reporting-as-a-service options, we give our clients a wide variety of integration solutions that provide seamless interoperability, save time, and boost operational efficiency.

How integrations deliver value for clients

Integrations deliver value for contingent workforce programs in many ways, including:

Replacing error-prone manual processes
Reducing supplier invoice errors
Streamlining and standardizing onboarding for faster time to productivity and improved compliance

Integrations can be particularly valuable in managing financial data and provisioning/deprovisioning.

Financial data

Automating financial data with an API offers significant advantages for businesses. APIs improve efficiency, automate business processes, increase accuracy, and facilitate informed decision-making. They enable seamless integration between client financial systems and the Beeline VMS, eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing the risk of errors.

Provisioning/deprovisioning

During the onboarding process, contingent labor must be provided with various resources, such as user accounts, computers, or other equipment, and services that will allow them to perform their assignments. Deprovisioning refers to removing or disabling these resources when they are no longer needed. Automated provisioning and deprovisioning processes use integrations to ensure operational efficiency and reduce the risk of human error while ensuring alignment with the company’s security policies.

Integrations raise hiring manager productivity

We have solved hundreds of integration use cases with highly complex and customized technology stacks. Most likely – if you have a third-party system you want to integrate, we’ve integrated with it already. Some Beeline clients want to initiate or manage contingent workforce activity outside their VMS. So, we developed integrations that allow hiring managers to create job requests in another system, such as their HCM. Then, their Beeline VMS takes high-level data from these requests via API, completes the job requisitions, and activates the client-approved hiring process within the VMS.

When clients need to terminate a worker immediately, company policies often require this to start in the client’s HCM system for security and audit purposes. So, we created an API that is called when a contingent worker is terminated in the client’s system. The API takes the data into the VMS, and the Beeline system terminates the assignment.

Our approach to integrations is to deliver a variety of right-fit integrations for extended workforce management. In other words, we offer APIs, Partner Connectors, Standard Feeds, and Integration Services to support any need you may have.

Directional and bi-directional data feeds

Most Beeline clients have multiple integrations from their VMS to various enterprise systems within their software stack. One client, for example, has 39 integrations between their Beeline VMS and various SAP applications.

Typical integrations include sets of Client-to-Beeline, Beeline-to-Client, and bidirectional feeds, such as:

Client to Beeline	Beeline to Client
Users	Requests
Organizational unit structure	Assignments
Approval hierarchy	Invoices
Cost centers	Accruals
Locations	Expenses
Delegates
Time sheets	Bi-directional feeds
WBS codes	Assignment setup and updates
Projects and tasks	Purchase orders
Internal orders	On/offboarding
Client-defined fields

Users

Beeline to Client

Requests
Organizational unit structure

Beeline to Client

Assignments
Approval hierarchy

Beeline to Client

Invoices
Cost centers

Beeline to Client

Accruals
Locations

Beeline to Client

Expenses
Delegates
Time sheets

Beeline to Client

Bi-directional feeds
WBS codes

Beeline to Client

Assignment setup and updates
Projects and tasks

Beeline to Client

Purchase orders
Internal orders

Beeline to Client

On/offboarding
Client-defined fields

Our independence lets us focus on your needs

As the leading independent provider of contingent workforce management technology, Beeline is not committed to supporting just one technology platform or architecture. Beeline integrates with all of them. For more than 120 clients who rely on Oracle, 160 who use Workday, and more than 200 who depend on SAP, our integrations mean they can have a best-of-breed VMS that connects seamlessly with their core enterprise applications.

Let our integrations add value to your program

Beeline has more than two decades of integration expertise. With our expanding library of APIs and connectors built exclusively for extended workforce management, we offer a dynamic and adaptable approach to integration.

We tailor integrations to match the growth of the extended workforce ecosystem and our clients’ evolving workforce challenges. This lets us deliver solutions precisely attuned to our clients’ needs.