HR API: how to integrate LapsoWork with your ERP, payroll software or BI

HR software that lives in isolation forces you to type twice: the hours already in time tracking are keyed again into the payroll program, the hires already in the ERP are registered again in the people platform, and the management report is assembled by hand every month from data in three places. An HR API exists to avoid that: so systems read each other without human intervention. In this guide we explain what data LapsoWork’s REST API exposes, which integrations make sense in an SME, how to design them so they do not break and when, honestly, an Excel export is enough.

What LapsoWork’s API exposes

LapsoWork’s REST API is publicly documented and authorised with an access token that identifies your account. The main resources are:

• Employees: number of active users in a date range, full list of active employees between two dates and search by name.
• Clock-ins: clock-in records in the specified date range.
• Hours: sum of an employee’s daily, weekly and monthly hours.
• Absences: absences recorded in a date range.
• Leave: remaining holiday days per employee.
• Work sites: list and search by name.
• Clients: list and search by name, for companies that allocate hours to clients.
• Documents: number of files uploaded and document types configured.

In other words, everything another system needs to read from HR: who is active, how much they have worked, when they were absent and how much leave they have left. The documentation for each endpoint, with its date parameters and responses, is on the developer page.

The four integrations that pay off in an SME

1. Payroll: from hours to payslip without typing

It is the integration with the highest return. At each month end, a process queries each employee’s monthly hours and absences, converts them into the variables your payroll program or accountant expects (overtime, supplements, absence deductions) and delivers them in the format that program imports. LapsoWork does not calculate payroll, as we explain in outsourcing payroll or in-house software; what the API does is get the variables cleanly to whoever does calculate it. Then the calculated payslip comes back to LapsoWork to be distributed and signed.

2. ERP: a single list of employees and sites

If the ERP is the master for employees and sites, the integration keeps registrations, terminations and site changes synchronised, so nobody registers the same person twice. If LapsoWork is the master, the ERP reads the list of active employees and sites from the API. What matters is deciding which of the two owns each piece of data and not letting both write the same thing.

3. BI and dashboards

A management dashboard that every morning reads hours worked, overtime, absences by type and pending leave by site and team, without anyone exporting anything. With that data you calculate the HR metrics and the absenteeism that are otherwise calculated by hand and abandoned.

4. Access control and in-house systems

Companies with turnstiles, locks or internal applications that need to know whether a person is active or how many hours they have worked this week. The API answers those queries in real time.

How to design an integration that does not break

1. Decide the master system for each piece of data. Employees, sites, calendars, hours: each has an owner. The rest only read.
2. Work by date ranges and incrementally. The clock-in, hours and absence endpoints accept start and end dates; query only what has changed since the last run, not the whole history every time.
3. Keep the token as a secret. In a secrets manager or in server environment variables, never in code or in a shared spreadsheet. Rotate it if the owner changes.
4. Log every run. What was queried, how many records, what errors. When a payslip goes wrong, that log is what will tell you whether the data arrived.
5. Handle errors without inventing data. If the API does not respond, the integration stops and alerts; it does not fill hours with zeros.
6. Respect usage limits and query at low-load times for bulk processes.
7. Document the mapping. Which LapsoWork field feeds which field in the other system and with what transformation. It is what will let you maintain it when the person who built it changes.
8. Comply with the GDPR. The integration is a processing of personal data: minimise the fields you transfer, limit access and reflect the flow in the record of processing activities.

When an export is enough

Not every SME needs a programmed integration. If you close payroll once a month, have a single site and your accountant accepts an Excel file, the export of hours and absence reports included in LapsoWork solves the problem in two minutes a month. The API pays off when several systems need the same data, when the process is weekly or daily, or when volume makes exporting and pasting a source of errors. A good rule: if someone spends more than an hour a month moving HR data between systems, the integration pays for itself, as we calculate in how to calculate the ROI of HR software.

Who can build it

You do not need a development team. A developer with REST API experience, in-house or external, builds a payroll or BI integration in a few days with the public documentation. Many accountants and ERP providers already have connectors or experience with this kind of integration. And if your company has more than forty employees and specific needs, LapsoWork’s Custom plan includes bespoke development, as you can see on our pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

What data can I get from LapsoWork’s API?

Active employees and search by name, clock-ins and daily, weekly and monthly hours per employee, absences in a date range, remaining holiday days, work sites, clients and data on uploaded documents. The documentation with each endpoint and its parameters is on the developer page.

How does the API authenticate?

With an access token linked to your account, sent with each request. It must be kept as a secret on the server running the integration, never in code or shared documents, and renewed if the responsible person changes.

Can LapsoWork be integrated with the payroll program?

Yes. The usual integration queries each employee’s monthly hours and absences at each close and delivers them in the format the payroll program or accountant imports. LapsoWork does not calculate payroll; it distributes the payslips your accountant or program calculates, and the API ensures the variables arrive without being keyed in.

Do I need a developer to use the API?

For a programmed integration, yes: a developer with REST API experience, in-house or external, builds it in a few days with the public documentation. For one-off needs, the export of hours and absence reports to Excel requires no development.

Does the integration comply with the GDPR?

It must: it is a processing of employees’ personal data. Transfer only the necessary fields, limit who accesses the token and the data, log the runs and reflect the flow in the company’s record of processing activities.

Conclusion

An HR API exists so that hours, absences and active employees reach payroll, the ERP or the dashboard without anyone keying them in. LapsoWork’s exposes exactly that data with token authentication and public documentation, and the integrations that pay off in an SME are few and clear: payroll, ERP, BI and access control. If you move HR data by hand for more than an hour a month, try LapsoWork free for 30 days and review the API documentation with your developer.