How do I set up the ADP Workforce Now integration?

Last updated: November 2, 2026

Connect Onboarded to ADP Workforce Now so a new hire's onboarding data creates their worker record in ADP. You'll enter your API credentials, load your ADP onboarding template, choose which fields show, who fills each one, and where its value comes from, then build one form per payroll group.

Before you start

  • Admin access to your account's Integrations settings.

  • Your ADP Workforce Now API credentials — a Client ID and Client Secret — with the mTLS certificate provisioned on the ADP side.

  • The onboarding template code from ADP you want to build against.

Connect your ADP Workforce Now credentials

  1. Open the integration. From your account settings, open Integrations and choose ADP Workforce Now.

  2. Enter your credentials. In the Configure ADP Workforce Now panel, fill in your Client ID and Client Secret.

  3. Save. Onboarded uses these to authenticate to ADP over a secure (mTLS) connection. You should see the integration connected and ready to load a template.

Load an onboarding template

Your ADP template defines what ADP expects for a new hire — which fields exist, which are required, and the option lists (codelists) behind coded dropdowns like company, location, and job.

  1. Open Configure Template, pick your onboarding template from the list, and load it.

  2. Wait for the template to go live. While ADP syncs the fields and option lists, the template shows Pending — "Template fields are being synced from ADP. This may take a few minutes." It flips to Live once the sync finishes.

When ADP's option lists change — a new company code or location — reopen the integration and select Refresh Template to re-sync them. The template returns to Pending while the options refresh, then back to Live. A template marked Deprecated can no longer be configured; load a current one instead.

Your field settings — Enabled, Label, Sequence, Assignee, Field Path, and default value — are saved against the ADP template they were configured on. Refreshing or reloading that same template keeps them, so a refresh is safe. Switching to a different template starts from defaults — plan on redoing the mapping when you do that.

Choose which fields to collect

  1. Open Configure Template once the template is Live. Sections run down the left; pick one, then use search or the group filter to find a field. Each row shows the field's Label, Group, Type, Enabled, Required, Assignee, and Field Path.

  2. Turn off fields you don't want on the form. Click a field's Enabled value to switch it between Yes and No. A field set to No doesn't appear on the ADP form for the employee or the employer.

  3. Set who fills each field. Click a row to open the field's settings. Change the Assignee to Employer for anything your team owns rather than the new hire — payroll group and pay settings are common examples — and leave the rest as Employee.

  4. Pre-fill from existing data where you can. In the same settings, set the Field Path to map the field to data Onboarded already holds, so it arrives filled in. Paths can point at entity data (employee.ssn, employee.date_of_birth), custom attributes, or another form field. For option fields, pick a Default value from ADP's list. Click Apply.

  5. Save. When you've worked through the fields, click Save Configuration. The template shows Pending while ADP's option lists resolve, then returns to Live.

Which fields exist and whether each is Required come from your ADP template, not from Onboarded — those are read-only here. In Onboarded you control whether a field shows, its Label and Sequence, the Assignee, the Field Path, and default values.

The employee sees only enabled fields assigned to Employee. The employer form shows every enabled field, including the ones the employee fills, and any field left without an assignee appears only there.

Field labels start as ADP's own names, which is why the state on an address reads Subdivision Code rather than State — ADP generalizes the field to cover countries that don't use states. When a label confuses the people filling the form, open the field's settings and change Label; the form shows your wording instead. Sequence in the same settings sets the order fields appear within a section, lowest number first.

Add optional fields outside your template

Below the template, the Additional Fields panel holds optional fields that Onboarded collects on the ADP form and sends to ADP separately from your onboarding template. Today the one available field is Protected Veteran Status.

Click Configure Additional Fields, select the field, and turn on Enabled. Set its Label, Assignee, and whether it's Required, then click Save. The panel lists the field as Enabled, with a Required tag if you set one. Onboarded sends the answer to the worker's record in ADP as their military status.

Onboarding status: In Progress vs Complete

Your template includes an Onboarding Status section with a status code field, and its two values behave differently. You can pin either one as the Default value the way you would on any option field.

  • Complete tells ADP the worker is fully onboarded.

  • In Progress tells ADP the record isn't finished. ADP rejects direct deposit for a worker in that state, so Onboarded holds the direct deposit details and sends them once the worker record finishes provisioning. The task completes without waiting on it.

Submitting as the employer with direct deposit included while the status is In Progress prompts you first, with the choice to Submit Worker Only or Submit Anyway.

What In Progress does not do is relax Onboarded's required fields. The ADP form blocks submission until every required field is filled either way, and you'll get Please complete all required fields before submitting. regardless of the status code. To stop a field from being required, turn it off in your ADP template rather than reaching for the status code.

Build a form for each payroll group

Add the ADP fields to an onboarding form. The Payroll Group setting ties a form to a single ADP payroll group, and each payroll group needs its own form — so an account that runs, say, a weekly union payroll and a bi-weekly salaried payroll builds one ADP form for each. Assign the right form through your policies so every new hire lands on the one that matches their payroll group.

How a new hire reaches ADP

The employee fills their part of the ADP form and the employer fills theirs. You can track both from the ADP submissions view, where each new hire moves from Employee Submitted to Employer Submitted. Once submitted, Onboarded creates the worker in ADP — the submission shows an ADP Applicant ID, then an ADP Associate OID once the worker record exists. Direct deposit sends on its own after the worker profile finishes provisioning in ADP.

Verify

Create a test new hire, complete the ADP form as both the employee and the employer, and confirm the worker appears in ADP with the mapped fields filled in. On the form itself, fields you set to No shouldn't appear, and any field you relabeled should show your wording. In the ADP submissions view, the row reads Employer Submitted and carries an ADP Associate OID.

If a coded dropdown is empty, run Refresh Template to re-sync ADP's option lists. If a new hire can't be assigned to the right company, confirm they're on the form tied to the correct Payroll Group.

Related