---
title: "HiBob integration: Matching existing records at go-live"
slug: "hibob-integration-matching-existing-records-at-go-live"
updated: 2026-10-22T15:30:03Z
published: 2026-10-22T15:30:03Z
canonical: "help.cintra.co.uk/hibob-integration-matching-existing-records-at-go-live"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.cintra.co.uk/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# HiBob integration: Matching existing records at go-live

When your payroll was onboarded into Cintra, your ongoing records were set up with an effective date of the payroll start date. HiBob holds the date each record actually started, which is often earlier. For example, the date an employee started receiving an allowance, joined the pension scheme or moved onto a work pattern.

The integration matches these records automatically, so you don't need to backdate anything in payroll. This applies to:

- Fixed payments (allowances and ongoing deductions)
- Pension contributions
- Work patterns

The payroll start date is the first day of your first real payroll period. Period 0, which holds the year-to-date figures entered at onboarding, isn't used.

## Before your first sync

Fixed payments set up when your payroll was onboarded may only have an annual amount, with no monthly amount. HiBob holds the monthly amount, so add the monthly amount to each fixed payment in payroll before your first sync. Otherwise the integration won't recognise them as the same payment. You can do this in the **Period Allowance** field. See [Adding adjustments to employees](/iq/docs/how-do-i-add-adjustments-to-employees).

## Employees who left before the first sync

The integration only brings in a leaver if it has synced them at least once while they were still active. If an employee's leave date is before your first sync, they aren't brought into payroll, so you need to handle any payments due to them manually in your first payroll period.

To keep this to a minimum, run your first sync before any employees are due to leave. Anyone who leaves after that is picked up, as long as their record has synced successfully at least once while they were active.

## Records that started before the payroll start date

A payroll record and a HiBob record are matched as the same record when:

- The effective date in payroll is the payroll start date
- The effective date in HiBob is before the payroll start date
- The other details match

| Record | Details that must match |
| --- | --- |
| Fixed payments | Payment heading and amount |
| Pension contributions | Scheme contribution and contribution type (percentage or amount) |
| Work patterns | Work pattern name |

Payroll keeps the payroll start date, and the HiBob date isn't carried across. Any later changes you make in HiBob are applied to the matched record, such as a new amount or an end date after the payroll start date.

> [!TIP]
> Example
> 
> HiBob holds Car Allowance, £500, effective 01/05/2020. Payroll holds Car Allowance, £500, effective 01/07/2026, which is the payroll start date. The records are matched. If you later end the £500 record in HiBob and add a new £600 record, payroll ends the £500 record and adds the £600 one.

## Records whose dates don't match

If the effective date in payroll isn't the payroll start date and doesn't match the date in HiBob, the records aren't matched. The same applies if the HiBob date is after the payroll start date.

The HiBob record then overlaps the one already in payroll, so it isn't imported and an error appears in the CintraHR log. For fixed payments, the error is:

- *Import failed: an open record already exists for the [payment heading name] payment heading in payroll. Check for discrepancies between payroll and the 3rd-party system for this payment before retrying the import.*

To fix it, correct the effective date in payroll or in HiBob so they match, then run the sync again. To correct a fixed payment in payroll, select **Edit dates or current amount** on the payment. See [Salary & allowances](/payroll/docs/salary-allowances). For a pension contribution, see [Pension membership: Edit contribution rates](/payroll/docs/pension-membership#edit-contribution-rates).

## Records that ended before the payroll start date

| When | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| At the first sync | A record with an end date before the payroll start date is left out of the sync. It ended before your payroll was onboarded, so nothing is added to payroll and no error appears. |
| After the first sync | If a record has already been matched and you then enter an end date before the payroll start date in HiBob, the end date isn't applied. Payroll can't hold an end date earlier than the record's start date, so an error appears in the CintraHR log. |

For fixed payments, the error is:

- *The end date for [payment heading name] is before the start date in payroll. Delete the payment in payroll, or check the end date in the 3rd-party system.*

For pension contributions, the error is:

- *Pension contribution end date can't be before the start date. If the end date in the 3rd-party system is correct, delete the record in payroll manually.*

For work patterns, the end date isn't applied and an error appears.

To fix any of these errors:

- If the end date is correct, your payroll user removes the record in payroll:
  - **Fixed payments:** delete the payment in [Salary & allowances](/payroll/docs/salary-allowances).
  - **Pension contributions:** delete the contribution. See [Pension membership: Delete](/payroll/docs/pension-membership#delete).
  - **Work patterns:** Remove the work pattern from the employee in Cintra iQ. See [Applying / removing an employee working pattern in time management](/iq/docs/how-do-i-apply-a-working-pattern-to-employees-in-time-management).
- If the end date is wrong, your HiBob user corrects it in HiBob.

## Things to be aware of

- **Date corrections in HiBob:** if you correct a date in HiBob to another date that's still before the payroll start date, the change doesn't come into payroll. Make corrections like this on your previous payroll system, or as an ad hoc payroll adjustment.
- **Pension membership:** matching doesn't change pension membership start or end dates in payroll.
- **Deleted pension records:** deleting a matched pension record in HiBob deletes the pension contribution in payroll, including the one created at onboarding. The pension membership isn't deleted.
- **Overlapping pension records:** if two HiBob records for the same scheme contribution overlap, both are rejected and nothing is added to payroll. End-date the previous record before the new one starts.