Which directories can QRBold sync with?

Okta over SCIM 2.0 and Microsoft Entra ID directly. HR systems without a native integration are handled through CSV or XLSX import with column mapping, or through the JSON ingestion API if your HRIS can post webhooks or you can script an export.

How quickly do directory changes appear on cards?

SCIM changes from Okta arrive as the identity provider pushes them, so a title change or deactivation propagates without waiting for a batch window. Entra ID card generation can run immediately on apply or on the employee's first login, depending on the sync timing you choose.

Does syncing overwrite details an employee edited themselves?

Fields that are mapped to directory attributes are owned by the directory — that is what makes them consistent. If you want employees to control certain fields, such as a personal booking link or a pronouns line, leave those fields unmapped so the directory never writes to them.

Can we sync from BambooHR, Workday, or another HRIS?

If the HRIS provisions through your identity provider — which is the common enterprise pattern, where HR is upstream of Okta or Entra ID — then yes, indirectly and correctly. Otherwise use scheduled CSV or XLSX export with column mapping, or post records to the JSON ingestion endpoint.

What happens to the printed QR code when directory data changes?

Nothing. The QR code encodes a short link QRBold manages; the card content sits behind it. A title change rewrites the card, not the code, so printed badges, business cards, and email signatures keep working indefinitely.

Can we sync only part of the organisation?

Yes. Target by group, by filter conditions on directory attributes, or by an explicit list of email addresses. A common pattern is syncing customer-facing departments while leaving everyone else on self-service or off the programme entirely.

Directory Sync

Digital Business Cards with Directory Sync

Stop maintaining a second employee roster. QRBold reads your directory — Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, or a mapped CSV export from an HR system — and builds every employee card from it. New hires get cards, promotions update titles, and departures take cards offline, all without anyone editing a card by hand.

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Last updated August 16, 2026

One roster

Not a second copy to maintain

Automatic

Joiners, movers, and leavers

Field-level

Map any attribute to any card field

No reprints

The QR code never changes

What is directory sync for digital business cards?

Directory sync connects a digital business card platform to your employee directory so cards are generated and maintained from directory data rather than entered by hand. QRBold reads Okta or Microsoft Entra ID attributes — name, job title, department, email, phone — and updates cards automatically as the directory changes.

Why teams choose QRBold for directory sync

The roster maintains itself

Every card is a view of directory data rather than a copy of it. When HR updates a record, the card follows. The alternative — a CSV re-imported quarterly — is accurate on import day and progressively wrong for the ninety days after it.

Consistent by construction

When titles come from the directory, "VP Sales", "V.P. of Sales", and "Vice President, Sales" stop appearing on three cards at the same company. Employees typing their own details is the single biggest source of brand inconsistency in a self-serve card rollout.

Coverage you can actually measure

Because the directory defines the denominator, you can answer "what percentage of the sales organisation has a live card" — a question that is unanswerable when the roster is a spreadsheet somebody maintains and nobody audits.

Departures close the loop

A leaver in the directory triggers the deprovision action automatically. No ticket, no checklist item, no card quietly serving an ex-employee's direct phone number to anyone who scans a badge they kept.

Get your directory driving the cards

Connect the directory

Set up the Okta or Microsoft Entra ID connection. For HR systems without a direct integration, export to CSV or XLSX and use bulk import with column mapping — the same field model, driven on a schedule you control rather than a live push.

Map attributes to card fields

Decide which directory attribute fills which card field. Defaults handle a standard card: given name, surname, job title, department, mail, mobile phone. Anything the directory exposes can be mapped, and attributes that carry more personal detail than a public card should are flagged.

Define the population

Everyone, a set of groups, a filtered subset, or an explicit list. Set whether cards are created immediately or on first sign-in, and confirm the preview resolves to the population you expected before anything is generated.

Set the leaver policy and go live

Choose suspend, delete, or keep for departures. Run the first sync, spot-check a handful of cards against the directory, and hand the roster back to the system that already owns it.

Directory sync specification

The technical detail an evaluation actually turns on, in one place.

Live directory sources	Okta (SCIM 2.0) · Microsoft Entra ID
File-based sources	CSV and XLSX import with column mapping and validation
API source	JSON ingestion endpoint with JSON-path field mapping
Default mapped fields	First name · Last name · Job title · Department · Email · Phone
Extended attributes	Identity, Job, Location, Contact, Account, and On-premises categories
Photo handling	Configured separately from the text attribute map
Population targeting	Everyone · Groups · Filter conditions · Explicit selection
Update behaviour	Card content updates in place; the short link and QR code are unchanged
Leaver behaviour	Suspend · Delete · Keep

The second-roster problem

Almost every digital business card deployment starts the same way: someone exports employee data from the HR system, tidies it in a spreadsheet, and imports it. It works. Everyone has a card. The project is declared done.

Then the organisation does what organisations do. Someone is hired and does not appear. Someone is promoted and their card says the old title. Someone changes their mobile number and the card keeps the old one. Someone leaves and their card stays live, because taking it down was not on anyone's offboarding checklist. Three months later the card data and the directory disagree in a few dozen places, and nobody knows which ones.

The root cause is not carelessness. It is that a manual import creates a second roster with no owner and no update mechanism. The fix is not more discipline — it is removing the second roster. When cards are generated from the directory, there is exactly one place employee data lives and exactly one team accountable for it, and that team is already doing the work.

What "sync" should mean, and what it often means instead

Vendors use "directory sync" for a wide range of behaviours, and the differences matter a great deal at renewal time.

A one-time import. Data is read once at setup. Everything after that is manual. Frequently marketed as directory sync; it is directory import.
A scheduled re-import. The whole directory is re-read on a cadence. Better, but changes lag by up to the interval, and departures stay live until the next run.
Event-driven provisioning. The identity provider pushes changes as they happen, over SCIM. Joiners, title changes, and — critically — deactivations propagate without waiting for a batch window.
Two-way sync. Changes made in the card platform write back to the directory. Rarely what you want: it puts a marketing tool in the position of editing HR records, and the governance conversation that follows is not worth the convenience.

When a CSV really is the right answer

Directory integration is not universally correct. If your HR system has no SCIM support, if the organisation is small enough that changes are rare and visible, or if the card programme covers a fixed population like a conference delegation, a mapped CSV import is simpler, cheaper, and entirely adequate.

The honest test is whether anyone owns re-running it. A CSV import with a named owner and a calendar reminder is a real process. A CSV import that happened once during rollout is a decaying dataset with a plausible-looking start date. If nobody owns the refresh, connect the directory instead — that is the whole argument.

Directory Sync questions, answered

The questions that come up in real evaluations, answered directly.

Related capabilities

One account covers identity, scale, and the tooling around both.

Okta

SAML SSO plus SCIM 2.0 provisioning — cards created and revoked with the Okta lifecycle.

Microsoft Entra ID

Generate cards for the whole tenant from Entra attributes — grouped, filtered, and kept in sync.

SCIM 2.0 Provisioning

The standard your IdP already speaks — users in, cards out, deactivation handled.

Employee Cards

Every employee gets a branded card — generated, governed, and kept current for them.

Bulk Creation

CSV or XLSX in, thousands of branded cards out — with every row validated first.

See every digital business card capability

One directory. Every card. No maintenance.

Connect the directory you already keep accurate, and let every employee card build and update itself from it.

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