Import Data with LDAP

Process

Information

• Below you will find a description of how you can import person, user, and resource data from an Active Directory in PLANTA via LDAP technology.
• This is procedure presents an alternative to the manual input of data in modules of the Users, Roles, Resources panel or to the import of employee data from a csv file.
• The following description supposes knowledge of the PLANTA master data. The first two steps of the procedure are usually carried out by an IT administrator.

Requirements

• To be able to use LDAP import, you need a PLANTA secure license.

Procedure

1. Prepare the data in the AD.
2. Adjust the ldap.conf in PLANTA - Server. Define via the group in the LDAP filter in the Server which employees are to be imported from the AD.
3. Preconfigure the parameters which are to be set for the person to be imported in PLANTA project. To do so, 
   • open the Persons module in the Users, Roles, Resources panel in PLANTA project and switch to the LDAP Import module variant.
   • Open the LDAP Import: Open the Configuration module.
     • Here you must define the default setting for the persons to be imported.
     • Define additional person groups if necessary.
       • Person groups are intermediate elements which serve to map AD groups via PLANTA roles.
     • Assign person groups to AD groups.
     • Assign PLANTA roles to the person groups.  
     • For details, please refer to the description of the LDAP Import: Configuration module.
4. Execute the import.
   • To do so, click on the Import button in the LDAP Import module variant in thePersons module.
   • If the import is completed successfully, all imported persons will be displayed in the LDAP Import module variant of the Persons module where they can be edited, see step 5. If an error occurs during import, the following message is displayed: During transfer, a critical error has occurred. The transfer will be aborted." 
5. Post-process and complete data.
   • Since import does not cover all parameters because they might, e.g., not exist in the The Active Directory or because they are to be defined differently for a lot of users, such parameters must be set manually for all imported persons once the import is completed. To do so, see the "Post-Processing” section. 
     • You can edit the parameters in the corresponding standard modules of the Users, Roles, Resources panel. 
   • Activate the Checked checkbox to mark the persons for whom post-processing has already been completed. After you have refreshed the module view, the marked persons are no longer included in the list of imported and yet to be edited persons.

Notes

• For automatic import of new persons to PLANTA, or to ensure that existing data is always up-to-date, e.g. in the case of name changes, PLANTA recommends that you set up LDAP import as a batch job which runs in defined intervals on a regular basis.
• In a re-import, only the parameters which stem from the Active Directory, i.e. those listed in the "Active Directory" section, will be updated. Here the Checked flag is not reset since parameters manually during post-processing of the import are not covered by the update.
• If you import a person with a code that already exists as a resource (and only as a resource), person/user/stakeholder cannot be created in PLANTA project accordingly and the import will throw an error. Note: All other data will be imported (created or updated).
• The update of changes made to codes in the Active Directory is currently not supported.
• If the PLANTA groups are deleted for a person in the Active Directory because the person changes, e.g., to another department of the company and no longer works with PLANTA project, a Left on date is set for the respective person in PLANTA project after LDAP import. The Left on date is then automatically copied to all properties of the person (stakeholder, user, resource).
• The roles assigned to the users as well as the Customizer, Object rights, Synchronize with PLANTA pulse / Synchronize with Jira as well as the Starting date and Leaving date are exclusively determined by the specifications made in the AD and cannot be changed for the persons imported from the AD. Upon the attempt, a message will be displayed which indicates this.

Technology

Information

• There is a standard interface for LDAP import (613df20b-075f-df4e-8031-e13b21411d9e). It contains a source, pool, and target module and the mappings, as well as validators which ensure that during an update of existing data only the data from the AD is updated. For testing purposes, you can also use this standard interface in PLANTA link to import into the pool only.
• The interface can also be used directly in PLANTA link if you want to import into the pool first before importing into the actual tables (e.g. to check the data).

Parameters

Active Directory

The following fields are filled or updated with the data from the Active Diretory:

Configuration

The following fields are configured before the import in the PLANTA configuration module (LDAP Import: Configuration):

Post-processing

In addition, you have to set the following fields manually for all persons after import: