It’s an AD environment, so we’ll be looking to leverage that as much as possible, especially in drawing our data from back-end HR style systems, if possible (some are older / legacy apps which may present some interesting interface challenges).
Confluence can natively sync data a little. Linchpin enhances these features dramatically. In a massive implementation we pull data from 11 different user directories and HR systems including multiple Active Directories, LDAP, Lotus Notes, SAP, … - Sometimes data is ambiguous or redundant. Some systems want to get updates written back some don’t. Some systems are slow and need our ability to resume an aborted sync or to be patient. All of this can be covered by the Custom User Profile add-on. It’s our most sophisticated enhancement in the whole Linchpin Intranet suite and also a basis for all personalization in the system, that makes Linchpin so popular and powerful. It is not uncommon that we add it to our import capabilities during projects. Sometimes this can be covered by product development but in most cases we make these enhancements as a sponsored development that is paid by the customer but incorporated in the product and maintained by us. Usually this is not part of the Linchpin fixed price package. But we definitely need to talk about this.