A job title, a department, a manager, an employment type and a status are not fields you overwrite in AB Talent. Each one is a history: a change is a new record with the date it took effect and a reason, and what the roster shows now is the newest record in force.
How the history works
Open the People tab, stay on List, and click a name. Employment history sits at the top of the record, newest first. Each line shows the date, what the record said and the reason.
The first line is written when the person is added. New person asks for a reason as well, because the first record is often the one people wonder about later. Records cannot be edited or deleted. To fix a mistake, record another change that says so.
Only an HR admin can record a change, and that includes changes to their own record. A manager proposes; HR records. See Access for what each kind of access allows.
Record a change
- Open the person. People → List, then click their name.
- Start the change. Under Employment history, click Record a change. The form opens filled in with what is true now, so anything you leave alone stays the same.
- Set the date. Effective from is the day it actually happened, not today. A promotion entered late still counts from when it started.
- Change what changed. Job title, Department, Reports to, Employment type or Status.
- Say why. Why? is required. It is what anyone looking at this change later will read.
- Save. Click Record change.
What Microsoft 365 owns, and what stays yours
If you connected your directory (see Setting up AB Talent), the roster is seeded from Microsoft 365. An HR admin runs it from the Setup tab on People: Import these people the first time, Sync again after that. It only runs when somebody clicks.
| Microsoft 365 owns | AB Talent owns |
|---|---|
| Name, work email, job title, department, and the reporting line it imports | Employment type, start date, status, and every personal detail |
| Refreshed each time you sync | Never touched by a sync |
A few things follow from that split:
- A new job title or department in Microsoft 365 is written to the history, dated the day you sync, with the reason “Changed in the Microsoft 365 directory.” A new name or email address updates the record without a history line.
- Change a title or department in Microsoft 365, not here. For an imported person, a title you record by hand is replaced at the next sync if the directory says something different.
- The manager is different. Once a record has a manager set here, a sync does not replace it. To move somebody, use Record a change and pick the new Reports to.
- An import brings no start date. Microsoft 365 does not know when somebody joined. A start date comes from the New person form or from an accepted offer. Attendance and onboarding both use it, and Joining and leaving explains what happens without one.
If somebody's account disappears from Microsoft 365, nothing is deleted. They appear under Needs review at the top of the list. If they left, record the departure. If nothing is wrong, click Not a problem; a later sync flags them again while the account is still missing. When Microsoft 365 returns only part of your directory, the sync marks nobody and says so.
Who sees which records
| Access | Employment records | Personal details | Org chart |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR admin | Everyone | Everyone | Yes |
| People manager | Their direct reports, and themselves | Their own only | Yes |
| Employee | Their own | Their own | Yes |
Direct reports means exactly that: not the whole team beneath them. Somebody who holds only Recruiter or Executive access has no roster here. Personal details are phone, address, personal email and emergency contact, and each person can edit their own with Save details.
The org chart is a picture, not an editor
The Org chart tab draws everyone from the reporting line. You cannot drag anyone on it, and that is on purpose: moving somebody to a different manager changes who can read their records, so it is done on their record with a reason.
- It is wider than the list, and carries less. Each card shows a name, a job title and a department. Nothing about employment or personal details is on it.
- A name is clickable only if you may open that record. Seeing a colleague on the chart is not permission to read their file.
- Open roles appear as gaps under the person hiring for them. You see the ones your access reaches, so two people can see different gaps.
- People with the status Left are not on the chart. If somebody's manager is not on the chart, they appear at the top rather than vanishing.
People who have left
Anyone with the status Left drops off the list and the chart, and their record stays. An HR admin can bring them back into view by turning on Include people who have left above the list. It changes the list only, not the chart.
The status does not turn to Left by itself on the day employment ends. Until you change it, the person stays on the list with the Leaving badge and stays on the chart. Once employment has ended, use Record a change, leave Effective from on today's date, and set Status to Left.
Archiving
Archiving is for an account that is not a person, such as a shared mailbox that looked like a member to Microsoft 365. It is not how you record that somebody left.
| How it happens | What it does | How to undo it |
|---|---|---|
| Take off the roster under Needs review, or unticking somebody before an import | They leave the list and the chart, stop being counted in the headcount, and a later sync will not bring them back. The record is kept, not deleted. | Tick them in the directory list on Setup and sync again |
Include people who have left does not show archived records. Somebody with an archived record also cannot get into the workspace.
When you are not sure which screen a change belongs on, the rule is simple: if it is a fact about somebody's employment, it goes in their history, with a date and a reason.