The first person to open AB Talent creates your company's workspace and becomes its HR admin. Import your team before you tell anyone else to open it: a colleague who is on the roster gets their own record straight away, and one who isn't sees nothing until you add them.
Set it up, step by step
Home shows a Finish setting up checklist with these steps until they are done, and each line opens the right page.
- Create the workspace. Open blz.actionbridge.io/talent, sign in with your Microsoft 365 work account, and select Create workspace on Home. You become the HR admin. There is one workspace per Microsoft 365 organization, so nobody can create a second one by accident.
- Import your team. People → Setup → Microsoft 365 directory. This needs a one-time approval from a Global Administrator (the person who runs your Microsoft 365 organization, often not the HR admin). Select Copy the approval link, send it to them, and select Check again once they have approved. When it shows Connected, select Import these people.
- Give people their access. Everyone on the roster gets Employee on their own. On People, open anyone who needs more, select Change access, tick what they need, and select Save access. At the very least, give your line managers People manager, or they can't approve time off. See Who can see what in AB Talent.
- Set up time off. On Time off, check Kinds of time off, then use Grant days. Nobody has any days until you grant them. See Time off.
- Choose the handbook (optional). People → Setup → HR help desk. See The HR help desk, and read its warning first.
- Connect candidate mail (if you are hiring). People → Setup → Candidate mail. Enter the address candidates should see in Send from, then select Check it can send. This needs a one-time approval from a Microsoft 365 administrator too.
- Post your first role (if you are hiring). Roles, then add the position and its requirements.
- Tell your colleagues. Send them the link to AB Talent. They sign in with their work account and there is nothing else to do.
What a colleague sees the first time
| When they open AB Talent | What happens |
|---|---|
| On the roster | They are linked to their record and given Employee. They see their own record and their time off, and nobody else's. |
| Not on the roster | They see You don't have access here yet. They appear on People under Not on the roster, where you can add them or give them access. |
| Left, or taken off the roster | They are kept out, even if their Microsoft 365 account still works. |
| Access already set by you | Your choice stands. AB Talent never adds to or changes access you have set, even if you removed it all. |
Who the import brings in, and what stays yours
Importing shows you the list first, and you can leave people off, such as shared mailboxes. Name, job title, department and the reporting line come from Microsoft 365 and refresh each time you select Sync again. Contract type, start date and anything you edited in AB Talent stay as you set them.
Nothing is deleted. Somebody who has gone from Microsoft 365 is flagged for you to review, and a person you left off is not brought back by a later sync.
Reporting lines and approvals
Time-off approvals go to a person's direct manager. An imported manager is connected to their team once they have opened AB Talent themselves, so ask your managers to sign in early. A manager you set by hand on someone's record is never replaced by this. Until then, HR admins can answer every request.
Once the checklist on Home has gone, your workspace is ready, and Home becomes the list of what needs you next.