Purpose

This article highlights the key technologies supported by the Eightfold Talent Intelligence Platform, and their usage.

Note:

• Customers may have unique requirements and other technical options might be supported but are not listed here. Please contact us if your system standards are not mentioned.
• This article does not cover regulatory topics. Contact Eightfold for specific information on compliance requirements such as GDPR and OFCCP.

Audience

All Eightfold employees, customers and partners

HTTPS and TLS

Eightfold ensures strong cryptographic support for data in transit using HTTPS and TLS 1.2 or higher. All HTTP connections are redirected to HTTPS, ensuring encrypted traffic between client and server.

• Web application and API endpoints: supports HTTPS only
• TLS support: supports both TLS 1.2 and 1.3

To verify TLS versions and ciphers supported by Eightfold, use the following command from a UNIX/Mac host:

$ nmap --script ssl-enum-ciphers -p 443 api.eightfold.ai

Note: check with your system admin for the ‘nmap’ installation on your UNIX/Mac system.

Browser support

Eightfold supports the following browsers:

• Chrome
• Safari
• Firefox
• Edge

Limited support: Internet Explorer v11

Eightfold Chrome extension

Customers can install the Eightfold Chrome extension to automate the retrieval and posting of candidate data. This extension supports the following job boards:

• LinkedIn
• GitHub
• Naukri
• Indeed
• CareerBuilder

Installation

You can install the Eightfold Chrome extension using the below methods:

• From Account settings within the Eightfold platform
• From the eightfold.ai section in the Chrome Web Store

Actions supported by this extension:

• Save profile as a Lead
• Contact via email
• Schedule a meeting
• Share Candidate profile
• Find similar profiles
• Add as Ideal Candidate

Supported languages

Eightfold supports user interactions with the system in the languages listed in Supported Languages.

Note: Eightfold uses your default browser language (if supported), otherwise, it reverts to English (US).

Authentication (SSO or user passwords)

Eightfold supports Single Sign-On (SSO) and password authentication. The identity providers supported are:

• Okta
• Google (available for candidates)
• Microsoft ADFS
• OneLogin
• NetIQ
• PingFederate
• Others by SAML 2.0 - Eightfold supports SAML 2.0 user authentication protocol for SSO.

For each environment, Eightfold authentication uses only one of these configured methods:

• SSO (recommended for production environments) - Eightfold recommends that SMB, Enterprise, Non-Profit, and Government agencies implement single sign-on for the Eightfold Talent Intelligence Platform.
• Password (recommended for sandbox environments only) - password authentication is required for authorized users in the sandbox environment.
  • Every account must have a distinct email, across the entire Eightfold platform
  • Eightfold requires strong passwords and complexity rules.

Email and calendar integrations

Eightfold integrates easily with email and calendar systems, enabling your talent team members to send emails to candidates/employees and receive replies. The benefits include:

• Personalized bulk emails
• Email replies logged in Eightfold
• Automated follow-up emails
• Template optimization based on reply rates
• Compliance with regulatory standards

User email and calendar

• Authorized users can permit Eightfold to access their own email and calendar. For example: an employee initiates the approval process from within Eightfold.
• Allows Eightfold CRM capabilities - automated emails, replies, campaigns, events, and more. For example:
  • Calendar - Recruiter, Scheduler, Hiring Manager calendar
  • Email - Recruiter, Scheduler, Campaign Manager

Room and resource permissions

Using Eightfold, authorized schedulers can look up the availability of rooms and resources, when integrated with the organization's calendar system. Used by Eightfold to look-up room/resources, in the calendar application

• Allows access to organization calendars for Scheduling Events/Meetings

DNS configuration

To utilize Eightfold’s capabilities, update DNS rules to include Eightfold’s email services. The benefits include:

• Automated email collection and logging
• Sending personalized emails with corporate branding
• Logging replies in Eightfold
• Automated follow-up emails
• Optimized audience interactions

Architecture

Eightfold is a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3 in one of three availability zones: US, GOV, or Europe. It operates as a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and is designed as a multi-tenant solution. This setup ensures secure and logical data separation for each customer. All incoming and outgoing data is encrypted using SSH Public Keys (x.509, PGP, or GPG) and the AES256 encryption standard.

Data encryption

• Data in transit: HTTPS and TLS 1.2/1.3
• Data at rest: AES-256

Customer environments

Each customer may have a:

• Sandbox environment for testing
• Production environment for daily operations

Note: When syncing data between Eightfold and your other corporate systems, it is recommended to sync sandbox with sandbox and production with production to avoid unintended outcomes.

IP whitelisting

On the Eightfold network, your Implementation Partner whitelists all customer domains during deployment configuration (For example: acme.com, careers.acme.com, standardcorp.com and more).

Customers also need to whitelist several Eightfold domain IP addresses as listed below:

A summary of other URLs used by Eightfold and their purpose:

• static.vscdn.net - hosts static content on Eightfold - images, CSS, JS
• fullstory.com - tracks usage analytics on Eightfold
• gstatic.com - hosts static content on Eightfold - images, CSS, JS
• cdn.polyfill.io - Javascript library used on Eightfold
• fonts.googleapis.com - loads some of the fonts on the web pages
• google-analytics.com - powers usage analytics
• apis.google.com - loads Javascript library on Eightfold
• vssend.com - sends / receives emails on Eightfold
• volkscience.com - older Eightfold URL - some redirects still exist

SFTP server

Data transfer during implementation is done using an SFTP server. The SFTP server can be provided by Eightfold (hosted on S3), or alternatively, the customer’s own SFTP instance with appropriate security protocols in place.

The authentication is required using one of the following SSH public keys:

• X.509
• GPG
• PGP

Integration adapters

Eightfold adapters provide bi-directional data synchronization with customer’s authenticated API endpoints, including:

• Real-time sync of entities changed within Eightfold (move stages, update profile, and more)
• Routine hourly sync into Eightfold from system of records (candidates, applications, and more)

The supported adapters are:

• Fieldglass
• GreenhouseiCims
• JazzHR
• JobviteLever
• Kenexa
• PeopleSoft
• Taleo Enterprise
• Taleo Business Edition
• SuccessFactors
• Workday

APIs

Each customer instance of Eightfold (sandbox or production) has a unique API endpoint. This endpoint allows for the reading and writing of encrypted data using an assigned SSH Public Key (AES256). Customers can authorize API access for a developer account in Eightfold. Each user gets an API key with an expiration date and revocable rights.

Why use REST?

REST offers better tooling, faster development, and scalable operations. Here are the key benefits:

• REST is scalable and stateless
• REST is simpler, faster, and supports multiple data formats like JSON
• REST uses less bandwidth and is more compatible with various clients
• Requests and responses are well-structured
• Responses can include additional related data, reducing callbacks
• Updates can target individual fields instead of entire records
• Responses can be searched and filtered within a single batch

Note: Keep your Eightfold API keys secure and do not share them publicly, such as on GitHub or in the client-side code.

Get started with Eightfold API

Obtain credentials

To get an API key, customers must identify the specific user account in Eightfold. Each user can have only one API key at a time. If the user leaves the organization, their API key is deprovisioned. Contact your Implementation Partner or Eightfold Customer Support to request an API key.

Access the API key

The API key is only visible to the assigned user. To access it, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Eightfold
2. Navigate to Admin Console > Integration > Eightfold API

Note: All Eightfold API keys begin with 'Basic' followed by a space.

Authenticate API requests

Include a valid Eightfold API key in base64 format within the header of all API requests. The base64 encoding should be prefixed with 'Basic'. Below is an example of a service request using an Eightfold API key.

$ curl -X POST https://api.eightfold.ai/data/v1/candidate \ 
-H "Content-Type" application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Basic <API key>" \
-d @- << EOF
{
<payload>
}
EOF

API rate limits

Rate limits and throttling ensure the stability of Eightfold API web services. The restrictions are:

• API requests: each API supports 100 requests per minute per user. Exceeding this limit results in an HTTP 429 "Too Many Requests" error.
• API pagination: each response payload returns a maximum of 100 results per page. The start and limit parameters can adjust this, with a default of 5 results per page if not specified.
• Eightfold APIs enforce the following data limits on service responses:
  • Match Score APIs: maximum of 1,000 results
  • Applicant, Candidate, Position Listing APIs: Maximum of 100,000 results
  • Payloads over 15 MB result in an HTTP 413 "Request Entity Too Large" error

Best practices

Here are some recommendations for effective Eightfold API usage:

• Include Content-Type, Content-Length, and Request-Id in the HTTP(S) header
• Use Request-Id to prevent data duplication
• Chunk large requests to keep payloads under the 15 MB limit
• Automate retries up to three times with a 10-second delay
• Request all open positions daily to ensure no updates are missed.

API endpoints

API documentation and testing tools are available online:

• Documentation: https://apidocs.eightfold.ai/
• API JSON & Entities: https://api.eightfold.ai/swagger.json

API testing tool

The testing site for users is available here: https://apidocs.eightfold.ai/reference

• Candidate API: https://apidocs.eightfold.ai/reference#candidate
• Positions API: https://apidocs.eightfold.ai/reference#position
• Insights API: https://apidocs.eightfold.ai/reference#insights
• Employee API: https://apidocs.eightfold.ai/reference#employee

Service continuity

Eightfold will notify customers in advance of any changes to infrastructure or protocols. For service issues, contact Eightfold Customer Support.