SFTP FAQ
¶ General
What is Uber for Business?
Uber for Business is a ride management platform that gives organizations the billing, management, and reporting layer they need to use various Uber services at scale across their organization. Organizations can centrally bill employee travel, customer transport, commuting solutions, and more.
Visit Uber for Business to sign up for an account.
How do I get help with my Uber for Business account? Please visit the Uber for Business help portal.
What is SFTP? SFTP stands for Secure File Transfer Protocol. It is a trusted file transfer technology that has been around since 1997. Uber hosts an SFTP server that acts as a give/get dropbox between you and Uber.
Why SFTP and not an API to manage employees and expense information? Most enterprise software platforms offer SFTP functionality out of the box including Oracle and Workday.
¶ Setting Up SFTP
Can we use a password for the SFTP connection? Secure Shell (SSH) does not require a password - it is an encrypted network protocol, universally regarded as being significantly more secure than a traditional password system. SSH keys are long and complex, far more than any password could be, and require approved access to a private key granted by your network administrator. SSH is widely used for managing systems and applications remotely, allowing network administrators to log in to another computer over a network, execute commands, and move files from one computer to another.
What do we do if we have two Uber for Business accounts? If you have multiple Uber for Business accounts, you’ll have to set up SFTP separately with each account. If there are separate expense code/employee lists, please be aware that we can only sync the full list (in other words, you will need to make sure there are separate lists for separate groups of employees/expense codes).
What IP addresses do you support? We support CIDR notation ranges and IP v4. We do not currently support IP v6.
I am having trouble creating my SFTP account in the dashboard We require at least one of each of: your RSA public key, a contact email and your public IPv4 IP address. If you are providing these three items and you still cannot create the account, please reach out to business-support@uber.com.
¶ Troubleshooting Connection Issues
How can I test logging in to the SFTP server? You will need an SFTP client. We recommend FileZilla and Cyberduck, both available in Windows and macOS.
I am having trouble logging in Please ensure that your company is not blocking outbound requests to sftp.uber.com port 2222. If you’re still having trouble, please contact business-support@uber.com.
I am having trouble deleting a file and/or creating/removing a folder
sftp.uber.com only allows uploads to the to_uber subfolders.
We have only enabled SFTP methods that are needed for the upload and retrieval of files from the SFTP server to the folders that are already available in your account.
What do I do if the connection keeps timing out? If you’re experiencing a timeout when attempting to connect to sftp.uber.com, it’s possible that you are blocking outbound requests with a firewall. Double-check your network settings to confirm that outbound SFTP requests on port 2222 for the application you are trying to use are allowed.
What do I do if I am getting the following error: “Disconnected: No supported authentication methods available”? You are receiving this error message due to one of two reasons:
- You are either logging into the SFTP server with an RSA key that hasn’t been whitelisted.
- Or, you are logging into the SFTP with an IP that hasn’t been whitelisted.
The first thing to do is to check to make sure you’re logging in using the correct information. If you are still running into issues, please reach out to business-support@uber.com.
¶ Scheduling and Syncing
How often should I schedule syncs? You can schedule syncs as often as you like, up to once per hour.
When should I schedule syncs? We recommend scheduling syncs on business days in the early afternoon, as this is when we’ve seen the highest success rate of employees receiving the invitation and activating their accounts.
How quickly does Uber pick up updates after a sync? You should see the updates reflected within 15 minutes of initiating the sync. This process is entirely automated.
What safeguards do you have in place to prevent data sync errors? If more than 10% of your employee list is deleted, we’ll block the update and immediately reach out to your designated POCs to validate the change. We’ll follow the same procedure if you accidentally delete all the administrators on your account, as this will lock administrative access to the account.
What employee management platforms can we sync with via SFTP? Most enterprise software platforms offer SFTP functionality out of the box including Oracle and Workday. Speak with your IT team about your employee management platform to see if SFTP integration is available.
If we have our employee list synced, can we blacklist certain employees from accessing the Uber for Business account? This is not possible within the Uber for Business platform. All employees on the employee list will automatically be synced to the account. If you’d like to blacklist employees, we’d recommend working with your employee management provider to explore options. Note that this holds true for expense codes as well.
When is the transactional data, such as trips information, available?
The previous day’s trips will now be available daily at 7AM PDT in the from_uber/trips folder with the file format: daily_trips-YYYY-MM-DD.csv
¶ Files and Formatting
Does the CSV file name matter? The CSV file name does not matter, but the file must be uploaded in the correct location in order for the sync to work.
Can the CSV include a partial list of my company’s employee/expense code list? We currently only accept full employee/expense code lists. We are unable to sync partial lists.
How do I handle commas in my CSV if the column delimiter is a comma? No problem! Just wrap the field that has commas with quotation marks.
Example:
EX1234,**”**Uber Technologies**,**Inc.**”**,jim.smith@company.com
¶ Managing Expense Codes via SFTP for Uber for Business
How do I deactivate an expense code from ‘/to_uber/expense_codes’ if it is no longer in use? To deactivate an expense code, you need to remove this expense code information from the next CSV file you upload to the SFTP directory: ‘/to_uber/expense_codes’. Additionally, there must be at least one new or updated entry in the uploaded CSV file for the information to be synced.
How can I remove all the existing expense code information from my Uber for Business organization via SFTP? Do I need to upload an empty CSV file to the SFTP directory: ‘/to_uber/expense_codes’ for this purpose? No, a blank or empty CSV file does not overwrite the existing expense code information already synced on the Uber for Business Dashboard. This behavior is designed to prevent accidental deletion of Expense Code Information from the organization dashboard. To delete all previous expense code information, the updated CSV file must contain some information (at least one new or updated entry) and should be uploaded to the SFTP directory: ‘/to_uber/expense_codes’ to remove any previously synced information.
What will happen if I accidentally delete all the files from the SFTP directory: ‘/to_uber/expense_codes’? Will that delete all the expense code information from my Uber for Business organization? No, deleting all CSV files from the SFTP directory will not remove the expense code information, as it is considered an accidental deletion. The last synced expense code information will remain intact on the dashboard until a new file is uploaded to this directory to sync the updated information.