In an increasingly digital landscape, nonprofit organizations and associations need seamless ways to manage their membership data across platforms. HelloAsso, a widely used fundraising and membership management platform in France, provides powerful tools for managing donations, events, and memberships. On the other hand, Dolibarr ERP & CRM is a flexible, open-source software solution that allows associations to handle finances, CRM, and member management all in one place. Synchronizing HelloAsso with Dolibarr is a valuable step for organizations looking to automate data flows and improve efficiency.

In this comprehensive guide, we walk you through how to automate the synchronization of HelloAsso members with Dolibarr using GitLab CI/CD pipelines. We cover API access, data transformation, mapping to Dolibarr structures, CI configuration, and best practices for robust, scalable synchronization.

1. Overview of HelloAsso and Dolibarr Member Management

HelloAsso enables organizations to collect data from forms related to memberships, donations, and events. These forms produce datasets that contain information about individuals—names, emails, phone numbers, and membership statuses.

Dolibarr, through its "Members" and "Third Parties" modules, manages member profiles, subscription dates, membership types, and more. Synchronizing both platforms ensures a single source of truth and minimizes the need for manual updates.

2. Why Automate with GitLab CI?

GitLab CI (Continuous Integration) offers a robust way to automate recurring data synchronization tasks. Its features include:

• Scheduled jobs (using cron syntax)

• Secure storage of credentials with CI/CD variables

• Reusable pipelines for multiple projects

• Integration with REST APIs and Python scripts

By deploying GitLab CI, you ensure that HelloAsso data is regularly fetched, transformed, and pushed into Dolibarr without manual intervention.

3. Required Prerequisites

Before diving into the implementation, the following elements should be prepared:

• A HelloAsso account with API access (OAuth2 credentials)

• A Dolibarr instance with the "Members" module enabled

• Admin access to GitLab and a Git repository to manage CI jobs

• Python 3 installed on a local environment for script development

4. Getting HelloAsso API Access

To access HelloAsso data programmatically, you must:

• Register your application on the HelloAsso developer portal

• Obtain a client_id and client_secret

• Use OAuth2 to obtain a bearer token

A sample Python script to retrieve a token:

import requests

response = requests.post("https://api.helloasso.com/oauth2/token", data={
    "grant_type": "client_credentials",
    "client_id": "YOUR_CLIENT_ID",
    "client_secret": "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET",
    "scope": "api"})

token = response.json()["access_token"]

5. Fetching Member Data from HelloAsso

After obtaining the access token, you can use HelloAsso’s API endpoint to fetch members from a specific form or organization. Example endpoint:

GET https://api.helloasso.com/v3/organizations/{organizationSlug}/forms/{formType}/{formSlug}/items

You can paginate through results and filter by date to reduce load.

6. Understanding the Dolibarr API

Dolibarr exposes a REST API that allows CRUD operations on various modules. The relevant endpoints for members include:

• POST /members to create a new member

• GET /members to retrieve existing members

• PUT /members/{id} to update a member

Each request requires an API key generated from Dolibarr’s setup section. For security, this should be stored in GitLab’s CI/CD variables.

7. Mapping HelloAsso Fields to Dolibarr Fields

The biggest challenge lies in mapping fields between HelloAsso and Dolibarr. A few examples:

A transformation script is required to handle this mapping.

8. Writing the Python Synchronization Script

This script must:

• Authenticate to both HelloAsso and Dolibarr

• Fetch members from HelloAsso

• Check if member already exists in Dolibarr

• Create or update members accordingly

Best practices:

• Use logging and error handling

• Log sync results in a report file

• Implement idempotency to avoid duplication

9. CI/CD Configuration in GitLab

Here’s a minimal .gitlab-ci.yml file to schedule the script:

stages:
  - sync

variables:
  DOLIBARR_API_KEY: $DOLIBARR_API_KEY
  HELLOASSO_CLIENT_ID: $HELLOASSO_CLIENT_ID
  HELLOASSO_CLIENT_SECRET: $HELLOASSO_CLIENT_SECRET

sync_members:
  stage: sync
  image: python:3.10
  script:
    - pip install -r requirements.txt
    - python sync_members.py
  only:
    - schedules

You must define the environment variables in your GitLab project settings under CI/CD > Variables.

10. Scheduling the Pipeline

GitLab allows you to schedule pipeline runs:

• Navigate to CI/CD > Schedules in your project

• Add a new schedule (e.g., 0 6 * * * for daily at 6am)

• Associate it with the sync_members job

This ensures that your Dolibarr instance stays up to date with HelloAsso every day.

11. Handling Duplicates and Updates

To prevent duplicates, your script should:

• Search Dolibarr for members with the same email or custom ID

• Compare fields to detect changes

• Use PUT only when data has changed

If Dolibarr’s member API doesn’t support all fields, consider using the Third Parties module (/thirdparties) to store additional data.

12. Logging and Notifications

Good observability is key:

• Generate log files with timestamps and sync results

• Upload logs as GitLab artifacts

• Optionally, send email notifications using SMTP

13. Compliance and Data Security

Ensure the integration respects GDPR:

• Store as little personal data as needed

• Use encrypted variables in CI/CD

• Avoid logging sensitive data

14. Scaling the Synchronization

As your membership base grows, consider:

• Caching API responses

• Using batch processing

• Avoiding full syncs by filtering updated records only

15. Future Improvements

The pipeline can be enhanced by:

• Adding unit tests to the script

• Supporting additional data like donations or events

• Creating a web dashboard for manual sync reviews

16. Conclusion

Synchronizing HelloAsso members with Dolibarr via GitLab CI provides a clean, automated, and scalable solution to keep membership data consistent. By leveraging both platforms’ APIs and a solid CI/CD pipeline, nonprofits can streamline operations, reduce manual entry, and improve member experience. With careful implementation, this setup becomes a robust backbone of digital administration for associations of all sizes.