Key takeaways
- ADP shows no data size, so count rows from reports: a profile data report for employees ever on file and a Payroll Transaction report for payroll runs.
- RUN's builder preview shows only 5 rows and its payroll report opens on your last payroll, so run the full report with View Online and widen the check date back to your first payroll.
- Neither RUN nor Workforce Now has a single export of the account, so a full history is a set of report files, one per kind of data.
- You don't need to export anything to apply: have your employee count, first check date and headcount ready, keep Social Security and bank details out of the files, and the data vendor anonymizes the rest before any AI lab sees it.
01
What is ADP data, and why do AI labs and data vendors buy it?
The short answer
ADP data is the payroll and workforce record of a company that pays its people through ADP, one of the largest payroll providers: the employees on file, every payroll run with its pay, taxes and deductions, and often years of history in one system. AI labs (companies that build and train AI models) and data vendors (companies that anonymize business records and package them for those labs) buy a copy because payroll history shows hiring waves, seasonal staffing, department structure and how long people stay.
What an ADP account records
ADP is a payroll and human resources provider, and a company that uses it runs payroll through one of ADP's products. This page covers two: RUN Powered by ADP, which ADP built for small businesses, and ADP Workforce Now, a larger platform for midsize companies. The two are separate products with different menus.
Each payroll run adds records for every person paid: the check date (the day the payment is issued), earnings, taxes withheld and deductions. The employee records around them hold hire dates, status, departments and, depending on the services the company buys, time off and time tracking.
Why long payroll histories teach an AI model something
An AI model learns by studying a very large number of examples and finding the patterns in them, and those examples are called training data. ADP payroll history often runs for many years without a change of system, which gives a continuous record of how many people the company employed, when it hired in bursts, how staffing moved with the seasons and how long people stayed. Those are the operating patterns that matter, rather than anyone's individual pay.
AI labs now want to train AI agents, software that carries out a job step by step, and running payroll is a job with strict rules and a clear right answer. A data vendor can turn anonymized payroll runs into worked examples that an agent studies like an answer key, or into a practice copy of a payroll administrator's workflow in which the agent is scored on each attempt. AI training data: why AI companies want your company's data explains the mechanism in full.
How ADP fits into a dataset
ADP is usually one app among several in a company's dataset, alongside email, documents and accounting records. Companies are paid $100K to $2M or more per dataset, according to micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to. The price covers the whole dataset, not each app on its own, and what your data is worth explains what moves it.
02
Where does ADP show how much data you have?
The short answer
ADP shows no data size figure, so the count comes from reports. RUN Powered by ADP keeps its custom reports at Reports > Custom Reports, and ADP Workforce Now has Reports & Analytics. Count employees ever on file as the record number and put payroll runs in your notes. What you can run depends on your user role, so use an administrator with access to every employee and all payroll history.
First, confirm which ADP product you use
RUN and Workforce Now are separate products, and the menus differ. The detailed steps below were checked against ADP's own guide to RUN custom reports. ADP's public pages give no step-by-step for Workforce Now, so its steps follow ADP's product materials and your ADP account contact can confirm them.
How to count your records in RUN
- Go to Reports, open the Custom Reports tab and select Create New Custom Report.
- Choose the Employee or Contractor Profile Data report type, then select Start Report. Give the report a name and drag in fields, including hire date and status, from the panel on the left.
- Select Run report and choose View Online to see every row, then count the rows. The builder's own preview shows only the first 5 rows.
- Create a second custom report from the Payroll Transaction data type. RUN sets its check date filter to your last payroll, so select Filter Your Report and widen the range back to your first payroll, then count the payrolls.
The report type you pick limits the fields you can add. Per ADP's custom reporting guide, payroll transaction data is not available in a profile report or a paid time off report, which is why each kind of data needs its own report.
How to count your records in ADP Workforce Now
In Workforce Now, open Reports & Analytics, then run a standard or custom report listing all employees and another covering payroll history. Note the row count of each. Workforce Now combines standard reports with ones you define yourself, and ADP's reporting and analytics page describes the product's reporting in general terms.
What plan and role you need
In both products, access to reports follows your user role. Use an administrator who can see all employees and payroll history, because a report limited to part of the company undercounts.
| Figure | Where it lives | Who should read it |
|---|---|---|
| Employees ever on file | RUN: Reports > Custom Reports, profile data report. Workforce Now: Reports & Analytics | An administrator with access to all employees |
| Payroll runs | RUN: a Payroll Transaction report with the check date widened. Workforce Now: a payroll history report | An administrator with access to all payroll history |
| Years of history | The first check date shown once the date filter is widened | The same administrator |
Why the row count can fall short
Two defaults cause most undercounts in RUN. The builder preview shows only 5 rows, and a Payroll Transaction report opens filtered to your last payroll. Run the full report with View Online, and widen the check date filter to start at your first payroll, before you count anything.
03
What should you know about your ADP data before you apply?
The short answer
Have four facts ready: employees ever on file as the record count, the date of your first check in ADP, the number of payroll runs, and how many active employees are on your current payroll. They go into the data manifest, the written summary of which apps hold your records, how many years each covers and roughly how much. You don't need to run an export to find them, and applying through micro1 shares no data.
The record count
The unit for ADP is records, and the number to give is employees ever on file, including people who have left. Put payroll runs in your notes beside it so the buyer sees how much payroll history the account holds.
The years of history and the seats
Years in use start at the date of your first check in ADP. The payroll transaction report reveals it after you widen the date filter. For seats, tally the employees who are active on your current payroll. If the company moved to ADP from another provider, say when its ADP history begins.
What you don't need to do first
You don't need to export anything to apply, and you don't need to clean or scrub an export. The data vendor anonymizes the records before anyone else sees them, and nothing moves until a lawyer-reviewed license is signed. The application, the intro call and each later step are laid out in how to sell your company's data.
04
How do you export your full ADP history?
The short answer
Neither RUN nor Workforce Now can export the whole account in one step, which makes the full history a collection of report files. In RUN, an administrator runs each custom report, chooses View Online and exports it as PDF, CSV or Excel. In Workforce Now, each report is run and exported to Microsoft Excel.
Who can export
An ADP administrator whose user role covers all employees and payroll history. Report access follows the role in both products, so a narrower role produces a partial file.
The export steps in RUN
- Run each custom report you built, one per data type, and choose View Online.
- From that view, export the report as a CSV or Excel file. PDF is also offered, though CSV or Excel suits a record count.
- Select Save Report (Save, Save as or Save and Exit) so you can rerun the report later with the same fields and filters. Saved reports sit under the Custom Reports tab within Reports, where you can view, revise or delete them.
The export steps in ADP Workforce Now
- Open Reports & Analytics and run each standard or custom report you need, for example all employees and payroll history.
- Export each report to Microsoft Excel. Workforce Now reports can be printed or exported to Excel.
- Save any custom reports so they can be run again later.
Formats and limits
RUN custom reports export to PDF, CSV or Excel. Because the report type limits which fields you can add, each kind of data, such as profile data, payroll transactions and paid time off, needs its own report. Workforce Now offers print and Excel export. ADP's public pages state no row limit, retention period or time estimate for these exports.
| Product | Where reports live | Export formats |
|---|---|---|
| RUN Powered by ADP | Reports > Custom Reports | PDF, CSV or Excel, after Run report and View Online |
| ADP Workforce Now | Reports & Analytics | Print, or export to Microsoft Excel |
What to settle before payroll files leave your control
ADP names no legal prerequisite in the pages checked. A payroll history report contains personal data about each worker, including pay, so the company's lawyer should settle the scope before anything is shared. Is it legal to sell company data covers the questions to ask.
Sources: ADP, RUN Powered by ADP: Custom Reporting How to Guide (PDF), the Workforce Now reporting and analytics page and the Workforce Now Payroll features page. RUN steps checked against the guide in November 2026; the Workforce Now menu names are not spelled out on ADP's public pages.
05
What stays private when ADP data is licensed?
The short answer
The company decides which reports are in scope, and the data vendor replaces employee names and other identifying details with consistent stand-ins before an AI lab sees anything. Social Security numbers, bank accounts and tax filings are never needed. The company keeps ownership of its ADP records, and the license covers defined material for a defined use.
You choose what is in scope
Payroll is the most sensitive app a company can license, so scope matters most here. A company can offer headcount and staffing reports and leave individual pay, Social Security numbers, bank accounts and tax filings out of the files. The data vendor also deletes records too sensitive to clean safely instead of anonymizing them.
What anonymization removes and what it keeps
Anonymization means replacing every detail that identifies a person with a stand-in that is the same every time it appears, and removing or blurring details that identify someone in combination. On a payroll line, the employee name and the department are replaced, and identifiers such as Social Security and bank account numbers are deleted. The check date, the hours and the pattern of staffing stay.
The data vendor keeps a private list matching each stand-in to the real person while it works, so in privacy-law terms the result is pseudonymized rather than fully anonymous, a distinction the anonymization guide explains. The diagram below shows one payroll line before and after.
The method, including what is deleted outright and how you review samples, is in how company data is anonymized for AI training.
Ownership and payment
Licensing gives the buyer limited rights to a copy, while the company keeps ownership of the originals. The terms that matter, such as exclusivity, permitted use and deletion, are covered in data licensing. micro1 pays in full within 30 days of accepting the data, usually as a single payment.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Are RUN Powered by ADP and ADP Workforce Now the same product?
No. ADP sells them as two products and their menus differ: RUN has a Custom Reports tab inside Reports, while Workforce Now has Reports & Analytics. Your ADP account contact can tell you which one you are on.
Why does my RUN custom report show only a few rows?
What you see while building is a preview of 5 rows. Count from the full report instead: select Run report, then View Online, and every row appears.
Will a RUN payroll report show everything since I started?
Not until you change it. A Payroll Transaction report opens with the check date set to your last payroll. Change the check date filter to a range that starts at your first payroll.
Why can't I add payroll fields to my RUN employee report?
The report type controls the fields on offer. Payroll transaction data is not available in a profile data report or a paid time off report, so build a separate Payroll Transaction report for it.
Is there one button that exports everything from ADP?
Not in either product. A full history is a set of report files, one per kind of data, exported as CSV or Excel from RUN, or to Microsoft Excel from Workforce Now.
Do we need to export ADP before we apply?
No. The application takes about two minutes and shares no data. You only need employees ever on file, your first check date and your current headcount for the intro call. The export is needed later, when the records are transferred after you sign the license.
What is ADP data worth to AI labs and data vendors?
ADP records are priced as part of a whole dataset rather than on their own. Companies are paid $100K to $2M or more per dataset, according to micro1, and the price depends on the years of history and how completely the records show each job. What your data is worth explains the factors.
Bottom line
Know what is in ADP, then see what it is worth
You don't need to export anything to apply. Apply in two minutes, describe your records on the intro call, and micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to, prices the whole dataset and sends an offer 1–2 days later.
Not legal, tax or financial advice. Figures come from micro1's published pages and public reporting as of November 2026.