Imports Administration - CSV File Prospects Upload

Overview

Imports Administration allows users to import specific data in-bulk from CSV files.

Once a CSV file is downloaded into SS&E, it will display on the Imports Administration page listing the File Name, Import Upload Type, Import Status, Created By, and Created Date*.

*The Created Date on Imports Administration displays the date that the CSV file was downloaded to the system, and not when the data was imported.

Importing Prospect Data

Currently, Imports Administration is mostly used for importing multiple prospects, i.e. uploading prospective students that are not included in the SIS source system data and therefore do not import on the Person data feed.

• For detailed steps on how to import prospect data in bulk, scroll to "How to Import a Prospects CSV file" or click here.
• Prospect data can be imported from the Prospect "People" page by selecting Add Prospect > From CSV from the UI OR from Admin > Imports by selecting New > Prospects.
  
• All other prospect CSV files must be imported from Admin by first selecting +New, and then selecting the correct import file type.
  
  

Person Type Filter 

The "Person Type" filter can optionally include an Import dropdown where users can select a specific CSV Import file and then take actions on a subpopulation imported in a specific file.

• The Import filter will only display on the UI when enabled on the corresponding person type Filter Settings in Person Type Administration.
• By default, the Import Filter will list import file names as ImportType SourceCSVFileName.csv.
  • • Import Types indicate what type of data is included in the CSV file (prospects, addresses, veteran statuses etc.)
    • The file name is very important since using a descriptive file name will make it much easier to identify each imported csv file.

For example, users can create a filter and then take action on the subpopulation imported from a specific prospect upload by selecting the Import filter -  entering a Filter Name - then selecting a specific csv file.

Where to Import Prospects via CSV

To upload a CSV file for importing one/many prospects, depending on the logged-in user's assigned roles, a user can either:

1. Go to the Prospect person page, select "Add Prospect - From CSV" to open the Imports Administration page
2. On the Admin page, scroll to Imports Administration, then select +New > Prospects.

3. On the "Upload Prospects CSV" page, browse to the CSV file with the prospect data. 

• The prospects CSV file must include all required fields listed below.

Importing Additional Prospect Data

In addition to Prospects data, there are other import types (displayed above) that can be selected from Imports Administration to import additional person data, such as:

1. Addresses
2. Person to High School Relationships
3. Phone Numbers
4. Veteran Statuses

NOTE: It is important to select the import type that matches the CSV file contents so that the system will map the data to the correct prospect/person record.

Duplicate Detection

Upon release, the Prospect Upload process includes basic warnings that will alert when it detects certain conditions importing on the CSV Prospect Import. 

• More customizable duplicate detection is on the roadmap for a future release.
• These warnings only appear on the CSV import, and do not appear on prospect records that are inputted manually and then individually uploaded from the UI.
• Warnings should always be reviewed, as the system does not automatically invalidate any record that it creates a warning for.
• When importing data, all warning records can either be included or excluded. To exclude some records with warnings, these records must be removed from the CSV Import file in order to start over with a new upload process.

Currently, the system will display a warning message about records that include any of the following:

• An email address that matches with someone else that is already in the system
• A first name and last name that together match someone else in the system
• A user id that matches an existing person Id of someone else in the system

More about warning statuses is included in step 8 of the Prospects CSV Import Process.

How to Enable CSV Imports

Imports is an add-on feature that allows SS&E Administrators to import data in-bulk from a CSV file.

In order to access the Imports menu, there are three prerequisites:

1. The Import Processes feature must be enabled on the Features page in Institution Administration.
2. The Prospect person type must be assigned to a Department App you have permission to access.
3. "Can Access Imports" must be permitted on the Imports section in Roles Administration.

Role Permissions

• "Can Access Imports" can be assigned to any staff user role, as importing prospects via CSV Import files does not require the Administrator role.
  • • If "Can Access Imports" is assigned to an SS&E Administrator, they will be able to access the Imports menu either from the SS&E Admin page OR from the Prospect person page.
    • If "Can Access Imports" is assigned to a non-Administrator user, they will only be able to access Import Administration from the Prospect person page > Add Prospect > From CSV.
• In addition to Prospect CSV file Imports, institutions may also enter Prospect data manually from the Prospect page.

To Manually Enter Prospect Records:

• The Prospect Person Type must be assigned to a permitted Department App.
• "Can Create Prospects Individually" must be permitted on the Imports section in Roles Administration.
• Import Processes must be enabled in Features Administration.

To EDIT Prospect Records:

• Institutions can edit Prospect data on an individual prospect record after it was imported via CSV or manually (individually) entered into the system.

For more information about manual prospect entry and prospect editing, click here.

Bulk Import (CSV) Files

To import multiple person records in bulk, depending on what data is being imported, select the correct CSV file type that matches what you are uploading through Imports Administration. 

When importing Prospects data:

• The Prospects CSV file must always import first in order to create the prospect person record in SS&E. All other Import types require a prospect/person record already created in SS&E.
  • • The Prospects CSV import must include the prospect's Person ID and must always be imported first so that other CSV files can reference the corresponding prospect/person Id.
• When applicable, verify that the CSV file import refers to the proper IDs importing from the SIS.
  • • For example, highSchoolId, phoneTypeId, and veteranTypeId must match the corresponding Ids importing from the SIS as seen on the SIS Imported Data View.

Import (CSV Upload) Types

• All columns/fields must be included in the CSV file, even if they're optional and left empty.

• Accepts TRUE/FALSE values in multiple formats: true/false, t/f, or True/False

• CSV Import tool for prospects supports CSV or CSV BOM-8 encoding formats

The descriptions below show the order the data must appear in each file, and what data is required vs. optional for each of the following import types:

1. Prospects CSV
2. Addresses CSV
3. Person to High School Relationships CSV
4. Phone Numbers CSV
5. Veteran Statuses CSV

In addition, there are downloadable sample CSV files for each import type at the very end of the article.

Prospects CSV Import

Order (bold are required):

firstName, lastName, middleName, nickName, emailAddress, birthDate, gender, personId, location, ethnicity, race

Required Fields:

• firstName - The prospect's first name
• lastName  - The prospect's last name
• emailAddress - The prospect's email address.  This will be saved on the person record as a personal email address
• personId - A unique identifier for the prospect person.  Use this same value when adding addresses and phone numbers for this prospect on other CSV import files.  On the UI, this will be displayed in places where we show a student's Id from the SIS

Optional Fields:

• middleName  - The prospect's middle name
• nickName  - The prospect's nick name
• birthDate - The prospects' birthdate. Must use format mm/dd/yyyy
• gender - The prospect's gender.  Use M for Male, F for Female.  To specify a gender other than male or female, this value can be any single letter.  Values other than 'M' or 'F' may not display on the prospect's profile
• location - The Id of the campus location this prospect belongs to.
  • • The Id must match an active location ID.
    • Location Ids can be found on the SS&E Admin page, from SIS Integration > Datafeeds > Location > View Imported Data, valid Ids will be listed in the "src_system_id" column.
• ethnicity - The ethnicity identifier for the prospect. Valid values are: HISPANIC, NON_HISPANIC
• race  - The race identifier for the prospect. Valid values are:  WHITE, BLACK_AFRICAN_AMERICAN, ASIAN,AMERICAN_INDIAN_ALASKA_NATIVE, NATIVE_HAWAIIAN_OTHER_PACIFIC_ISLANDER

Addresses CSV Import

Order (bold are required):

personId, active, current, permanent, addressLine1, addressLine2, city, state, zipCode, addressType

Required Fields:

• personId - The person id used to reference a specific prospect
• active - Whether or not this address is active.  Inactive addresses will not display on the prospect profile on the UI.  Valid values are true or false
• current - Whether this is the prospect's current address.  Multiple current addresses are allowed.  Valid values are true or false
• permanent - Whether this address is permanent. Valid values are true or false
• addressLine1 - The first line of the address
• city - The city of the address
• state - The state of the address (full name or abbreviation; field is not case-sensitive)
• zipCode  - The zip code of the address
• addressType - The Id of the address type.
  • • Address type Ids can be found on the SS&E Admin page, from SIS Integration > Datafeeds > Address Type > View Imported Data, valid Ids will be listed in the "src_system_id" column.

Optional Fields:

• addressLine2 - The second line of the address

Person to High School Relationships CSV Import

Order (bold are required):

personId, highSchoolId, startDate, endDate, gpa

Required Fields:

• personId - The person id used to reference a specific prospect
• highSchoolId - The id of the prospect's high school.
  • • High school Ids can be found on the SS&E Admin page, from SIS Integration > Datafeeds > High School > View Imported Data, valid Ids will be listed in the "src_system_id" column.

Optional Fields:

• startDate - When this prospect started at this high school.  Must use format mm/dd/yyyy
• endDate - When this prospect left/graduated this high school.  Must use format mm/dd/yyyy
•  gpa - The prospect's GPA at this high school.  Format must include a decimal point

Phone Numbers CSV Import

Order (bold are required):

personId, active, primary, number, extension, phoneTypeId, verified, smsEnabled

Required Fields:

• personId - The person id used to reference a specific prospect
• active - Whether or not this phone number is active. Valid values are true or false.
  • •  Inactive phone numbers will not display on the prospect profile on the UI. 
• primary - Whether this is the prospect's primary phone number. Valid values are true or false
• number - Phone number including area code if available.
  • • The phone number field limit is ten numbers.
    • Special characters included between numbers will be removed by the import
• phoneTypeId - The Source System Id of the phone number type.
  • • Phone Type ID is case sensitive and must match exactly what displays in the Phone Type Datafeed Imported Data View Src System Id field.
    • Phone type Ids can be found on the SS&E Admin page, from SIS Integration > Datafeeds > Phone Type > View Imported Data, valid Ids will be listed in the "src_system_id" column.
      
      

Optional Fields:

• extension - Phone number extension
• verified - Whether this is a verified phone number. Valid values are true or false
• smsEnabled - Whether or not this phone number can receive text messages. Valid values are true or false   
  • • Leaving this field blank will set the default value for students displayed in Messaging Administration -> SMS Configuration. 

Veteran Statuses CSV Import

Order (bold are required):

personId, veteranTypeId

Required Fields:

• personId -The person id used to reference a specific prospect
• veteranTypeId - The Id of the prospect's veteran type.
  • • Veteran type Ids can be found on the SS&E Admin page, from SIS Integration > Datafeeds > Veteran Type > View Imported Data, valid Ids will be listed in the "src_system_id" column.

How to import a Prospect CSV File

The following steps explain how to import a Prospects CSV file. After the prospect records are imported and created in SS&E, additional CSV file types can be imported as needed.

1. Format the Prospects CSV file (copy the csv sample file, include all fields, enter all required values)
   • • • Use a meaningful file name so that the data is easy to find and filter on using the Person Type "Import" filter criteria.
2. From the Prospect Person Type page, select Add Prospect > From CSV File
3. Browse to the CSV file
4. Select Upload
5. While the data is downloading into SS&E, the page will show a Validating status
6. To check when the CSV file is done validating, the Admin page must be refreshed manually, since this does not happen automatically.
   • • • Refresh the screen after ~30 seconds to check if the status is Ready.
       • A Ready status means that "the import has finished validation and is ready to import records from the CSV file into the system".
7. Review the results.
8. Use the Statuses dropdown filter to view records for each status.
   • Ready - Records with a Ready status are Ready to be imported
   • Invalid - A record with a src system id that matches the Person Id value already exists.
   • Warning - Records with a Warning status must be reviewed in detail.
     • During validation, the system will compare CSV records with ALL data that was imported in the past, and display a Warning status on any potential duplicate CSV records so that they can be verified and excluded from the "new" data import if needed.
       • For example, the system will display a warning if the person ID already exists and is associated with any address or phone number on their person record.
       • The system does not check if this a duplicate, rather it only notifies via a warning message that a duplicate record may exist. 
     • Since there is no way to import/not import some warning records (as the options are to include all or none), if duplicates exist, they can be removed from the source CSV and then the file can be imported again.
9. Check the Errors tab. Records on the Errors tab will not be imported as they did not download successfully from the CSV file. 
   • • If errors are fixed in the source data and the CSV file is downloaded again, the system will re-download all CSV records during the data validation step and create a new import file record.
10. Import records. Select which records to import from the top menu bar; the options are to either import records only with a Ready status or import all records both with a Ready and Warning status.
    • • "Import Ready Records Only" will skip the warning records so that they are not reimported.
      • "Import Ready and Warning Records" will import both ready and warning records.
      • There is no way to import the warning records after importing ready records. 
11. While importing, the screen will show Importing
12. Refresh the screen manually after ~30 sec to check that the import process is finished. When the import process is done the screen will show "Complete - The import has finished importing records". On the Records tab, all imported records will display with an Imported status. 
13. After the import is complete, there will be two options displayed on the top menu - 
    1. 1. Download Source - this downloads the source CSV file
       2. View Imported Prospects - this will open the Student/Prospect page with a temp filter applied so that it only displays the imported records.
          • • This option is only available if you have access to a departmental app that is assigned the prospects person type.
            • This filter view uses the Import Student Filter filtered on the CSV file used to import the displayed prospect records.
            • Only the Prospects CSV upload type will display a link to "View imported records".
            • Optionally select Temp Filter - Save As - to enter a Filter Name to group these prospect records together. This can also be done at a later time using the "Import" filter to filter on a specific Prospect CSV import file.
            • NOTE: The Import filter will only display when enabled on Filter settings in Person Type Administration.

Import Statuses

Importing a CSV file into SS&E is a two-step process where:

1. The CSV file is validated and data is downloaded from the CSV
2. The downloaded/validated data is imported into SS&E

During the import, the system displays different statuses on the top of the screen as it processes a CSV File:

• Validating - displays while the file is downloading data to the system
• Ready - displays when the system has finished the CSV data validation process, and records are ready to be imported into the system
  • • Records that were validated successfuly display on the Records tab along with a record count (Records (x)).
    • Records that could not be validated/were not downloaded from the CSV file/cannot be imported, display on the Errors tab along with a record count (Errors (x)).
    • If there are zero errors, that means that all records validated and downloaded successfully from the CSV
• Importing - displays while the records are importing
• Complete - displays when the system has finished importing records

In addition, the following statuses display on individual records after they are downloaded from the CSV and before they are imported:

• Ready - A Ready status on the Records tab means that the record is ready to be imported
• Invalid - The Invalid status means that the downloaded data did not fail during the CSV validation process yet this record cannot be imported for some reason.
• Warning - A Warning status means that there is a warning message on the downloaded data record displayed in the Warning column. For example, if there's already a record with the same Prospect Person ID or Student ID in the system, there will be a warning noting that a duplicate was found and the data already exists.

After the Import, one of the following statuses display on each record:

• Imported - The data imported successfully 
• Failed - The downloaded data failed to import
• Invalid - This record cannot be imported for some reason.