This article explains how to use Bulk File Imports to load multiple files into Faculty Success on behalf of your users, and outlines a common use case: importing historical Promotion and Tenure packets from Interfolio or other legacy systems. This process is intended for Faculty Success Administrators who are comfortable formatting CSV files for import.
In cases where it makes sense to store files for your users in Faculty Success, you can submit a properly labeled ("Bulk File Import for Screen X") General work request to have Watermark bulk upload files (for 20 or more records) on your behalf. If files are already stored and available in another system, we recommend storing file links instead of the files themselves.
Important: Before submitting a Bulk File Import work request, you should be comfortable formatting CSVs for import. Your CSV file for a bulk file import follows the same format used for standard data imports.
Importing Historical Records from Interfolio
If your institution is moving from Interfolio to Faculty Success, Bulk File Imports can be used to bring your historical Promotion and Tenure packets into your faculty members' records. This lets you preserve prior evaluation history rather than starting fresh in the new system.
Once these historical packets are loaded, they become part of that faculty's profile in Faculty Success. From there, they can later be referenced or pulled into future Reviews, Promotion, and Tenure (RPT) workflows as supporting evidence of previous evaluations, giving reviewers and committees easy access to a candidate's full evaluation history in one place.
What You Need to Provide
To be considered actionable, your work request must include the following:
- A ZIP file containing all the files to be loaded. This ZIP file must be structured as outlined below.
- A CSV file containing the relevant primary key or record ID data, and the name of the file to be loaded, exactly as it appears in the ZIP file.
How to Structure Your ZIP File
Your ZIP file should contain a folder for every user account that needs a file loaded. Name each folder using the relevant user's username in lower case, regardless of the username's case in the system. See the attached sample ZIP file below for an example.
How to Structure Your CSV File
Your CSV file should be structured like a standard CSV file used for a data import. Include: (1) the username, (2) all primary key fields (or the record ID) needed to match the relevant records, and (3) the name of the file in the ZIP to be loaded, placed in a column labeled with the field code of the file upload question the file should populate.
See the attached sample CSV file below for an example, and Overview of Importing CSV Data Into Faculty Success for more information on preparing your CSV file for import.