Overview, Permissions, & Limitations
Prepping the CSV File for a Bulk Import
Overview, Permissions, & Limitations
Bulk imports of cases can be useful when there are large groups of students that need to be added and can be especially handy if much of the information is the same (i.e. Referral Type, Referral Source, etc.). All case fields can be populated in an import including Custom Fields but requires certain formatting of this information which will be discussed in the next section.
In order to perform a bulk import, a IMPACT user role's permissions must include the Import permission under Importing/Exporting. Please see Roles for more information about this and steps on how to add this permission to a role.
Prepping the CSV File for a Bulk Import
To import cases into IMPACT or to update existing cases in bulk, the file must be saved in the CSV format which has comma-separated values and UTF-8 encoding.
Columns Headers
The following standard case fields can be populated with a bulk import. Ensuring that the column headers match the format on the left will result in these columns automatically mapping to the correct case field.
Column Header | Case Field |
Identifier | Identifier |
FirstName | First Name |
LastName | Last Name |
Email | Email |
CellPhoneNumber | Cell Phone Number |
AltPhoneNumber | Alt Phone Number |
ReferralSource | Referral Source |
ReferralType | Referral Type |
Flags | Flags |
Status | Status |
TreatmentPeriod | Treatment Period |
ProviderUserID | Provider User |
LegacyID | Legacy ID (Import of legacy records only) |
CreatedAt | Date Created (Import of legacy records only) |
CreatedByID | Created By User |
The order of the columns does not matter and not all columns need to be present in the CSV file for a bulk import, just whatever files you want to have populated on the case records.
Custom fields can also be populated with an import by adding an additional column(s) to the file. The column header will be Custom. followed by the name of the custom field. So if the name of the custom field I wanted to import was SANCTION_DEADLINE then the column header would be Custom.SANCTION_DEADLINE.
Column Content and Format
The columns that require a certain format of content are described below:
Column | Format | Example |
CellPhoneNumber | Use one of the of the following formats: 555.555.5555, 555-555-5555, or (555) 555-5555 | 333-333-4444 |
ReferralSource | Use the Referral Source Label or Value found on the Cases Settings page. | HOUSING |
ReferralType | Use the Referral Type Label or Value found on the Cases Settings page. | BASICS |
Flags | Use the flag values separated by commas | BLACK,YELLOW |
Status | Use: ACTIVE, INACTIVE or COMPLETE | ACTIVE |
TreatmentPeriod | Use a single number (1, 2, 3, etc.) | 1 |
ProviderUserID | Use the User ID of the provider that should be attached to the case. This can be found on the User's detail page. | user_FJE3892JIE2141E |
CreatedByID | Use the User ID of the staff user that is running this import. This can be found on the User's detail page. | user_AES3903FEIWJF1 |
Custom fields will require a certain format based on the type of custom field it is. If it is a select one field, use the value associated with the fields on the Custom Fields page under Settings>Cases. If it is a select many field, use the values associated with the fields on that same page comma separate multiple values. True/False fields will need to use either TRUE or FALSE. Text entry custom fields will accept any format of letters or numbers. Numeric entry custom fields will only accept numeric values. Finally, date entry custom fields will need to follow the format YYYY-MM-DD.
The following is an example of a typical case import file:
Identifier | FirstName | LastName | ReferralSource | ReferralType | Flags | Status | TreatmentPeriod | CreatedByID | |
jd123 | John | Doe | jd1@... | CONDUCT | BASICS | RED | ACTIVE | 1 | user_OISJG3.. |
js124 | Jane | Smith | js3@... | CONDUCT | CASICS | ACTIVE | 2 | user_OISJG3.. |
Running the Bulk Case Import
Once you've created the CSV file as described above, you're ready to run a bulk import!
If your import is fairly large, say more than 20 or so case, (or if this is your first time running this type of import) we'd recommend running a smaller test import of about 5 cases to ensure everything worked as expected. You can do this by deleting all but the first 5 rows of cases in the import file, saving that as a new test file and then running that test file through the import steps below. Once that is successfully completed, reopen the original import file you created, remove those 5 test cases and complete the import steps below.
1. Navigate to the Manage Date Jobs page by clicking Data Jobs under Settings in the Main Navigation Menu (see below. Then click the blue IMPORT button to open the Import Data window to begin the import.
2. Next, in this Import Data window, select 'Cases' as the Import type and then leave the default Import Action as 'Create.' Select the CSV import file saved on your compute by clicking the grey file area, see the short clip below. Then click CREATE IMPORT JOB.
Note: If no file appears in the local folder that you saved it in, then the format is likely incorrect. This import will only display CSV files.
3. This opens the Import Field Mapping page where each column in your import file, called Import Fields, can be mapped to the correct field in IMPACT, called Target Fields. If the column header format of your import file matches the format described in the previous section then this mapping will happen automatically.
However, we strongly encourage that you double check each mapping to ensure they're correctly aligned and that some columns in your import file haven't been missed.
4. When you're sure that all the fields are mapped correctly, click the SAVE MAPPING option at the bottom of the page. This will open the Start Import Job window where the following options are available:
- The Run Workflow on Import option:
- Checking Run Workflow on Import will trigger all the automated events that have been set up in your organization when a case is created. An example of event like this would be the automatic sending of a survey invitation or sanction notice to the case's email. Often these automations have conditions added to them based on certain case information like referral type or source which it's why it's so important that the case information is correct in the import file.
- If this Run Workflow on Import option is not checked, then the cases will be added without triggering any invitations or student notification automations.
- Duplicate Case Action:
- If there is an existing case record in Impact that has the same Identifier as one found in your import file, you can select how the system proceeds:
- Create case as provided: Nothing about the newly added duplicate case is changed.
- Create case and increment treatment period: A new duplicate case is created but treatment period is increased by 1.
- Skip/Do not create: A duplicate case is not created.
- If there is an existing case record in Impact that has the same Identifier as one found in your import file, you can select how the system proceeds:
You can also cancel this import which will save all the mapping you've done but not begin the import yet. To begin the import after cancelling it, click the INFO tab of the data job you've cancelled and then click START IMPORT at the bottom of the info section.
5. When satisfied with your mapping and checking of the Run Workflow option, click START IMPORT in the Start Import Job window. This import will then be queued and should begin being imported in 5 minutes or less. Large imports may take several minutes to complete once begun.
To check on the status of the import, the window can be refreshed or REFRESH can be clicked at the bottom of the INFO tab while the import is queued/running.
6. When the import is complete, review the Successful percentage and Errors sections of the Info tab. If there are an issues within the import, there will be a count of these listed in Errors. After import completion, a new RECORDS tab will appear along the top of this data job. Clicking this will enable you to open each individual new case record. The reason behind any errors with the import will also be listed in this RECORDS tab.
Please submit a support ticket if you have any questions about this process or if you'd like a personalized demo of this import process!