Data entry has always been a necessary but unpopular task, especially when you have lots of new records to add to the system. The Eploy import tools help to reduce the admin involved though, so you can import lots of data into the system all in one go.

The Company & Contact Import tool will allow you identify which fields in Eploy you want to import, before processing your CSV through Eploy and into the database. This will also allow you to create groups of imported data as you go, meaning you can immediately create follow-up phone calls and add to your business development pipeline.

To jump to a specific section in this article, please use the links below:

• Pre-requisites
• Accessing the Tool
• Upload Data
• CSV Validation
• Missing Data
• Existing Records
• Import
• Import Complete
• Adding Groups to Dashboard (Optional)

Pre-requisites

There is a permission associated to this tool. This means you can control which of your consultants are able to import data – if you do not have access to the tool, please speak with an Admin User regarding the Import Company & Contacts user permission.

Accessing the Tool

Once you have the correct user permissions and pre-requisites, you will be able to access the tool under the Import icon on the Eploymenu.

Selecting this option will open the Company & Contact Import within a new window, where you can work through the five steps in order to import your new data.

Upload Data

The first step in the process is to generate the CSV of Eploy fields and then upload your CSV of data.

For all data sets, we recommend clicking ‘Generate Example CSV’. This will download a CSV of all the available fields within Companies and Contacts that you can import against. It will display both the database name (row A) and the field label (row B). This allows you to easily identify the correct fields using the label and then inserting your data beneath the database name.

As part of the field label, we have included the data type; this is to help you identify the type of information recorded within each field. For example, a company name is a free text field and is displayed here with String_Single_Line (a single line of text). Other fields will be displayed as Hyperlink (such as web address), numeric fields (such as Agreed Fees) or Option Groups (which are all drop down lists, such as status or position type).

Once you have identified the database field that you require, it’s time to match the fields with your data. Now you can either paste this directly into your data set (above the correct column) or copy your data into the example CSV.

As this tool will allow you to create multiple records at once, there are some validation checks to help ensure the quality of data. IMPORTANT: For a smooth import, ensure you follow these steps:

• All records need to be associated to a company name, so all imports need to include the database field “Company Name”. This column needs to be fully populated, to associate the new records with the correct company.
• Duplicate checking is based on Company Name. If you are creating new contacts against existing companies in your database, the Company Name must be an exact match to avoid duplicate companies being created.
• Field validation will check to ensure that the information entered is recorded correctly. For example, if importing email addresses, each cell in the column must contain a valid email address. Any other data recorded within that column will cause the import to fail, so always sense check the data before importing.
• If importing into drop down lists, you need to ensure that the drop down list item exactly matches your database. For example, if importing position types for contacts, you need to ensure that the data in the spreadsheet exactly matches the position types within Eploy. You can edit the drop down list content within Eploy by going to Admin – Drop Down Lists.
• Any columns without a database field at the top will be ignored by the import tool. So if there is any information that you do not want to import, simply leave the first cell of that column blank.

Once the spreadsheet has been prepared, it needs to be saved locally as a Comma Delimited CSV file. It can then be uploaded to Eploy using the file uploader.

Click Upload File once the file has been uploaded to progress to step 2, the CSV validation.

CSV Validation

This is where Eploy will check the column headers, to ensure that everything has been entered correctly, in the correct format. Each of the recognised fields will be shown with a tick, whilst any unknown columns will be highlighted & ignored.

If any fields fail the validation, it will highlighted and prompt you to fix the data before proceeding. If you do need to make changes to the data based on any field validation, you can simply use Restart to start the process from step 1, and re-upload the updated CSV.

Missing Data

After the field validation, the next step is to check for Missing Options. This is step will only occur if you are importing against any drop down lists, where the data does not match with an existing option.

From here, you can view the options that don’t currently exist within the drop down list you are importing against. This will then allow you to:

• Update the content of the drop down list, by using Drop Down Admin. This will load in the original Eploy window and allow you to access Admin – Drop Down Lists. Once you identify the list you are trying to import against, you can add / modify existing drop down items to match your importing data. You can then go back to your import and refresh, where Eploy will check the content again for any missing options.

• Proceed using Continue – this will ignore the missing options and leave the field as Not Specified against all created records. Once the records have been created, you will be able to manually update the drop down list as required.

• Restart the Process – this option will allow you to revisit your CSV and ensure the data is being imported into the correct drop down list or change the field type. For example, within contacts, you have a position type drop down list and a position free text box. There are no missing options for free text, so you can update the CSV to use this field to avoid creating new position types.

When you are then ready to proceed, step 4 allows you to manage any matched or duplicate records.

Existing Records

This step will allow you to see if the records already exist on your system and decide on how to manage them. Firstly, you can see the companies that exist within both your database & your CSV. The default setting is to match based on Company Name only, but you can change this to check the address of the company also.

You can then decide on how to handle matched records - here you can decide if you want to update the company record with new information, import them as duplicates or exclude them from your data set.

If you are importing contacts against existing companies on your system, you need to choose to Update the matched record.

After clicking Continue, you can then repeat the process for existing contacts.

Import

The final step is to confirm you wish to proceed with the import and display the number of New / Updated records. At this point of the process, you can create a new group for you imported data.

Note – This will create two groups, one for company data & one for contacts.

By selecting Yes to Create Group?, you will be able to add a Group Title.

Up until this point of the process, no records have been created or updated within your database. Clicking Import will then begin the process. This is the point of no return, so you need to be certain that you want to create these records on your system!

As there is no multi-delete tool available, any incorrectly imported records will need to be edited / removed individually.

Import Complete

After clicking Import, the tool will begin to run. Depending on the amount of data you are importing, this can take some time. However, you are able to continue working in Eploy, whilst tracking the progress of the import.

Once complete, the summary will confirm the number of new records.

You can then click finish or close the window and have immediate access to your new records.

Adding Groups to Dashboard (Optional)

Now that the data has been imported, you will find the records within your database and be able to access your groups through Admin – My Groups.

However, for instant access, we would recommend adding the groups to display on your dashboard. To do this, simply click Add Widget to open the configuration window. This will then allow you to select My Groups from the Other section.

Within My Groups, you are then required to set the following:

Group Type – This would be Company or Contact, depending on which groups you wanted to display.

Title – The title is the name of the widget, allowing you to provide additional details about the groups being displayed.

Groups – This allows you to select the groups from the drop down before clicking Add. You can choose to include as many groups as required within your widget.

Click Save to then add to your dashboard, allowing you to instant access to your selected groups.