Preparing Your User Data for Import

Before importing your user data, prepare your file to ensure a successful import. Use this guide to format your data correctly, whether you're adding to or updating your user roster, or including additional user data for Segmentation reporting in Emtrain Intelligence.

Why Prepare Your Data?

Taking time to prepare and format your data correctly before importing can save you significant time later. While our system will accept most imports even when they contain errors, you'll still need to review the Errors log afterward and fix any issues in your file. By preparing your data upfront, you avoid most common formatting problems and ensure your employee information transfers smoothly into the system on the first try.

Step 1: Gathering the Data

Before importing to Emtrain, gather the employee data you need. You can work with a file containing all of your employee data. Alternatively, you can restrict your list to just new hires, terminated employees, or employees with status changes, such as a change in their supervisory role or location. For complete information about fields to include in your roster, read User Profile Fields.

Choose one of these methods to start the process:

• Exporting directly from your HR system ensures that your data is consistent, complete, and accurate and free of errors as it flows from your system to ours. You can choose to export all your employees or select only those you wish to update or add as Emtrain users.

  If you have an LMS-connected account, use this method. Exporting data directly from your HR system ensures accurate data synchronization with our system through your employees’ SCORM IDs.

  Consider saving your employee data export file with the column order and formatting that Emtrain requires. This streamlines future roster imports and saves you time. Some admins work with their IT team to automate correct data formatting in the export process.

• This approach gives you the column order that matches the current mapping for your roster import. It also shows you formatting for the columns you typically import to guide you when adding or updating data.

  1. Select the Import Roster button to reach the CSV Import screen.
  2. Select the Download CSV button. This will download your entire roster in the correct column order for import.
  3. Add newly hired employees and update data for any current employees.
  4. Remove employees from the file who have no data changes (optional).

  Since you may not always know which fields are used in group rules, treat any field that contains data for most of your employees as ‘required.’

• While this method also provides the column order that matches the current mapping for your roster import, it does not include any data and therefore provides no formatting guidance. As a result, it leads to the highest amount of formatting errors. However, this may work for admins who manage their employee data manually with spreadsheets, or who prefer to be more hands-on with their data. 

  1. Select the Import Roster button to reach the CSV Import screen.
  2. Select the Download Template button. This will download your column headers in the correct column order for import.
  3. Add employee data into the columns of the template you downloaded—include in the file any employees you wish to add to Emtrain or edit.

  When using this method, be sure to reference Field Formats for Roster Uploads to ensure your data is properly formatted for import.

Be sure that your file includes the required fields:

• First Name
• Last Name
• CSV Sync Field: For Emtrain-hosted accounts, this will be either Email address or Employee ID, depending upon which you use to sync your data. For LMS-connected accounts, this will always be SCORM ID.

Step 2: Formatting the Data

You must correctly format the values in your file for a successful import.

The values that your system of record provides may not match the formatting we require. Review your file formatting and make the necessary updates.

Fields that commonly need reformatting include date fields, employee status, and supervisor fields.

For some formatting you can utilize search and replace to correct your data. For example, if your system of record uses the terms “manager” and “non-manager,” you will need to convert those to “yes” and “no” for our system.

For formatting requirements, reference Field Formats for Roster Uploads.

Step 3: Ordering Your Data Columns

Our system imports and maps data based on column position, not column headers. This means that your columns must be in a specific order for the data to import properly. For example, if your data doesn’t match the expected column order, first names could populate the Employee ID field.

The column order that matches the current mapping for your roster import can be found in the roster template. You can download the roster template from the Import Roster area in Users by selecting the Download Template option. If you prefer to use a different column order, you can customize your field mapping during import, read Importing a User Roster Manually for details.

Importing The Data

Once you’ve prepared your spreadsheet with complete and accurate data, save it as a .csv file. You’re now ready to import: Importing A User Roster Manually.