If you need to add or edit your team members' leave balance figures in bulk, you can do this via the Leave Balance Import. This feature streamlines the process of managing leave balances across your organization, especially during onboarding or when migrating from another system.

In this article we will cover:

• Prerequisites for using Leave Balance Import
• How to import leave balances in bulk
  • via a spreadsheet
  • by directly entering data in the interface
• Required fields and file format
• Data validation and error handling
• How Leave Balance Import affects users
• FAQs

Prerequisites for Leave Balance Import

Before using the Leave Balance Import feature, ensure that:

• You have set up leave policies in your Deputy account
• You have assigned leave policies to team members
• You are logged into Deputy with System Administrator or Advisor access

Note: Leave Balance Import requires that employees already have leave entitlements assigned. This step is a pre-requisite to importing balances into Deputy.

How to Import Leave Balances in bulk

Once you have confirmed that your team members have been assigned the leave policies they are entitled to, you can now upload the leave balance figures for each of these leave entitlements:

1. From the the People page, click the Add People dropdown and select "Import leave requests and balances"
2. In the "Bulk imports for leave management" pop-up, select Import leave balances 
3. You can now input your employees' leave balance figures either by preparing your data in the spreadsheet, or by entering the data directly into the interface.

Prepare your data in a spreadsheet 

1. Download the leave balances template as CSV or Excel
2. Fill in the spreadsheet according to the table below, and save the file
3. Back in your Deputy account, click Continue to upload
4. Upload your saved spreadsheet by clicking Upload file, or by dragging and dropping the file onto the screen
5. You must make sure you have correctly mapped your Incoming fields (from your spreadsheet) to the Destination fields in Deputy. Hover over the Destination field to see a data preview for that field on the right. To change the Destination field, select a new field from the Destination field drop-down. Click Continue
6. Fix any Invalid errors, then click Submit

Enter the data directly into the interface

1. In the "Bulk imports for leave management" pop-up, click Continue to upload
2. Select Manually enter data
3. Use the table below to help you fill in the spreadsheet
4. Fix any Invalid errors, then click Submit

Required Fields and File Format

The following fields are required for a successful leave balance import:

Data Validation and Error Handling

In the Leave Balance Sync interface, you'll see all the data you have input, and you can manually edit any cell from here.

You will also need to correct any Invalid records before you submit this sync. Cells with Invalid records will highlight in red.

• For cells with a drop-down, you can fix these records by simply selecting the correct option from the drop-down.
• For free text cells, use the table above to ensure you're inputting valid values.

When all fields show as Valid, click Submit.

How Leave Balance Import Affects Users

When Leave Balance Import is processed:

• Employees' leave balances will be updated in their employee profile immediately according to the imported values. 
• Employees will be able to see their updated leave balances in the Deputy Mobile app (if you have enabled your team members to view their leave balance)
• Balances will be available for use in leave requests according to your leave policy settings
• The import history will be logged for audit purposes. In the "Bulk imports for leave management" pop-up, click View import history

FAQs

Can I import leave entitlements and balances at the same time?

No, the current process does not support setting leave entitlements as part of the import process. You must first ensure that leave entitlements are set up for employees before importing their balances.

What happens if I import a balance for a leave type an employee doesn't have?

The import will fail validation for that specific employee. Deputy will show an error indicating that the employee must first be assigned to the leave policy before a balance can be imported.

How are duplicate entries handled in the import file?

If there are duplicate entries for the same employee and leave policy in your import file, the system will use the last entry in the file. However, it's best practice to avoid duplicates to ensure predictable results.

Can I import negative leave balances?

Yes, you can import negative leave balances if your leave policies permit this. The system will accept negative values in the Balance Value field.

Will this overwrite existing leave balances?

Yes, importing leave balances will overwrite any existing balances for the specified employees and leave types. Make sure you have accurate data before completing the import.

Is there a limit to how many employee records I can import at once?

There is no strict limit, but for optimal performance, it's recommended to keep imports to a reasonable size. For very large organizations, consider breaking up imports into manageable batches.