With Deputy's new bulk import feature, you can now bulk import or update data from a CSV file:
- Before you start
- What kind of data can I bulk import or bulk update?
- Where can I access bulk import?
- How can I export existing data from my Deputy account?
- How can I view import history?
- FAQs
- Sample CSV templates
Before you start
Before you can bulk import or bulk update information in your Deputy account please ensure you have the access level permission of a System Administrator or Location Manager.
Note: Location Managers can only bulk import and update team members for the locations that they manage.
You will also need a spreadsheet prepared with your data in it and saved as a CSV file. You can either:
- create the spreadsheet dataset you need from one of our CSV sample templates or
- export your existing Deputy data as a CSV file and edit or add to that data in the spreadsheet before re-importing it back into Deputy.
What kind of data can I bulk import or bulk update?
Currently, you can bulk import or bulk update the following sets of data from a CSV file. Click on the below links for step by step instructions on bulk updating the following sets of data:
- Employee / team member information
- Training modules
- Training records
- Employment terms
- Schedules
- Timesheets
The ability to bulk import and update other data sets of information from a CSV file into your Deputy account will be released in the future.
Where can I access bulk import and update?
Bulk import and update of team member information can be accessed in two places in Deputy:
1. In both Premium and Enterprise accounts
On the People tab, click Add People and then Bulk import and update.
2. Enterprise
On the Enterprise tab, click Bulk Import/Update.
The bulk import of schedules is accessed from the Schedule tab
The bulk import of timesheets is accessed from the Approve Timesheets tab
How can I export existing data from my Deputy account?
Just as you can bulk import, you can also export existing data for:
- team member information
- training records
- training modules
- employment terms (Enterprise only)
Data is exported in the same CSV format as shown in our sample templates for import.
If you need to perform a bulk update of information in Deputy you can simply export the relevant data, update it in the spreadsheet and then re-import it.
There are two ways to export data:
From the People page:
Note: This method will only export data related to the team members you select.
1. On the People tab, use filters to display the team members you want to export then select the check boxes next to their names.
2. From the Bulk actions menu, click Export Team member details.
3. Select the details you would like to export and click Download.
3. Once the export file is ready, you will see a new notification in the notification centre in Deputy. Click on the notification to download the exported data.
From the bulk import and update page
Note: this method will export all data for all team members in your account. If you would like to filter your employees to only export a select group use the other method.
1. On the People page, click Add People and select Bulk import and update.
2. Select the data set of information you want to export from:
- Team member information
- Training information
Click on Export all Team member data or Export all training data as required.
3. Once the export file is ready, you will see a new notification in the notification centre in Deputy. Click on the notification to download the exported data.
How can I view import history?
A history of your bulk import and bulk update activity can be viewed for up to 3 months from within the Bulk Import history page. This can be accessed from the first screen in the Bulk Import process.
1. Click on View previous imports.
2. The Bulk Imports history page lists all previous imports for the past three months across all data sets.
On this page, you can see details of each previous import:
- Date and time of the import
- Data set type that was imported (ie. Employee, Training Record or Training Module)
- Number of data records imported
- User (who imported data)
- Outcome of import - success or failure
- Option to download data
Click on Download to export all data that was imported.
Note: clicking Download will export all data that was finally imported. This may not be necessarily data that was initially prepared in the original CSV.
Example: Let's assume the data for 100 employees was entered into a CSV file for import. However, upon import, Deputy highlighted that the locations nominated for 10 of those employees were invalid. The manager importing the data decided to ignore those records with errors and only import the 90 employees with correctly assigned locations. In this case, the downloaded data from the import history page will show 90 valid employees and none of the employees that generated errors. Similarly, if the manager importing the data decided to change the location of 10 employees to valid locations during the import process to correct the errors then the downloaded data will contain 100 employees with locations as allocated during the import process, not the locations indicated in the original CSV.
3. Once the export file is ready, you will see a new notification in the notification centre in Deputy. Click on the notification to download exported data.
FAQs
What happens if a file I am importing contains information for both new employees as well as updates to existing employees already in Deputy?
Bulk import is smart! It will check if the employee already exists in Deputy. If it exists, it will update any new information. Otherwise, if the employee does not already exist it will create a new employee record.
When determining if an employee or training record already exists in Deputy the email address will be used as the unique identifier to match the record. The training module will be matched based on the text in the title of the training module.
What is recommended way to update a large number of employees or training records using bulk import form CSV?
Simply export existing data, open the downloaded CSV in a spreadsheet editor, update the required fields in the spreadsheet and then import the updated file into your Deputy account.
I exported existing data, but I don't see any file being downloaded.
Once the export file is ready, you will see a new notification in the notification centre in Deputy. Click on the notification to download exported data.
Is Bulk Import available on mobile?
No, bulk import and update is available only by logging into the Deputy website.
Can I use Bulk Import with my web browser in Incognito mode?
No, currently bulk import doesn't work in Incognito mode.
On the import history page, I see my import failed. What can I do?
Please download the file and re-import it again. We are working to automate this workflow.