Managers can use this tool to import schedule and timesheet information in bulk from a spreadsheet.
- Before you begin
- What data fields can be imported?
- How do I bulk import schedule data?
- How do I bulk import timesheet data?
- View import history
- Sample CSV template
Before you begin
Read Getting started with bulk import or update using data from a CSV file.
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 create the spreadsheet dataset you need with our CSV sample template.
What data fields can be imported?
Please find below a list of fields and respective validations for each data set you can bulk import:
Schedules
IMPORTANT Note: Employees are matched on the email address and not on First Name/Last Name.
| Field | Example | Mandatory | Validations |
| First Name |
This field is to help visually identify employees. This field cannot be used to match employees for updating schedule. Pls continue to use email address for matching employee. In addition, this field cannot be updated as part of schedule import. Please use employee import to update first name. |
||
| Last Name |
This field is to help visually identify employees. This field cannot be used to match employees for updating schedule. Pls continue to use email address for matching employee. In addition, this field cannot be updated as part of schedule import. Please use employee import to update last name. |
||
| "jackjohnson@email.com" |
|
||
| Start Date | "2023-01-31" | Yes | |
| Start Time | "09:00:00" | Yes | |
| End Date | "2023-01-31" | Yes | |
| End Time | "17:00:00" | Yes | |
| Location | "Location" | Yes | Valid Deputy location for your business. |
| Area | "Area" | Yes | Valid Deputy areas for your business. These should be ones associated with location provided. |
| Meal Break (Mins) | "30" |
Yes |
Enter the total number of minutes for the meal break duration. Enter "0" is there is no meal break |
| Meal Break Start Date | "2023-01-31" | ||
| Meal Break Start Time | "12:00:00" | ||
| Meal Break End Date | "2023-01-31" | ||
| Meal Break End Time | "12:30:00" | ||
| Rest Break (Mins) | "15" | Enter the total number of minutes for the rest break duration | |
| Rest Break Start Date | "2023-01-31" | ||
| Rest Break Start Time | "15:00:00" | ||
| Rest Break End Date | "2023-01-31" | ||
| Rest Break End Time | "15:15:00" | ||
| Comment | "This is test schedule" | ||
| Published | "Yes" | ||
| Open | "No" | ||
| Override Warnings? | "Y/N" | Specify override warnings as "Y" to import roster despite having stress profile warnings. |
Important Note - Employees are matched on email address and not on First Name/Last Name.
Open shifts
Open or empty shifts can be created using the following combination of import fields :
| Is email Provided? | Value in "Open" | Outcome |
| No | Yes | Open shift created |
| No | No | Empty shift created |
| Yes | Yes | Open shift, another employee can grab shift even though the email address was provided |
| Yes | No | The shift is assigned to the employee with the email address in the email field and nobody else can grab it. |
Note: If you need to add an open shift with manager approval you will need to manually select this option after the shifts have been imported into the schedule.
Timesheets
IMPORTANT Note: Employees are matched on the email address and not on First Name/Last Name.
| Field | Example | Mandatory | Validations |
| First Name |
This field is to help visually identify employees. This field cannot be used to match employees for updating timesheet. Pls continue to use email address for matching employee. In addition, this field cannot be updated as part of timesheet import. Please use employee import to update first name. |
||
| Last Name |
This field is to help visually identify employees. This field cannot be used to match employees for updating timesheet. Pls continue to use email address for matching employee. In addition, this field cannot be updated as part of timesheet import. Please use employee import to update last name. |
||
| "jackjohnson@email.com" |
Yes. It is used to match employees to whom schedules are assigned. |
||
| Start Date | "2023-01-31" | Yes | Cannot be in future |
| Start Time | "09:00:00" | Yes | |
| End Date | "2023-01-31" | Yes | Cannot be in future |
| End Time | "17:00:00" | Yes | |
| Location | "Location" | Yes | Valid Deputy location for your business. |
| Area | "Area" | Yes | Valid Deputy areas for your business. These should be ones associated with the location provided. |
| Meal Break (Mins) | "30" |
Yes |
Enter the total number of minutes for the meal break duration. Enter "0" is there is no meal break |
| Meal Break Start Date | "2023-01-31" | ||
| Meal Break Start Time | "12:00:00" | ||
| Meal Break End Date | "2023-01-31" | ||
| Meal Break End Time | "12:30:00" | ||
| Rest Break (Mins) | "15" | Enter the total number of minutes for the rest break duration. | |
| Rest Break Start Date | "2023-01-31" | ||
| Rest Break Start Time | "15:00:00" | ||
| Rest Break End Date | "2023-01-31" | ||
| Rest Break End Time | "15:15:00" |
|
|
| Employee Comment | "This is test timesheet" | ||
| Is in Progress? | "N" | ||
| Is Approved? | "Y" |
Default "N". This will time and/or pay approve timesheet based on permissions of user doing bulk import. |
How do I bulk import schedule data?
To import schedules in your account:
1. On Schedule tab, click Options and then click Add shifts from file
2. You can click on:
- Sample schedule template if you need a template spreadsheet to enter your schedule information
- View Import History to view previous imports
or click on Continue if you already have your spreadsheet prepared.
3. Click on Select file and select your CSV file from your computer to upload.
4. For the uploaded file, confirm Deputy has identified the row containing your column headers correctly by clicking Continue.
5. You will be asked to change or confirm column names.
Here you will see the names of columns in your CSV and template file. Most of the columns will be automatically matched. Please ensure columns are correctly matched for a successful import.
To help you correctly match columns, you will see a few data points for columns. To view column data, simply hover over column names.
Once you are happy that the columns match correctly, click Continue.
6. On the Review and finalize screen, you will see a count of how many of your records are valid and ready to import and how many have errors. If you wish, you can start to import the valid records by clicking on Import X records on the bottom right. Or you may choose to correct the records with errors first.
7. Click on the Error tab to display all records with errors. You will see the fields coloured red if they have an error. In the example above, two lines have the incorrect date format used causing errors.
At this point, you can choose:
- to correct all errors in this review by manually updating all fields to ensure there are no errors
- correct the errors in the original CSV file and start the import process again
- import only valid records (the system will only count valid records and only allow valid records to be imported)
8. Once you have resolved or discarded all errors in your data, all valid data will be imported.
On successful import, you will a success screen. Clicking on Submit finishes the import workflow and will return you to the Schedule page. You will need to select the correct location and date period to see your newly imported shifts on the Schedule.
During the import process, if there is a scheduling issue found such as an overlap or shift or a team member added to a shift they do not have training for then these shifts will be rejected. You can click Review rejected records to correct these issues or click Submit to only import the non-rejected shifts.
How do I bulk import timesheet data?
To import timesheets in your account:
1. On the Timesheets tab, select Approve Timesheets. Click on the arrow next to Add timesheet and select Add timesheets from file.
2. You can click on:
- Sample timesheet template if you need a template spreadsheet to enter your timesheet information in
- View Import History to view previous imports
or click on Continue if you already have your spreadsheet prepared.
3. Click on Select file and select your CSV file from your computer to upload.
4. For the uploaded file, confirm Deputy has identified the row containing your column headers correctly by clicking Continue.
5. You will be asked to change or confirm column names.
Here you will see the names of columns in your CSV and template file. Most of the columns will be automatically matched. Please ensure columns are correctly matched for a successful import.
To help you correctly match columns, you will see a few data points for columns. To view column data, simply hover over column names.
Once you are happy that the columns match correctly, click Continue.
6. On the Review and finalize screen, you will see a count of how many of your records are valid and ready to import and how many have errors. If you wish, you can start to import the valid records by clicking on Import X records on the bottom right. Or you may choose to correct the records with errors first.
7. Click on the Error tab to display all records with errors. You will see the fields coloured red if they have an error.
At this point, you can choose:
- to correct all errors by manually updating all fields to ensure there are no errors
- correct the errors in the original CSV file and start the import process again
- import only valid records (the system will only count valid records and only allow valid records to be imported)
8. Once you have resolved or discarded all errors in your data, all valid data will be imported.
On successful import, you will a success screen. Clicking on Continue finishes the import workflow and will return you to the Timesheet page. You can view your newly added timesheets by selecting the appropriate location and date period in the Approve Timesheets tab.
During the import process, if there is an issue found with a timesheet then this timesheet will be rejected. You can click Review rejected records to correct these issues or click Submit to only import the non-rejected timesheets.
View import history
You can view a history of the previous import for Schedule by going into the Schedule page and clicking on Add shifts from file then:
1. Click View import history
2. You can see a log of the imports that have occurred.
Note: clicking Download will export all data that was finally imported. This may not necessarily be data that was initially prepared in the original CSV. If any data was changed or errors were corrected during the import process they will be included in the file you download.