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Synchronization users using CSV

Preparing the user import file

It is possible to import a list of users in Collaborator. To do this, you must prepare a file in the CSV format that looks in the following way:

ID;Last name;First name;Middle name;Login;Email;Password;Birthdate;Gender (F-1, M-0);City;Department;Position;Tags;Phone;Status(0 - working, 1 - dismissed, 2 - maternity leave, 3 - sick leave);Employment date;Google Id;Work contacts;Date of current position assignment;department code;Adittional field 1;Adittional field  2;Adittional field  3;JSON;Interface language (EN, UK, DE, ES, ET, TR, RU);Adittional field  4;Adittional field  5;role_id
demo1;Johnson;Catherine; ;demo1;[email protected];123456;16.10.1988;1;New York;Sales Department;Sales manager;sales;671234567;;21.02.2015;;Working phone number.:222, Email: [email protected]; 20.03.2016;;;;;;;;;
demo2;Miller;Brandon; ;demo2;[email protected];123456;31.03.1991;0;New York;Sales Department;Head of Department; ;971234567;;02.04.2014;;;;;;;;;;;;
demo3;Smith;Johnson; ;demo3;[email protected];123456;19.03.1982;0;New York;Sales Department;Sales manager; ;631234567;1;12.05.2013;;;;;;;;;;;;
demo4;Williams;Olivia; ;demo4;[email protected];123456;30.05.1972;1;Kyiv;Sales;Seller;trainee;981234567;;02.04.2014;;;;;;;;;;;;
demo5;Brown;Amelia; ;demo5;[email protected];123456;04.09.1972;1;Tokyo;Sales;Seller;trainee;953425623;2;02.04.2014;;;;;;;;;;;;

This is how a table of accounts is set up. The first line contains the column headers of the table. All other lines of the file are records in the table. Each cell is separated by semicolons.

Data fields:

field function
ID mandatory to fill in, a unique identifier of a person, can be an identification number or a registration number
Last name mandatory to fill in
First name mandatory to fill in
Middle name - optional
Login mandatory to fill in
Email mandatory to fill in
Password - optional, then it will set a default password
Birthdate - optional
Gender (F-1, M-0) - optional
City - optional
Department - optional
Position - optional
Tags - optional, contains tags that will allow you to find the user, separated by commas, you can specify multiple tags
Phone number - optional
Status (working - 0, dismissed - 1, on maternity leave - 2, sick leave - 3, etc.) - optional, default value = 0
Employment date - optional, contains the official date of employment with the company, which determines the total length of service with the organization
Google Id - optional, User's Google Id for authorization via Google
Work contacts - optional, additional contacts for users, working phone number and Email
Date of current position assignment - optional, contains the date of appointment to the position, the date determines the term of employment
Department code - optional, contains a unique subdivision code for automatic allocation of the user in the organizational structure
Adittional field 1 - optional, an additional field in the user profile
Adittional field 2 - optional, an additional field in the user profile
Adittional field 3 - optional, an additional field in the user profile
JSON - optional, an additional field. Designed to transfer service information about the user in JSON format using BASE64 encoding. It is not displayed in user's profile. Example of data that are encoded: {"projects":["mtr-1", "mto-232"], "vacation_days":21, "sick_leave_days":9}
Interface language - optional. The language of the user interface is specified, if it differs from the main language. Possible values: EN, UK, DE (German), ES (Spanish), ET (Estonian), TR (Turkish), RU (Russian).
Adittional field 4 - optional, an additional field in the user profile
Adittional field 5 - optional, an additional field in the user profile
role_id - optional, id of role, that will be assigned to the user

A cp1251-encoded file opens correctly in any version of MS Excel and is displayed as a table where data can be changed.

For more information on how to edit a file, visit How to change the import file


Excel template for employee list

If you do not upload a .csv file with a list of employees from the HR system, but maintain a separate list of users for LMS, then you can use an Excel template with a macro that generates a .csv file for import in the required format.
All information on changes in the list of employees must be entered into this Excel file (adding new employees, dismissal, changing data, etc.), after updating, by clicking on the "Create file for uploading to Collaborator" button, an import file will be created, which will need to be uploaded to the portal.

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New accounts in Collaborator are automatically created based on the data in this file during import. Existing accounts in the system for which an identifier is specified (see the first column of the file) will be updated.


Features of importing and updating some attributes

Tags

Each user can be assigned one or more tags in the CSV file. The tags will be transferred to the accounts in Collaborator. They allow you not only to mark a user's belonging to a group, but also to quickly find the necessary person by the specified characteristics. For example, it is convenient to use the names of study groups and professions as tags.

While updating user data during import, there is an option Do not overwrite existing tags when importing.

  1. If this option is disabled, then All tags from users in the system will be replaced with the ones that come in the import data. Including, if no tags come in during import, then All existing tags will be deleted.

  2. If the option is on, then no existing tag will be deleted during import, even if there are no tags with the import.

    • If new tags arrive with the import, they will be added.
    • If any tags already exist, they will be ignored.
    • In this case, you can only delete tags from the user manually through the functionality interface User table.
      If there is a need to add tags to users manually, then this option should be turned off.

During import, you can specify several tags at once. To do this, just list them separated by commas, for example as follows:


Separate attributes of an account are City, Department, and Position. They are necessary for Organizational structure and 360-degree feedback in Collaborator.


Phone numbers

Each user can be given a phone number in the CSV file. The phone number is added as a separate field after the Label. After importing, the data with the number is available to the administrator, to the user in his profile and in the Contacts menu.
The user's phone number is used to send additional SMS messages.

You can specify phone numbers in the import file in several ways:

  1. Without a country code.

In this case, all numbers will be assigned, the country code that is specified in the settings of the site. If, for example, in the settings set the default phone code of Ukraine, then after importing the field with the phone will be filled as follows:
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The country code can be changed manually, but after the next import it may change back to the default code on the site

  1. With the country phone codes. The use of this variant is appropriate when users with phone numbers of different countries are present in the same file

User roles

Each user in CSV-file can be assigned an id of role, that will be assigned to them after importing. This way the role assignment can be automated. The required role id can be found out from Support.
It is also necessary that the policy for Role - Assign role mode: By import value is enabled.


User import process

To import users into the System, download the prepared file using the "Import Users" button. To do this, just " drag and drop" the file to the specified button or by pressing the button to select it.

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When the upload is complete, new users will be added to the System, and existing users will be updated if there were changes in their import file:


Regular updates

This import mechanism is used to synchronize user records in Collaborator with the records of personnel accounting systems (1C, Hurma, People Force and others).

Rules of data import and updating:

  1. If a new employee appears in the file - a new account will be created in the Collaborator system with the corresponding data.

  2. If you change data in the file for an employee, for example, last name, e-mail, login, position, etc., the same data will be changed in the corresponding account in the system. The correspondence of the user is set by the identifier, which is set in the first column of the file data.

  3. If the user changes their login or email, the import file will replace them with their login and email values.
    In order not to change the e-mail or login that the user enters themselves when importing, you need to enable the portal parameter ( is performed by the Technical Support):

    • Do not overwrite the changed user's email during import
    • Do not overwrite the changed user's login during import
      When using the "Do not overwrite modified user email on import" setting, the email as an exception can be changed for users who have a test email address @test.me indicated in the system.
  4. User password is not overwritten when imported.

  5. Also, the information in the Birthday and Phone number fields is not replaced with a blank value after import, if these data are missing in the file

During import new users will be added, dismissed employees will be blocked, and for existing personal data will be automatically checked and updated.

All changes during re-import of users are displayed in the form of an automatic message after the end of loading the file. It is necessary to make sure that the number of added changes in the import file coincides with the numbers in this message. If there are any mismatches, most likely errors were made while editing the import file.

Import of users works in synchronization mode. It is sufficient to organize the unloading of data from these systems into a text file of CSV format. This format is supported by almost all common personnel accounting systems.

All changes are saved in the import protocol (Protocol import users). This allows you to track job changes, department changes, and changes in the personal data of employees. At any time, the protocol, as well as any other tabular data in Collaborator, can be uploaded in Excel format:

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