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Import Venues in Bulk

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Import Venues in Bulk

Owned by Hannah Letch
Last updated: 29 Apr, 2025 by Jenna Buttershaw

Learn how to add hundreds of Venues to your platform at once from a spreadsheet, using your in-built platform import tool!

The import tool allows you to create records in bulk. This page is designed to provide you with a step-by-step guide to efficiently and accurately import Venue data into your accessplanit platform.

image-20240628-144750.png

This page will take you through the steps to create your profile and upload your new venue data.

Please note

The import tool is available to Super Administrators, if you are not able to access the import options please speak to a member of the accessplanit team.

Create and format your Import File

This step will show you how to create a .csv file that contains all of the information needed for your Venue import

To create and format your Import File, you will follow these steps:

  1. Download the Venue Import Template File (included in this guide)

  2. Format the Venue Import Template File

  3. Populate the Venue Import Template File

  4. Save as a .csv file

Download the Import Template File

In this step you will download our template file for Imports.

There are two files to download to support your import, there is a reference spreadsheet which you can look at to understand the import options, and there is an import template which you will edit and fill with your import data.

  1. Please download our reference Import Profile here to view all of the options for your import file:

    1. All mandatory fields are shown in Red

    2. All optional fields are shown in Grey

    3. This file is a reference file only

  2. Please download our blank Import Template here (this is the file you will add your import data into):

Format the Import Template File

This step will take you setting up your import file with the columns that you want to import data for, ready for populating it with data!

You will remove the columns you don’t need, and you can add additional columns if you want to import any custom field data.

  1. Open the ‘BLANK Venue Import Template’ file (download available above), this will open an Excel file which will only contain column headings, these will be listed in the first row
    This is the file that you will be working from, amending, and adding data to

    image-20240606-104331.png

  2. Open the ‘EXAMPLE Venue Import Template’ file (download available above), this will open an Excel file with further information and example data for each available import column
    This file is a useful reference, to understand what data is required in each column

    image-20240606-104422.png

  3. Within the 'BLANK Venue Import Template’ file, remove any columns that you do not plan to import data to, you can remove the following:

    1. Address

    2. Town

    3. County

    4. Country

    5. Postcode

    6. Postcode

    7. Phone

    8. Cost

    9. CostType

    10. Quantity

    11. Capacity

    12. Description

    13. MappedIDType

    14. CustomField 1

    15. CustomField 2

    16. CustomField 3

      image-20240606-104927.png



  4. If you plan to import any data into your Custom Fields for the Venues you will be importing, edit the additional columns into your 'BLANK Venue Import Template’ file for these

    additional column added into the Excel sheet for 'room layout' as an example custom field

  5. Make sure that you have the following mandatory columns included within your 'BLANK Venue Import Template’ file

    1. ResourceTypeName

    2. ResourceLabel

    3. CompanyID

      image-20240606-105253.png

  6. Progress to the next step, to fill your import file in with your Venue data

     

Populate the Venue Import Template File

This step will take you populating your import file with your Venue data, ready for importing it into your platform!

  1. Using the 'EXAMPLE Venue Import Template’ file as a reference, add in your Venue data into your 'BLANK Venue Import Template’ file

  2. The below table outlines each column that you can include in your import file:

Column

Description

Format

Rules

ResourceTypeName 
Mandatory

The Name of the Resource Type that your new Trainer will be assigned to.

Text

This must match to an existing Resource Type in your platform, e.g.

‘Internal Venue’

‘External Venue’

ResourceLabel
Mandatory

The Name of the new Venue you are importing

image-20240606-110707.png

Text

 

CompanyID
Mandatory

The Account ID of the Training Provider this new Venue will fall under

You can find this by going to the Accounts DataGrid and adding a filter for Training Providers

image-20240606-110854.png

Text

This MUST match an existing ID within the Platform

Please see our dedicated page on how to create filters

The filter you would require is Industries ID > Is In > Training Provider

Address

This is the first line of the Venue Address

image-20240606-111452.png

Text

 

Town

This is the Town the Venue is in

image-20240606-111551.png

Text

 

County

This is the County the Venue is in

image-20240606-111651.png

Text

 

Country

This is the Country the Venue is in

image-20240606-111748.png

Text

 

Postcode

This is the Postcode of the Venue

image-20240606-111844.png

Text

 

Phone

This is the contact number for the Venue

image-20240606-112303.png

Number

 

Cost

This is the cost of the Venue

image-20240606-112449.png

Number

Do not include a currency symbol, the currency will automatically be recognised from the Training Provider of the Course

CostType

This is how the cost will be charged for the Venue

image-20240606-112542.png

Number

  • 1 = Delegate

  • 2 = Session

  • 4 = Hour

  • 8 = Day

  • 16 =Delegate Day

Quantity

This is the number of this Venue available, typically each room is listed as it’s own individual Venue so this is always '1'.

image-20240606-112806.png

Number

Typically '1'

Capacity

This is the capacity of the Venue and how many people it can hold

image-20240606-112917.png

Number

 

Description

This is the description of the Venue, you can store useful information within here for reference when choosing a Venue for a Course.

image-20240606-113219.png

Text

 

MappedIDType

This is the ID that is used to identify the type of record that would be associated with the Venue

image-20240606-113447.png

Number

This will always be ‘10’ for Venues

CustomField1
CustomField2
CustomField3

If you have Custom Fields that you wish to add to your Import, you can do this by using one of the Custom Field columns available.
We have given you an example here

image-20240606-113722.png

Text

The column name must match the exact name of the Custom Field within your Platform

If you wish to add a Custom Field but haven't created it yet, please see our dedicated guide here

 

Please note

If your organisation/business operates using Languages where the following special characters are present - Č, Š, Ž and Ć - and you wish to use the importer to upload content containing these characters to the platform - you will need to contact the accessplanit Support Team.

Save as a .csv file

This step will take you through saving your Venue Import file into the file format needed for the import tool

  1. Once you have all the information you require within your import file, you can then save it as a .csv file

    image-20240606-113924.png

  2. Within Excel, click the ‘File’ option in the top left hand corner

    File option in Excel

  3. Click ‘Save as’

    Save As option

     

  4. Using the drop down box under the file name, select CSV (comma delimited) (*.csv) and name your file (for example ‘New Venue Import’)

    csv format option

  5. Click the ‘Save' button to complete the Save

    save button in excel


Your Import file has now been saved, ready for importing.

Please note
If your organisation/business operates using other Languages, when saving a .csv file, ensure that the document is saved with ‘,' rather than ';’ as this can prevent the document from Importing

 

Create an Import Profile

This step will run through how to create an Import Profile in your accessplanit platform, to use when importing Venues.

You will be able to reuse this profile each time you import Venues using the same file structure (i.e. the same columns of data are included).

  1. Open the ‘Administration’ menu from the Profile options at the top-right of your platform

    Profile - Administration button

     

  2. Scroll down the page until you find the ‘Import Profiles’ menu option
    The menu is in alphabetical order

    Import profiles menu option

  3. Click on the ‘Import Profiles’ option to be taken to the Import Profiles page

    Import Profiles page in the platform

     

  4. Click the ‘New Profile’ button at the top right corner of the page to create a new Import Profile

    New profile button

     

  5. Provide a ‘Profile name’ for your Import Profile
    We advise providing your Profile with a unique name so that's its easily identifiable

    image-20240606-114252.png

  6. Select ‘Course Date’ as your import ‘Destination’, this lets the Platform know that you will be importing Course information

    image-20240606-114319.png

  7. The next step is to upload the .csv file that you created and saved earlier, click the selecting the ‘Choose file’ button and selecting the file from your saved location

    image-20240606-114438.png

  8. Leave the ‘Header Label Row’ set to '1', this tells your platform that the column headings of your import are in the first row

    Header label row number

     

  9. Click the ‘Next ->’ option at the top right of your page to proceed to the column mapping step for your Import Profile

    Next option

  10. In the column mappings step you will match each column in your import file (Source column) to a Venue setting in your accessplanit platform (Destination column), this is where you define where the information in your import file will be imported to and displayed in your platform, much of this will be pre-populated for you!

    image-20240606-114532.png

  11. If you see ‘IGNORE' within the 'Destination Column’, you will need to select the correct column from the drop down option
    Leaving it as IGNORE will mean that the Platform will ignore this column in the file when running the Import

    image-20240606-114636.png

  12. When running an Import, your platform needs to know which column(s) can be used to uniquely identify each row, this is important as the importer supports both creating Venues and updating Venues, if each row is not uniquely identified by its key columns there is a risk that the existing Courses will overwritten with the details of new Courses are required. Use the ‘Key column' field to select 'Yes’ for your unique identifiers.

    image-20240606-115316.png

Key Columns for Venues

Key Column(s) are used to identify Venues, so that your platform can differentiate between one Venue and another Venue.

For example, if you have two Venue with the name ‘Room 5’, your platform needs to know the difference between the two, in this case you could set your key columns to Label, Address and Postcode, because this combination will be different on the two Venues.

 

  1. Click the ‘Finish’ button at the top right of your page to complete your Import Profile

    buttons at the top right of the import profile builder

  2. Click the ‘OK’ button to return to the ‘Import Profiles’ page

    OK button


    Your Import Profile has now been created

Please note

The columns within your Import Profile MUST match the columns within your .csv file exactly otherwise your Import will not work.

Run a sample Import Job

Before you run your full import into the platform, we recommend that you first run a test to check that your Import Profile has been set up correctly.

This involves only importing a small sample of Venues and checking that they have imported correctly.

To run a test Import Job, you will follow these steps:

  1. Create a sample import file

  2. Run an Import Job

  3. Check the Venues

Create a sample import file

This step will show you how to import your sample Venues using your Import Profile

  1. Open the .csv file that you created for your import earlier and remove data so that you only have 3-4 lines of data remaining in the file

    image-20240606-115645.png

  2. Go to ‘File’ in the top left hand corner

    File option in Excel

     

  3. Click ‘Save As’ to save this as a new import file
    Do not click ‘Save’ as this will overwrite your import file

    Save As option

     

  4. Rename this version of your import file so that you know if it is the test import file, for example 'New Venues Import - Test File', and make sure that the format is still CSV (Comma Delimited) (*.csv)

    image-20240606-115755.png

  5. Click the ‘Save’ button to create your Test import file

    save button in excel


    You are now ready to run your test import


Please Note
If your organisation/business operates using other Languages, when saving a .csv file, ensure that the document is saved with ‘,' rather than ';’ as this can prevent the document from Importing

Run an Import Job

This step will show you how to import your sample Venues using your Import Profile

  1. Click ‘Profile’ and then ‘Administration’ in the top right corner of the Platform

    profile - administration

     

  2. Scroll down the menu and click ‘Import Jobs’, the menu is in alphabetical order

    import jobs menu option

  3. Click on the ‘Import Jobs’ option to be taken to the Import Jobs page

    import jobs page

  4. Click ‘New job’ in the top right hand corner

    new job button

     

  5. Select your Import Profile from the ‘Profile’ drop down menu. It will be prefixed with ‘Venue Resources’

    image-20240606-120504.png

  6. From the File option, click on the ‘Choose File’ button and upload the Test file that you created in the previous step

    image-20240606-120541.png

  7. The ‘Initial State’ option is where you can choose to Import now, or put the Import on Hold if you would like to set the import off to run later

    initial state

     

  8. Click the ‘Upload’ button to start the Import Job

    upload button

     

  9. Once you have uploaded your file to start the Import Job, your page will show the Import job being processed

    Import beginning

    a. ID - This is the ID number of the Import Job
    b. Profile - This is the name of the Profile used for the Import
    c. Filename - This is the name of the Import file uploaded
    d. Status - This is the status of the Import Job, it will begin as ‘Queued’ but will change to ‘Completed’ once the Import has finished
    e. Due - This is when the Import is due to run
    f. Started - This will be blank to begin with, once the Import Job has started, the Start date and time will populate.
    g. Completed - This will be blank and will populate once the Import has completed
    h. Row Count - This shows how many rows are to be imported
    i. Processed - This will show the number of rows that have been imported and will change as the Import runs.

  10. Your Import will have the status of ‘Completed’, the Completed time and date will be populated and the Processed' column number will match the same number as the ‘Row Count' column

    Import complete example

     

  11. Once your import is complete, click the ‘Show Errors' button to see if there were any issues with the import

    show errors button for import jobs

Move on to the next step to check whether your Import Profile has worked or not.

Check the Venues

This step will talk you through the process of checking your new Venues have imported correctly

  1. Navigate to Resources and the ‘Manage’ from the Main Navigation Menu

    image-20240605-104202.png

  2. This will open the Resources DataGrid

    image-20240605-105456.png

  3. Using the search bar, search for each of your Venue that you have just imported

    image-20240606-130139.png

  4. One Venue at a time, right-click on each imported Venue and select ‘Edit’ from the context menu options

    image-20240606-130305.png

  5. Check that the details of the Venues have been imported as expected, for example:

    1. The label is correct

    2. The correct Training Provider has been assigned

    3. The cost is correct

    4. + any other information you have imported

      image-20240606-130434.png

      If you are satisfied that all the sample Venues have been imported correctly, your testing is now complete

Run your Import

Once you have run your test import and you are happy that everything imported correctly, you are ready to import your Venues!

  1. Go back to the original .csv file that you created earlier within Excel and open the file with all your data showing and check you are happy with the file

    image-20240606-131426.png

  2. Within your accessplanit platform, open the ‘Administration’ menu from the Profile options at the top-right of your platform

    profile - administration

     

  3. Scroll down the menu and click ‘Import Jobs’, the menu is in alphabetical order

    import jobs menu option

     

  4. Click on the ‘Import Jobs’ option to be taken to the Import Jobs page

    import jobs page

     

  5. Click ‘New job’ in the top right hand corner

    new job button

 

  1. Select your Profile from the drop down menu. This is the name of the Profile created in the step above. In this case it is ‘Venue Resources - New Venues’

    image-20240606-120504.png

  2. Select the ‘File’ you wish to upload, this is the original import file you created and saved earlier

    image-20240606-132813.png

  3. The ‘Initial State’ option is where you can choose to Import now, or put the Import on Hold if needed

    image-20240110-142741.png

     

  4. Click the ‘Upload’ button to start your Import Jobs

    image-20240110-142950.png

     

  5. Once you have uploaded your Import Job, it will show the Import Job uploading

    image-20240111-091157.png

    a. ID - This is the ID number of the Import Job
    b. Profile - This is the name of the Profile used for the Import
    c. Filename - This is the name of the Import file uploaded
    d. Status - This is the status of the Import Job, it will begin as ‘Queued’ but will change to ‘Completed’ once the Import has finished
    e. Due - This is when the Import is due to run
    f. Started - This will be blank to begin with, once the Import Job has started, the Start date and time will populate.
    g. Completed - This will be blank and will populate once the Import has completed
    h. Row Count - This shows how many rows are to be imported
    i. Processed - This will show the number of rows that have been imported and will change as the Import runs.

  6. Your Import will have the status of ‘Completed’, the Completed time and date will be populated and the Processed' column number will match the same number as the ‘Row Count' column

Screenshot 2024-01-11 092913-20240111-093001.jpg

  1. There is a section at the end of the Import named ‘Actions’. Here you will find the option to ‘Show Errors’, ‘Restart’, ‘Stop’ and ‘Cancel’ your Import

    Screenshot 2024-01-11 092913-20240111-093541.jpg

     

  2. You can use the ‘Show Errors’ button to see if anything has stopped your Import from working correctly, if the Import Errors page is blank, this means the data in your import file hasn’t failed any validation checks

Please note

You can download the errors file to view more information about any failures from the ‘Import Errors’ page

If you do not understand what any of the errors mean, please reach out to the support team and they will be able to provide further guidance and help you with your import

Example of an Import with no errors:

image-20240111-093833.png

Example of an Import with Errors:

image-20240111-093924.png

The Import Errors page shows you which rows have failed

  1. The ‘Stop’ and ‘Restart' buttons can be used while your Import Job is processing, to pause and restart your import, please note that it can take a few seconds for these to be actioned after you have clicked them

    import job options

     

  2. We do not recommend using the 'Delete’ button for your Import Jobs unless absolutely necessary

 

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