Import Accounts in Bulk

1 Create and format your Import File
2 Create an Import Profile
3 Run a sample Import Job
4 Run your Import

Related Helpguide Pages

Learn how to add or update multiple Accounts in your platform in bulk from a spreadsheet, using your in-built platform import tool!

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

Follow this page to learn the steps to import Accounts.

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 Accounts import

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

Download the Accounts Template File (included in this guide)
Format the Accounts Import Template File
Populate the Accounts Import Template File
Save as a .csv file

Download the Accounts Import Template File

In this step, you will download our template file for Account 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.

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

Format the Accounts Import Template File

This step will take you to set 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.

Open the ‘BLANK Accounts Import Template’ file (download available above), this will open a blank 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
Open the ‘EXAMPLE Accounts 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
Within the 'BLANK Accounts Import Template’ file, remove any columns that you do not plan to import data to, you can remove the following:
1. CompanyID
2. ExternalID
3. Status - Recommended to keep
4. Description
5. AccountManagerID
6. Address
7. Town
8. County
9. Country
10. Postcode
11. Phone Number
12. URL
13. Fax
14. Alternative Address, Alternative Town, Alternative County, Alternative Country, Alternative Postcode
15. Billing Address, Billing Town, Billing County, Billing Country, Billing Postcode
16. Shipping Address, Shipping Town, Shipping County, Shipping Country, Shipping Postcode
17. IndustryID
18. Currency Code
19. Tax Rate
20. Tax Registration Number
21. Invoice due Days
22. Invoice due Days Type
23. Notes
24. Provisional Bookings Only
25. VAT Prefix
26. VAT Registration Number
27. Custom Field Name 1, 2 and 3
If you plan to import any data into your Account Custom Fields for your Accounts, edit the additional columns in your 'Account Import Template’ file for these
Make sure that you have the following mandatory columns included within your 'Accounts Import Template’ file
1. CompanyName - This is the name of the Account you are importing
2. CompanyGroupID - This is the account Group ID of the Account Group you want this Account to fall under
3. Status - This column is recommended however, it is optional. This is the Status the Account will be in
Progress to the next step, to fill your import file in with your Account data

Populate the Account Import Template File

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

Using the 'EXAMPLE Account Import Template’ file as a reference, add your Account data to your 'Account Import Template’ file
The below table outlines each column that you can include in your import file:

Column	Description	Format	Rules
CompanyName Mandatory	The Account Name This will be the name of your new Account you are importing	Text
CompanyGroupID Mandatory	This is the Account Group ID of the Account Group you want your Account to fall into. This can be found by going to Profile>Administration>Account Groups and then adding the ‘ID’ column into your Account Group DataGrid	Text and/or Numbers	This must match and Account Group ID of an existing Account Group within your Platform For adding a new column into your DataGrid, please follow our dedicated page
CompanyID	This is the ID for your new Account	Text	If you wish to generate these yourself you can, if left blank, the Platform will automatically generate these for you
ExternalID	Used to store the ID for this Account from another software/system	Text and/or Numbers
Status Recommended	This is the Status the Account will be in when imported to the Platform	Number	0 = Disabled 1 = Enabled
Description	This is the Description of the Account	Text
AccountManagerID	This is the User ID you wish to assign as Manager for this Account. You can find this within the User DataGrid by adding in the ‘User ID’ column	Text and/ or Number	The User MUST have the Manager Role within your Platform and the User ID must match an existing User For adding a new column into your DataGrid, please follow our dedicated page
Address	This is the first line of the Account’s Address	Text
Town	This is the Account’s Town	Text
County	This is the Account’s County	Text
Country	This is the Account’s Country	Text
Postcode	This is the Account’s Postcode	Text
Phone Number	This is the Account's Phone Number	Number
URL	This is the URL for the Account's website if required	Link
Email	This is the Account's main contact Email Address	Link
Fax	This is the Fax Number for the Account	Number
AlternativeAddress AlternativeTown AlternativeCounty AlternativeCountry AlternativePostcode	These next 5 columns are the Account's Alternative Address, this is typically used if the Account has a a different address from their Main Address	Text and/or Number	Ensure each option is a separate column
BillingAddress BillingTown BillingCounty BillingCountry BillingPostcode	The next 5 columns are the Account’s Billing address information. This is usually the same as their Main address, however, if different you may want to add these fields to your import	Text and/or Number	Ensure each option is a separate column
ShippingAddress ShippingTown ShippingCounty ShippingCountry ShippingPostcode	These next 5 columns are the Account’s Shipping Address, this is typically used to capture the address for Products and Services and where they should be shipped to. These can be the same as the Account’s Main Address or if different, they can be added to your Import here	Text and/or Number	Ensure each option is a separate column
Industry IDs	This is the ID of the Industry you wish you Account to be in The ID can be found by going to Profile>Administration>Industries and adding the ‘ID’ column into the Industries DataGrid	Number	This ID MUST match an existing Industry ID within the Platform
Tax Registration Number	This is the Account’s Tax Registration Number	Number
Tax Exempt	This determines whether the Account is Tax exempt or not	Number	0 = No 1 = Yes
Notes	This is for any Notes you may wish to add to the Account	Text and/r Number
VAT Prefix	Here you can enter the 2-letter code for the VAT Prefix you wish your Account to use	Text
VAT Registration Number	This is for the Accounts VAT Registration Number if applicable	Number
Currency Code	The Currency Code to be used when this Account is offering Courses	Text	This column is only required if you are Importing Training Providers Leave blank if Account uses GBP
Tax Rate	This will add a Tax Rate to your Account Finance Options for your Training Provider	Number	This column is only required if you are Importing Training Providers This is usually 20% Do not add the '%' into the Import as this will not work.
Invoice Due Day	This is to define the default due date for Invoices generated by this Training Provider	Number	This column is only required if you are Importing Training Providers. This will add a figure to the ‘Invoice Term Days’ within Account Finance Options for this Training Provider.
Invoice Due Day Type	This is to define the default due date for Invoices generated by this Training Provider	Number	This column is usually used when Importing Training Providers, this will add the option to the ‘Invoice Term Days Type’ field within your Account Finance Options for this Training Provider. 1 = DaysAfterInvoiceGeneration 2=DaysBeforeEarliestStartDateReferencedByInvoice 4=DaysAfterEarliestStartDateReferencedByInvoice 8=DaysBeforeLatestEndDateReferencedByInvoice 16=DaysAfterLatestEndDateReferencedByInvoice
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		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

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 Account Import file into the file format needed for the import tool

Once you have all the information you require within your import file, you can then save it as a .csv file
Within Excel, click the ‘File’ option in the top left-hand corner
Click ‘Save as’
Using the drop-down box under the file name, select CSV (comma delimited) (*.csv) and name your file (for example ‘Account Import’)
Click the ‘Save' button to complete the Save

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 Accounts.

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

Open the ‘Administration’ menu from the Profile options at the top-right of your platform
Scroll down the page until you find the ‘Import Profiles’ menu option
The menu is in alphabetical order
Click on the ‘Import Profiles’ option to be taken to the Import Profiles page
Click the ‘New Profile’ button at the top right corner of the page to create a new Import Profile
Provide a ‘Profile name’ for your Import Profile
We advise providing your Profile with a unique name so that it is easily identifiable
Select ‘Company’ as your import ‘Destination’, this lets the Platform know that you will be importing Account information
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
Leave the ‘Header Label Row’ set to '1', this tells your platform that the column headings of your import are in the first row
Click the ‘Next ->’ option at the top right of your page to proceed to the column mapping step for your Import Profile
In the column mappings step you will match each column in your import file (Source column) to a Account 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!

Please Note
The Source Columns may look different depending on which columns you removed from the ‘BLANK Account Import Template’, your Import Profile will only show the columns within your .csv file

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
If there is no option within the drop down to select, leave it as IGNORE
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 Accounts and updating Accounts, if each row is not uniquely identified by its key columns there is a risk that the existing Accounts will be overwritten with the details of new Accounts. Use the ‘Key column' field to select 'Yes’ for your unique identifiers.

Key Columns for Accounts

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

For example, if you have two Account’s with the same name ‘Abbot Inc’, your platform needs to know the difference between the two, in this case, you could set your key columns to CompanyName and CompanyGroupID, because this combination will be different for the two Account’s.

If there isn’t an existing column or combination of columns that can be used to uniquely identify your Account from one another, a common way to manage this issue is to generate a unique code for each Account and record this as the ‘External ID’, then use ‘External ID’ as the Key Column for your import.

Click the ‘Finish’ button at the top right of your page to complete your Import Profile
Click the ‘OK’ button to return to the ‘Import Profiles’ page

Your Import Profile has now been created

Please note

The columns within your Import Profile MUST match the columns within your .csv file in the exact same order 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 Accounts and checking that they have been imported correctly.

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

Create a sample import file
Run an Import Job
Check the Accounts

Create a sample import file

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

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
Go to ‘File’ in the top left-hand corner
Click ‘Save As’ to save this as a new import file
Do not click ‘Save’ as this will overwrite your import file
Rename this version of your import file so that you know if it is the test import file, for example, 'Account Import - Test File', and make sure that the format is still CSV (Comma Delimited) (*.csv)
Click the ‘Save’ button to create your Test import file

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 Account’s using your Import Profile

Click ‘Profile’ and then ‘Administration’ in the top right corner of the Platform
Scroll down the menu and click ‘Import Jobs’, the menu is in alphabetical order
Click on the ‘Import Jobs’ option to be taken to the Import Jobs page
Click ‘New job’ in the top right hand corner
Select your Import Profile from the ‘Profile’ drop down menu
From the File option, click on the ‘Choose File’ button and upload the Test file that you created in the previous step
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
Click the ‘Upload’ button to start the Import Job
Once you have uploaded your file to start the Import Job, your page will show the Import job being processed

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 been 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.
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
Once your import is complete, click the ‘Show Errors' button to see if there were any issues with the import
Example of an Import with no errors:

Example of an Import with Errors:

The Import Errors page shows you which rows have failed

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

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

Check the Account’s

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

Select Accounts from the Main Navigation Menu
This will open the Accounts DataGrid with a list of all Accounts Available
Add an additional column into your DataGrid using the ‘Change Columns’ button in the top right hand side of the DataGrid
Use the ‘+' button to add the column ‘Date Created’, sort this ‘Descending’ and click on the 'Apply’ button, this will add this column to your Users DataGrid and show the most recently created Accounts at the top
One Account at a time, right-click on each imported Account and select ‘Edit’ from the context menu options
Check that the details of the Account have been imported as expected, for example:
1. The Account name is correct
2. The correct Account Group ID has been assigned
3. The Status is correct
4. The Account Manager is correct
5. + Any other information you have imported
  
  If you are satisfied that all the sample Account’s 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 Accounts!

Go back to the original .csv file that you created earlier within Excel, open the file with all your data showing and check you are happy with the file
Within your accessplanit platform, open the ‘Administration’ menu from the Profile options at the top-right of your platform
Scroll down the menu and click ‘Import Jobs’, the menu is in alphabetical order
Click on the ‘Import Jobs’ option to be taken to the Import Jobs page
Click ‘New job’ in the top right-hand corner

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 ‘Company- New Accounts Import’

Select the ‘File’ you wish to upload, this is the original import file you created and saved earlier
The ‘Initial State’ option is where you can choose to Import now, or put the Import on Hold if needed
Click the ‘Upload’ button to start your Import Jobs
Once you have uploaded your Import Job, it will show the Import Job uploading
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.
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

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
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:

Example of an Import with Errors:

The Import Errors page shows you which rows have failed

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