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Bulk Import of Members
Bulk Import of Members

Pre-populate Collaboratory with your faculty and staff members

Updated over a week ago

HEADS UP! Only institutions utilizing Single Sign On (SSO) may bulk add faculty and staff into Collaboratory

Administrators can choose to import faculty and staff into Collaboratory so that a profile is created for them even before they log in. Importing faculty and staff into Collaboratory allows proxies to assign them as Activity Leads and Partners right away.

Before they log in for the first time, imported faculty and staff will automatically get a staff relationship, so you can add them to activities as Leads or Partners. Once they log in via SSO for the first time, Collaboratory will update their relationship to match their institution-defined status (faculty or staff). Since students can’t own or partner on activities in Collaboratory, it's best not to import them in bulk.

REMINDER: Bulk importing members does not send out email notifications from Collaboratory. They will only get a message from Collaboratory when they need to take action (e.g., claim an activity, accept an invitation).

How it Works

  1. Administrators should work with their institution to complete the Member Bulk Import Template.

  2. Once the .csv template has been completed, email it to your Customer Specialist.

  3. Our development team will handle the import, and your Customer Specialist will keep you updated on the timeline and any further details.

  4. Once the bulk import process is complete, those members will be available in your Collaboratory Portal.

Formatting Guidelines for .csv Import

During the import process, we will match each column in your file to a field in our database. We've provided example data to help you communicate field formats to your campus data managers who can help you generate your file for import.

Follow these guidelines to format each column in your file to get the best import results. The following table defines each data point requested in the .csv template file (unless otherwise noted all fields are alphanumeric with no character number limitations):

Field

Definition

Formatting Requirements

Required or
Optional

Publicly Visible

First Name

Up to 40 characters

Required

Yes

Last Name

Up to 40 characters

Required

Yes

Email

Member's institutional email

Must validate as email ([email protected])

Note: email must be the same as the one used to log in via SSO

Required

No

Phone Number

Member's institutional phone number

Must validate as a phone number (xxx-xxx-xxxx)

Optional

No

Zip Code

Member's home or institutional zip code

5-digit numeric string

Optional

No

Admin Tags

DISREGARD: Required for NobleHour only

---

NOT REQUIRED

---

External ID

Note: External to Collaboratory, Internal to institution

Member's ID that uniquely represents them in the institution's records (e.g., email address). If the member instructs a course, the member External ID must match the "Instructor Internal ID" within the course import file to connect the member to the course.

Alphanumeric string

Required

No

Wants Newsletter

DISREGARD: Required for other product

---

NOT REQUIRED

---

Wants Email

DISREGARD: Required for other product

---

NOT REQUIRED

---

Position Title

Note: Position Title, Type, and Appointment Unit fields correspond to each other. If data is included for one, data must be included for all three.

Member's title within the institution

Members with multiple positions can specify multiple titles with a semicolon delimiter between each

Free form

Optional, but strongly encouraged

Yes

Position Type

Note: Position Title, Type, and Appointment Unit fields correspond to each other. If data is included for one, data must be included for all three.

Integer index that identifies the type of position

Members with multiple positions must specify multiple types with a semicolon delimiter between each

One of the following:

8: Asst. Prof

9 = Assoc. Prof

10 = Professor

11 = Other instructional role

12 = Clinician

14 = Adjunct

17 = Ex Leadership

18 = Center Lead

19 = Admin Support

Optional, but strongly encouraged

No

Appointment Unit

Note: Position Title, Type, and Appointment Unit fields correspond to each other. If data is included for one, data must be included for all three.

If specified, must match the External ID of a previously imported or created unit

Alphanumeric string

Optional, but strongly encouraged

Including Unit allows a member's profile to be displayed on their unit(s)' public page.

Yes

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