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Peakon
Last Updated: 2024-03-08
Manage Employee Records Using Data Import

Manage Employee Records Using Data Import

Security:
View employees
 and
Update employees
.
Importing employees using Microsoft Excel worksheets and CSV files is a time-saving option, particularly when first setting up your account.
  1. Download employee records from your Human Resources System.
  2. Make sure that each employee has at least 1 unique identifier (email address or employee number). The employee number can be alpha-numeric. We recommend using both unique identifiers to avoid human error when updating existing employee records.
  3. Make sure that each employee is reporting to a manager on the data file. You can set the manager by their email address (recommended), first & last name, and employee number. If an employee doesn’t report to anyone, leave their
    Manager
     value blank.
  4. If your company uses multiple email domains, contact the Customer Care team to add the domains to the account before the upload.
  5. Download the Peakon template in
    Administration
    Employees
    Import
    .
  6. As you prepare the file, consider these formatting requirements:
    Formatting Element
    Considerations
    Column headers
    Column headers in your worksheet must be an exact match to the attribute names or aliases, and they’re case and space sensitive.
    First and last name
    Required columns.
    First name
     and
    Last name
     must be in separate columns in the worksheet.
    Email
    The email address column in your worksheet must be
    Email
    .
    Manager
    The employee's manager column needs to be named
    Manager
    unless you changed the attribute name on Peakon.
    Phone number
    If using the phone number field, ensure that the column on your sheet is a text type cell. Any other type might cause the upload to fail. Number type cells won’t work because of the way Microsoft Excel treats + symbols, which are the prefix for many phone numbers.
    Special characters
    Avoid special characters in email addresses, however, regular characters found in an email address are fine.
    Dates
    Date attribute columns on your worksheet must contain date type cells. Often Microsoft Excel doesn't store dates correctly even if using date format, and therefore Peakon can’t recognize them as date. If you run into this problem, convert the dates stored as text to dates.
    Although Peakon accepts standard date formats, we recommend YYYY-MM-DD as it's the all-encompassing option, therefore decreasing the amount of potential issues.
    If you're using a CSV file, you must use the YYYY-MM-DD format.
    Multiple sheets
    The worksheet must only contain 1 sheet.
    Password
    Password-protected Microsoft Excel sheets won’t work.
    Blank cells
    If you have a column with blank cells, the upload removes existing values for the employees that have blank cells for that attribute. You can use this method to remove data in bulk for specific attributes.
    If you don't need to update a specific attribute, simply remove that column from the file. Peakon only updates data for the attributes present on the file.
    Time zones
    Use the
    Time zone
     column, if you have employees across multiple time zones who should receive the survey in their own time zone. Peakon uses tz database standards. Example: America/New_York.
    Language
    Use the
    Language
     column to set the language for each employee, if you use multiple languages in the schedule.
  7. As you import the file, consider the additional file import options:
    Import option
    Description
    Skip creation of employees
    This option is useful if you don’t intend to add any new employees, and only update existing employees. This option also helps to avoid any duplication of employee records. Example: if an employee changes one of their unique identifiers, and the file contains a mistake, Peakon won’t create a duplicate. Instead, Peakon will warn you of the error after the import.
    Enable overwrite of employee number or email
    Peakon ignores updates that remove or change existing unique identifiers, unless you tick this option. Changes to these fields are rare, and often indicate a mix-up of employee numbers or emails.
    There are a few cases where you should use this option, to bypass the safety blockers:
    • You need to update an incorrect employee number of an employee.
    • You need to remove the email address or employee number of an employee.
    • The email of an employee has changed, either because of the email domain or last name changing.
    Use with care. In instances where you need to update a unique identifier, ensure that the employee has the other unique identifier present on their employee record. Keeping one unique identifier consistent in the data file avoids duplicate creation.
    Set valid from
    Any data you upload becomes effective on Peakon dashboards from the next survey round onward. The data you upload doesn’t override historical dashboard data.
    Use this option if you need to backdate information on existing employee records. Backdating will place existing employee survey results into different segments retroactively, changing past dashboards.
    When you use this option, you need to select the validity date for the employee data you’re importing. If it needs to be valid for a certain survey round, select the date before that round started.
    The upload will backdate all columns that are on present on the sheet. Remove any columns that shouldn’t backdate. The only required columns are
    First name
    ,
    Last name
    ,
    Email/Employee ID
    , and the attributes you need to backdate.
    It isn’t possible to backdate date attributes, as the date values are already the validity date.
  8. Download the troubleshooting log and address any warnings or errors before clicking
    Okay I'm done
    . After this step it isn’t possible to download the error log for security reasons.
You'll see the changes you imported from the next survey round. Historical data will remain the same as before, unless you backdate the import.