The Participant Batch Upload feature allows Users to do an insert or an update of Participants, their demographic information, and Program enrollment. This is very useful when having to insert/update information for multiple Participants.
Batch Upload Tips
Check Securities. Is this an action you can take in ETO? Do you have proper securities to allow you to record/edit/update TouchPoint or Participants?
Start Fresh. Download a fresh template for Batch Uploads. Copy and Paste data without formatting,
Double Check Data. Complete all required fields, duplicate check information, make sure dates are accurate, double check all the data.
Test. Upload 1-2 rows of test data to ensure a proper upload.
Upload. We do not recommend uploading over 600 rows at once. Larger files may take longer to process.
Inserting New Participants: Inserting new Participants is a very simple process. All required demographic fields must be completed. The required demographics are designated in the Manage Demographics page. The Batch Upload will recognize it is an insert as long as your Duplicate Check Settings do not match the Participants being uploaded with any Participants currently in the system. Duplicate Check settings default to First Name, Last Name, and SSN when they are turned off. If you need to insert new Participants, please make sure their data is unique or that your duplicate check is set in a way that won't pick up any matches.
Updating Participants in the System: To update a Participant already in ETO, the Batch Upload will rely on your duplicate check settings to recognize the Participant. We recommend setting duplicate check settings to exact match on Case Number, First Name, and Last Name.
Demographic Inserts: If you are adding one or more demographics for a Participant already in the system you do not need to include Program information. In fact, you can delete all columns associated with Program enrollment (Program Name, Start Date, End Date, Dismissal Reason) in your excel file. If you do include Program columns, select "Do not upload Program enrollment information:" when prompted. You will need required demographics and duplicate check settings, when prompted you should select "Use my file to update demographics where they are blank..." . *
Demographic Updates: If you are updating one or more demographics for a Participant already in the system you do not need to include Program information (Same as above). You will need to select "Use my file to update all demographics in ETO Software." You can include all the demographics in the file OR you can delete any column/demographic that you would like the Batch Upload to ignore from your file. You can temporarily un-require required questions if you do not want to include them in your file.
Program Insert: Also very easy. You can Insert Program information including with Program Name. Start Date, End Date, and and any require Dismissal Reasons. Please delete all non-required and non-duplicate check setting demographics from the upload. You can (1) end an open enrollments by adding the Program Name. matching Start Date, and new End Date. You can (2) open new enrollments by adding Program Name and Program Start Date. You can (3) expand a current enrollment by making the Program Start Date earlier than the current date. You cannot upload historic enrollments that predate/conflict with enrollments in the system.
Program Updates: You can expand Program enrollments with Batch Upload. You can make a Program Start Date move backwards, but not forwards. (This is to ensure all possible data is included in the enrollment dates). It is important to note, if you are overriding Program Information, this option will look at all the enrollments for which there is at least one day of overlap with the range provided in the upload file. It will delete all of these records and replace them with a single enrollment.
Step by Step:
Step 1 – Expand Navigation Bar (if applicable), and click "Site Administration"
Step 2 – Click "Batch Upload"
Step 3 – Under Generate Template, click "Select Template Type..."
Step 4 – Click "Participant" from the drop-down menu
Step 5 – Click "Generate Template"
Step 6 – Check the Box for the Program to be Uploaded to
Step 7 – Click "Generate Template"
Step 8 – Click Open when prompted
Step 9 – Insert information into excel spreadsheet using the columns provided
Step 10 – Save spreadsheet
Step 11 – In ETO, return to the Batch Upload page
Step 12 – Under "Upload File", select "Participant"
Step 13 – Click "Select file", find the file, and click Open
Step 14 – Click Begin Upload
Step 15 – Check to make sure field names match with field names in drop-down menu.
Step 16 – Click "Continue"
Step 17 – Select to Upload Program Enrollment Information or not
Do not upload Program enrollment information: Ignores any Program enrollment information that conflicts or overlaps with what is already in ETO.
Overwrite existing ETO records: This option will look at all the enrollments for which there is at least one day of overlap with the range provided in the upload file. It will delete all of these records and replace them with a single enrollment.
Step 18 – Select how to update demographic information if the field is currently blank in ETO
Do not upload Program enrollment information: Ignores any Program enrollment information that conflicts or overlaps with what is already in ETO.
Overwrite existing ETO records: This option will look at all the enrollments for which there is at least one day of overlap with the range provided in the upload file. It will delete all of these records and replace them with a single enrollment.
Step 19 – Click "Continue"
Step 20 – Click "Finish" on the confirmation page
Tips
Apostrophes
Apostrophes cannot be uploaded via Legacy Batch Uploads. If any apostrophes are contained in the file, use find/replace to substitute apostrophes with blank spaces. New Batch Upload types should not be affected by apostrophes, unless a specific field does not allow for them (ex: email address).
Characters in names
Characters (apostrophes, ampersands, etc.) used in names of Programs and Sites is not recommended. This is done to prevent characters that are considered "reserved" so they can render properly in a browser.
Line Breaks
Line breaks are not permitted inside the cells. If any of the data was typed by someone who used the Enter key to create a line break, the file will not be accepted and an error will generate: Error in Template, Upload right Template. This can be resolved by editing the file and removing the line break from the data.
Cells in the spreadsheet
We suggest you limit your files to approximately 7,000 cells of data per legacy upload. For example, a file may contain 35 columns (demographic elements, attributes, assessment elements, etc.) and 200 rows (Participants, Entities, etc.) or any combination that results in 7,000 or fewer cells. If the upload is performed during off-peak hours (early in the morning or late in the evening), it is possible that this capacity can be doubled. It is recommended that spreadsheets that contain more 7,000 cells be divided for performance.
Wait Time
To determine approximate wait time for uploaded records to be available in the software, make note of the number of files ahead of your file on the Batch Upload page. The more files ahead of yours, the longer the wait time. An email will generate after the upload has been completed with information about the success of the upload. For details, check back with the Batch Upload page after receiving the email.
File Name Requirements
Do not use periods or apostrophes in the name of your file for legacy Batch Uploads. For example: "Program.Upload.July.csv" will not work, spaces ( ) underscores (_) or dashes (-) are acceptable.
File names for legacy Batch Uploads must be 27 characters or less. This does not affect new Batch Uploads.
If uploading a .csv file the worksheet name in your Excel file must match the name of the file (Legacy only).
Troubleshooting
Cell Count
The cell count for legacy Batch Uploads should not exceed 7,000 cells. Batch Uploads are processed through a queue system. Wait and load times are dependent on how may uploads are ahead of a file in the queue. We recommend cell limits to provide all of our customers with a better User experience. The larger the file, the longer it takes to process. This is why we suggest uploading larger files during off-peak hours. There is more time to process overnight.
Multiply the number of rows by the number of columns to find your cell count.
Check the File
Check the file to ensure that there is nothing that stands out in the file as incorrect. Some of the most commonly overlooked issues include:
Strange characters
Too many number in a zip code and/or phone number field
Spaces before any text, names, or column headers
Any empty columns
Misaligned cells (must be left-aligned)
Compare
Compare the template or sample file (upload files) fields/columns to the field/columns in your upload file.
Date Fields
Make sure all date values are valid dates.
For example, dates like 19/3/1980 or 1/1/1696 would not be valid dates from the date picker in ETO even it they are technically valid dates.
Duplicate Check
Check that the duplicate check setting fields match what are in the file. It is preferred that the duplicate check settings be set to match on the first name, last name, or DOB for the purposes of the upload. It should be set to match all three.
Numeric Fields
There should be no text, spaces, or any other characters other than valid numbers in these fields.
For example, you should not input the dollar symbol ($) into a money field. In this case, change the format to "number" in excel to remove the $.
Open Tickets
Look at what the error says by clicking on the file name or reading the error on the upload log file's error/status. Check for any open tickets relating to the issue.
Phone Numbers
Make sure the phone numbers are valid.
For example, mistakes like 55-555-5555 (which is missing a digit) or (555)-555-5555 (which uses both a parenthesis and a dash after the first three digits).
Quotation Marks
Check for hidden quotation marks if the upload tells you to contact support after the Continue button is clicked. To do so, take the following steps:
Open the file
Hit Ctrl + F on your keyboard
Type in a quotation mark (")
Hit Find All
Delete all instances of quotation marks
Save the file
Try uploading again
Required Fields
Check that the fields that are required are included in the upload file.
SSN (Social Security Number)
If zeros are the first digits in an SSN, you can format cells in Excel using "special" > "SSN". This way, the leading zeroes are uploaded into the SSN field.
For example, 002-123-4567
Test File
Sometimes there are things outside the cells you are using that throw off the upload (like it reads data in cells even if there isn't any). Try copying just the cells with data in them and the column headers (exclude the blank rows or columns below or to the right of the actual cells with data) and paste them into a new file. Attempt to upload this file.
If that doesn't work, try copying just the first two lines of the file (column heads and first row of data) into a new test file and upload that to see if it works. If it does work, this means that one of the subsequent rows has something wrong with the data. If the first row goes through, you can try uploading the next 10 or 20 rows and see if they go through. If those go through, increase to 50-100. Keep going until you hit a set that doesn't work. Then you can pare that set down to smaller chunks until you nail down which record is the problem.
Text Fields
There should be no lines breaks. You should never use Enter/Return in these fields.