Importing Users From a File

Use the Import from File option to import new users and update existing user accounts from a spreadsheet file. Spreadsheets should contain basic information for each user, such as login ID, name, and e-mail address. You then specify a template user that provides role assignments, group membership, privileges, preferences, and more for imported users.

Spreadsheets can come from external tools, such as an Active Directory store or other Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) providers, or you can manually create a spreadsheet. For details, refer to Preparing a Spreadsheet for Importing Users.

Key Benefits

User Import Considerations

Consider the following before you import users:

Import Privileges

Managed administrators must be granted the privileges in the following table before they can import or update user accounts. In addition, administrators can never update their own user records through the import process.

Privilege Location Description
Add Users Administration - System page Grant to enable the Import Users feature.
Edit Users Administration - System page Grant to enable administrators to update user accounts. These users must be members of groups that the administrator has privileges to manage. In addition, template users must be members of a group a managed administrator can manage.
Submit Users - Table page Grant this privilege for the Contacts table to enable administrators to add new Contacts records when they import user records.
Update Users - Table page Grant this privilege for the Contacts table to enable administrators to add new Contacts records when they import user records.

Preparing a Spreadsheet for Importing Users

Spreadsheets used to import users must adhere to the following requirements:
  • Only files of type .xls can be imported. If you have an .xlsx file or any other type of spreadsheet file, you must convert it to .xls.
  • Only data from the first worksheet in a file is imported.
  • Columns represent user, resource, and Contacts record attributes, such as login ID or e-mail address. There is no limit to the number of columns you can have in the spreadsheet, but only certain SBM user, resource, or Contacts data can be mapped to these columns. For details, refer to the following section.
  • The spreadsheet must contain columns with Login ID and e-mail address information. These columns must be mapped before you can import the spreadsheet. Rows that do not contain data for these attributes are skipped. In addition, only one e-mail address is allowed for each row.
  • Each row represents a single user, except the first row, which is used to define columns available for mapping. Data from this row is not imported as a user or Contacts record.
  • Each spreadsheet is limited to 10,000 rows. To import more than 10,000 users, create multiple spreadsheets and import them separately.

Here is an example of a simple spreadsheet used to import users:

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In this example, row 1 defines the columns to be mapped. This information is not imported. Row 2 is used as sample data, but the user is imported.

Mapping Attributes to SBM Fields

The following table explains how data in the User Attributes columns is mapped to SBM user, resource, and Contacts records.

Note: The Contacts table contains the following required system fields: First Name, Middle Name, User Name, E-mail, and Company (on-premise only, based on the system Companies table). Other fields, such as Phone Number, are optional and may not be available in the Contacts table. You can add these as needed in SBM Composer.
User Attribute User Mapping Contact Mapping
E-mail Required. Added to the E-mail field. Added to the E-mail Address field, if available.
Is password persistent Optional. Flags a mapped password as fixed (i.e. non-temporary).

In your spreadsheet, use one of the following flags: TRUE/FALSE, or yes/no, or 1/0. For example, for each row with a TRUE value, a fixed password is set for each user; for each row with a FALSE value, a temporary password is set for each user. If this attribute is blank or absent, the password expires after the user's initial login.

N/A
Login ID Required. For on-demand customers, the login ID must be an e-mail address. N/A
Memo Optional. Mapped to the Memo field. N/A
Mobile Number Added to the Mobile Phone field. Added to the Mobile Number field, if available.
Name Added to the Name field for the user record. Added to the User Name field. Also parsed to First Name, Middle Name, and Last Name fields. For example, if the Name row in the spreadsheet is John Q. Smith, the name is parsed across the three fields in the Contacts record.
Password Optional. Mapped to the Password field. If this attribute is mapped, the Generate temporary passwords for imported users option is disabled. N/A
Preferred Contact Optional. Mapped to the Preferred Contact Method field. N/A
Telephone Added to the Telephone field. Added to the Phone Number field, if available.
Title Added to the Title field. N/A
Resource Attribute User Mapping Resource Mapping
Business Unit N/A Added to the Business Unit field.
Department N/A Added to the Department field.
Description N/A Added to the Description field.
Employee ID N/A Added to the Employee ID field.
End Date N/A Added to the End Date field.
Job Function N/A Added to the Job Function field.
Location N/A Added to the Location field.
Manager N/A Added to the Manager field.
Skills N/A Multiple columns with the same name can be mapped to the Resource: Skills attribute.
Start Date N/A Added to the Start Date field.
Teams N/A Multiple columns with the same name can be mapped to the Resource: Teams attribute.
Title Group N/A Added to the Title Group field.
Type N/A Added to the Type field.
Contact Attribute User Mapping Contact Mapping
Company N/A Added to the Company if the value in the spreadsheet is an active value in the Companies table (on-premise only).
Address 1 N/A Added to the Address 1 field, if available.
Address 2 N/A Added to the Address 2 field, if available.
City N/A Added to the City field, if available.
State N/A Added to the State field, if available.
Country N/A Added to the Country field, if available.
Zip Code N/A Added to the Zip Code field, if available.
Fax Number N/A Added to the Fax Number field, if available.
Note: These contact attributes do not exist by default on the Contacts table for on-demand customers; however, you can add these fields to the on-demand Contacts table using SBM Composer.