Upload in the correct order
Business Areas, Roles and People are linked within Serendata. Upload them in dependency order so that records referenced by later uploads already exist in the system.
Use the following sequence: Business Areas > Roles > People.
Completing the uploads in this order reduces validation errors and makes it easier to map related records correctly.
Upload Business Areas
Upload Business Areas first. For a basic Business Area upload, the Business Area name is the only required value. Map the Business Area column from your spreadsheet to the corresponding field in the uploader, review the validation results and submit the records before moving on to Roles.
Upload Roles
Before uploading Roles, make sure any Business Areas referenced by those Roles already exist in Serendata. Then map the spreadsheet columns to the appropriate uploader fields.
Figure 1. Match Role columns
1 | Name. | Map the Role name from your spreadsheet to Job Role. |
2 | Business Area. | Map the Business Area column where the Role is linked to a Business Area. |
If a Role references a Business Area that is missing, or the Business Area value is blank where one is required, the validation screen will flag the record before submission.
Figure 2. Role validation errors
1 | Errors. | Review records that cannot be matched to a valid Business Area and correct the spreadsheet or create the missing Business Area before retrying the upload. |
Prepare People owners
Before uploading People, make sure any Business Areas and Roles you intend to link already exist. If you want to assign an Owner to a People record, that Owner must also be a Serendata user within the organisation.
To add an Owner as a user, open Settings, go to Organisation > Users and invite the user before completing the People upload.
Figure 3. Organisation users
1 | Users. | Open Users from the organisation Settings area. |
2 | Invite Users. | Add the person who needs to be available for selection as an Owner. |
Upload People
Once the supporting Business Areas, Roles and Owners are available, open the People uploader and match the spreadsheet columns to the corresponding Serendata fields.
Figure 4. Match People columns
1 | Match Columns. | Map the relevant fields from your spreadsheet, including First Name, Last Name, Email and any Business Area, Role or Owner information you want to attach. |
After the columns are mapped, continue to the validation screen. Review the results before submitting the upload.
Figure 5. Valid upload
1 | All data is valid. | A valid status confirms that the uploaded rows have passed validation. |
2 | Total errors. | Check that the error count is zero before submitting the records. |
When validation completes without issues, submit the upload to create the People records in Serendata.
Resolve validation issues
The validation screen highlights issues before data is submitted. Errors are shown in red and should be corrected before upload. Warnings are shown in orange and should be reviewed, as they may indicate duplicated or existing data.
Missing or invalid values
A record may fail validation when a required value is missing or a field is not in the expected format. For example, an invalid email address or a missing Owner can be flagged as an error.
Figure 6. Missing or invalid values
1 | Errors. | Use the error message to identify the field that needs to be corrected, then update the source data and validate again. |
Invalid characters
If a field contains unsupported characters, the validation message will identify the affected record. Clean the source spreadsheet before trying the upload again. For larger datasets, Find and Replace in Excel or your spreadsheet application can be a quick way to remove repeated invalid characters.
Figure 7. Invalid characters
1 | Invalid character error. | Correct the affected value in the source spreadsheet, then re-upload or revalidate the data. |
Duplicate data
Warnings can identify data that appears to duplicate an existing record, such as an email address already associated with a person in Serendata. Review the warning before deciding whether the source record should be changed or excluded.
Figure 8. Duplicate data warning
1 | Duplicate warning. | Review the warning and highlighted value to confirm whether the record already exists. |
Next steps
After the uploads are complete, review the records in Core Data and confirm that the relationships between Business Areas, Roles and People are correct. These records can then be used throughout Serendata when mapping stakeholders, audiences, processes and other project data. For more information, continue with 'Set up your Core Data' and 'Map your Stakeholders and Audiences'.