This page covers the values you can add to your CSV files for HR import. For guidance on configuring the CSV upload settings on your Totara site please see the Sources page.
CSV source file format
Comma-separated values (CSV) files store tabular data in plain text. Each line of the file is a data record. Each record consists of one or more fields, separated by commas (or other characters).
Its possible to save files as CSV using all major spreadsheet applications, and text editors. Care may have to be taken when using double quote characters, refer to your application manual if there is any doubt.
If you are updating existing information and leaving any fields blank then you may want to check that Empty string behaviour in CSV is not set to Empty strings erase existing data.
Competencies
Heading | Format | Notes |
|---|---|---|
idnumber | 1-100 characters | Unique for each hierarchy item. |
timemodified | Unix timestamp | Last time item detail changed. |
frameworkidnumber | 1-100 characters | idnumber matching an existing hierarchy framework. |
shortname | 0-100 characters | This field can be empty. |
fullname | 1-1000 characters | The competency name. |
parentidnumber | 0-100 characters | Matches the identifier field of another hierarchy item. Empty for top level. |
description | Up to 1000 characters | This field can be empty. |
typeidnumber | 0-100 characters | Matches the identifier of an existing item type. |
| deleted | 0 or 1 | Required when only competencies to create, update or deleted are provided, otherwise not necessary. 0 => do nothing, 1=> delete. No action assumed if empty. |
customfield_[shortname] | Up to 1000 characters | Custom field data. Multiple columns allowed, where the column heading matches the type's custom field shortname. If no match, nothing will be updated. If the custom field type is date format then the data in the field needs to match the format defined under Location > Location settings > CSV import date format. |
| aggregrationmethod | 1, 2 or 3 | Note: Competency source only
|
| assignavailability | 0, 1, 2 or 3 none, self, other, any | Select from the following:
|
Job assignment
See HR Import Sources to see how to add multiple job assignment fields in the HR import file.
For multiple job assignments, just put two (or more) lines in your CSV per user. The user fields need to be identical in both lines. The job assignment fields contain one job assignment per line. For example:
useridnumber,jobassignmentnumber,positionidnumber,manageridnumber
n123,jobid1,pos1,manager1
n123,jobid2,,manager2
Heading | Format | Notes |
|---|---|---|
fullname | Up to 100 characters, space, ampersand, parentheses, forwardslash | Job assignment title. |
| useridnumber | 1-100 characters | The user's id number. |
timemodified | Unix timestamp | Last time item detail changed. |
deleted | 0 or 1 | Required when only job assignments to create, update or deleted are provided, otherwise not necessary. 0 => do nothing, 1=> delete. No action assumed if empty. |
idnumber | 1-100 characters | Matches valid job assignment number. Null assumed if not provided. To assign a user a manager, the user must have a job assignment. For example if you want to assign a managerid of 1 to useridnumber of 5, the manager needs to have a job assignment number in the file. |
startdate | CSV import date format or Unix timestamp | Data in the field needs to match the format defined under Location > Location settings > CSV import date format. |
enddate | CSV import date format or Unix timestamp | Data in the field needs to match the format defined under Location > Location settings > CSV import date format. |
orgidnumber | 1-100 characters | Matches valid organisation idnumber. Null assumed if not provided. |
| posidnumber (optional) | 1-100 characters | Matches valid position idnumber. Null assumed if not provided. |
appraiseridnumber | 1-100 characters | Null or matches valid user idnumber. Null assumed if not provided. |
manageridnumber | 1-100 characters | Null or matches valid user idnumber. Null assumed if not provided. |
managerjaidnumber (optional unless manageridnumber is enabled) | 1-100 characters | Automatically required if manageridnumber is set to on and updateidnumbers is off (i.e. we're using more than just the first jobs). ID number for the specific job assignment involved in the manager relationship. |
| tempmanageridnumber (optional) | 1-100 characters | Null or matches valid user idnumber. Null assumed if not provided. |
| tempmanagerexpirydate (optional unless tempmanageridnumber is enabled) | CSV import date format or Unix timestamp | Data in the field needs to match the format defined under Location > Location settings > CSV import date format. |
| tempmanagerjaidnumber (optional unless tempmanageridnumber is enabled) | 1-100 characters | Automatically required if tempmanageridnumber is set to on and updateidnumbers is off (i.e. we're using more than just the first jobs). ID number for the specific job assignment involved in the manager relationship. |
Organisations
Heading | Format | Notes |
|---|---|---|
idnumber | 1-100 characters | Unique for each hierarchy item. |
timemodified | Unix timestamp | Last time item detail changed. |
frameworkidnumber | 1-100 characters | idnumber matching an existing hierarchy framework. |
shortname | 0-100 characters | This field can be empty. |
fullname | 1-1000 characters | The organisation name. |
parentidnumber | 0-100 characters | Matches the identifier field of another hierarchy item. Empty for top level. |
description | Up to 1000 characters | This field can be empty. |
typeidnumber | 0-100 characters | Matches the identifier of an existing item type. |
| deleted | 0 or 1 | Required when only organisations to create, update or deleted are provided, otherwise not necessary. 0 => do nothing, 1=> delete. No action assumed if empty. |
customfield_[shortname] | Up to 1000 characters | Custom field data. Multiple columns allowed, where the column heading matches the type's custom field shortname. If no match, nothing will be updated. If the custom field type is date format then the data in the field needs to match the format defined under Location > Location settings > CSV import date format. |
| aggregrationmethod | 1, 2 or 3 | Note: Competency source only
|
Positions
Heading | Format | Notes |
|---|---|---|
idnumber | 1-100 characters | Unique for each hierarchy item. |
timemodified | Unix timestamp | Last time item detail changed. |
frameworkidnumber | 1-100 characters | idnumber matching an existing hierarchy framework. |
shortname | 0-100 characters | This field can be empty. |
fullname | 1-1000 characters | The position name. |
parentidnumber | 0-100 characters | Matches the identifier field of another hierarchy item. Empty for top level. |
description | Up to 1000 characters | This field can be empty. |
typeidnumber | 0-100 characters | Matches the identifier of an existing item type. |
| deleted | 0 or 1 | Required when only positions to create, update or deleted are provided, otherwise not necessary. 0 => do nothing, 1=> delete. No action assumed if empty. |
customfield_[shortname] | Up to 1000 characters | Custom field data. Multiple columns allowed, where the column heading matches the type's custom field shortname. If no match, nothing will be updated. If the custom field type is date format then the data in the field needs to match the format defined under Location > Location settings > CSV import date format. |
| aggregrationmethod | 1, 2 or 3 | Note: Competency source only
|
Users
When the suspended field has a default value then erasing existing data in the field will mean the default value will be stored in the field.
Heading | Format | Notes |
|---|---|---|
idnumber | 1-100 characters | Unique for all users (never changes for a given user) Use the value shown in the Users profile Optional field ID number. Check the *ID number* value exists for existing users If you want to update existing user's profile fields. |
username | 1-100 characters | Unique for all users. |
timemodified | Unix timestamp | Last time the user's details changed. Note if the same value is imported on a subsequent sync then the sync records will not be updated. |
deleted suspended | 0 or 1 0 or 1 | Required when only users to create, update or delete/suspend are provided, otherwise not necessary. 0 => do nothing, 1=> deleted/suspend. No action assumed if empty. However, when an empty suspended field is included in the User source for new records and the Empty strings erase existing data option has been chosen, the added user gets the default value of Active. The erasing of the data doesn't mean there is no value in the field if the field has a default value. |
firstname | 1-100 characters | No leading or trailing space characters. |
lastname | 1-100 characters | No leading or trailing space characters. |
firstnamephonetic (optional) | 1-100 characters | No leading or trailing space characters. |
lastnamephonetic (optional) | 1-100 characters | No leading or trailing space characters. |
middlename (optional) | 1-100 characters | No leading or trailing space characters. |
alternatename (optional) | 1-100 characters | No leading or trailing space characters. |
Valid email address, max 100 chars | Unique for each user. | |
emailstop | 0 or 1 | Disables non-essential system-generated email notifications. Note this does not affect the Welcome email for new or revived users. |
country | 2 character ISO 3116 country code (e.g. NZ => New Zealand) | |
city | 120 characters | |
timezone | 1-100 characters | A location-based timezone identifier e.g. America/New_York, Europe/London, Asia/Singapore etc. See http://us.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php for a list of all location-based timezones. |
lang | 1-30 characters | 2 char ISO 639-1 code or a specific language pack code (e.g. en_us for US English). |
description | 1-1000 characters | |
url | 1-200 characters | |
institution | 1-40 characters | |
department | 1-30 characters | |
phone1 | 1-20 characters | |
phone2 | 1-20 characters | |
address | 1-70 characters | |
| tenantmember (optional) | The ID number of the tenant the user should be a member of. | Note that you can't include the same tenant ID for both the tenantmember and tenantparticipant columns as a user can't be a member and participant in the same tenant. |
| tenantparticipant (optional) | The ID number of the tenant the user should be a participant in. | You can assign each user as a participant to multiple tenants using the tenantparticipant column to add a comma-separated list of tenant idnumbers. Note that you can't include the same tenant ID for both the tenantmember and tenantparticipant columns as a user can't be a member and participant in the same tenant. |
auth | This is the list of default Authentication types in Totara. Make sure the plugin is enabled before using. If using a custom Authentication plugin then use the name of that plugin for this field. | |
| Format: | Authentication type: | |
| manual | Manual accounts | |
| nologin | No login | |
| Email-based self-registration | ||
| cas | CAS server (SSO) | |
| db | External database | |
| fc | FirstClass server | |
| gauth | Google Openid Authentication | |
| imap | IMAP server | |
| ldap | LDAP server | |
| mnet | MNet authentication | |
| nntp | NNTP server | |
| none | No authentication | |
| pam | PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) | |
pop3 | POP3 server | |
| radius | RADIUS server | |
| shibboleth | Shibboleth | |
| webservice | Web services authentication | |
| oauth2 | OAuth 2 | |
| password (optional) | 0-32 characters | If the password column is included and the CSV file has an empty password field then a welcome email is sent allowing the user to create their own password. Note that this only works when adding new users. If you are adding a large number of new users without passwords please note that this will result in a large number of emails being sent. |
customfield_[shortname] | 1-1000 characters | Custom field data. Multiple columns allowed, where the column heading matches an existing user custom field shortname. If no match, nothing will be updated. If the custom field type is date format then the data in the field needs to match the format defined under Location > Location settings > CSV import date format. |
Export
When exporting competencies, positions, organisations or goals the behaviour of custom field types is as per the table below.
Hierarchy exports are available when viewing all competencies, positions, organisations or goals frameworks, or when viewing a specific framework
| Custom field type | Export | Import |
|---|---|---|
| Checkbox | 1 for checked, 0 for not checked | Same as export |
| Date/time | A timestamp | Either a timestamp, or a date in a format given by the csvdateformat config setting. |
| File | The name of the file | File custom fields cannot be imported |
| Location | The address | Same as export |
| Menu | The text of the selected value | Same as export |
| Multi-select | Within quotes, a comma-separated list of the selected values | Same as export |
| Text area | The full value, including HTML tags | Same as export |
| Text input | The value itself | Same as export |
| URL | The URL itself, the display text or checkbox value opening in a new window are not included. | Same as export |
For text values that include anything other than letters or numbers (special characters), the value should be within double quotes. If the value itself contains double quotes, an additional double quote should be added in front of each, e.g.:
There are "quotes" within this value
Would be represented like so in the export or import csv files (if importing via external database, this is not necessary), e.g.:
"There are ""quotes"" within this value"
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