Data Imports - Vacancy, Organisation and Placement

Can we import data as a one-off from another system?

Yes. This section details how you can provide us with Organisation and Vacancy/Opportunity data in a spreadsheet for us to import. To do this the data must be in the correct format in an MS Excel spreadsheet. Particular attention should be placed on the reference data fields as these will automatically create List data.

How should we format the import data?

Currently the import process only supports MS Excel (XLS and XLSX) spreadsheets, and CSV files.
The Excel spreadsheet must only contain one sheet.
Field headings must match exactly the field names described in the sections below, including letter case, although the columns can occur in any order.
Certain fields are required data. If a row does not contain a value for a required field then the row will not be imported.
Certain fields relate to List data (Maintenance > Lists) and will use an existing List Item if present or generate a new List Item automatically if not present. The matching of the field data to existing List data is exact and case sensitive. For example, if there is existing region List data for “UK – South” but there is a data value in the spreadsheet for “UK – south”, the region list will end up with “UK – South” and “UK – south” as separate data items. It is important to make sure the List data is correct.
Certain fields may be multi-valued. The values in these fields must be separated by the “|” (pipe) character.
For any phone number fields (e.g. "telephone" in organisation data), if the file is an Excel spreadsheet, please ensure that the relevant cells are text formatted. This is to ensure that phone numbers are not formatted as numbers when importing them; if they are formatted as numbers, then leading 0s and plus symbols will be removed as a result.
If a field is not listed on this page, then it will not be imported. Please do not add such fields.

How do we import organisation data?

The organisation import supports both organisation and organisation contact data.
To import multiple contacts for the same organisation add multiple rows (one for each contact) with the same organisation originalID.
- Note: Each contact must have their own email address, as a contact in this case is a user on the system.
Note: if an organisation does not have an originalID, the import process will use the organisationName as the originalID.

Field Name	Required	Reference Data	Multi-valued (\| separated)	Description
originalID	Yes (though if not present, the value from organisationName will be used)	No	No	A unique identifier for the row – we can use this to identify the data in the source system and provide the ability to update after initial import
organisationName	Yes	No	No	The name of the organisation
organisationDescription	Yes	No	No	A brief description of the company
region	Yes	Yes	No	Region
country	Yes	Yes	No	Country
addressLine1	Yes	No	No	The first line of the organisation’s address (usually the organisation’s street address)
addressLine2	No	No	No	The the second line of the organisation’s address if needed, otherwise leave blank
city	No	No	No	The town/city where the organisation currently resides in.
county	No	No	No	The state/county where the organisation currently resides in.
postcode	Yes	No	No	The zip/post code where the organisation currently resides in.
websiteAddress	No	No	No	The organisation’s URL
employeeCount	Yes	Yes	No	Company Size [this should be a range rather than exact count]
businessAreas	Yes	Yes	Yes	Primary Business Areas
organisationTags	No	Yes	Yes	Organisation Tags
telephone	No	No	No	The contact’s number
emailAddress	Yes	No	No	The contact’s email address Note: All email addresses for organisations must be unique from one another.
Forename	Yes	No	No	The contact's forename.
jobDepartment	No	No	No	The department where the contact works in
Position	No	No	No	The contact’s job title
Surname	Yes	No	No	The contact's surname.
mobileNumber	No	No	No	The contact’s mobile number
typesOfContact	Yes	Yes	Yes	Types Of Contact

How do we import vacancy data?

The vacancy data can be associated with a parent organisation via the employerId field or the employerName field.
The employerID field can either be the organisation's originalId (the one used for importing the organisation, not to be confused with the opportunity’s originalID), or the existing ID on the system.
The importer will check the originalID first.
* For the additionalApplicationDetails, applicationEmail and applicationURL fields, these are required or optional depending on the Application details requirements setting of the relevant opportunity posting type. Please check your opportunity posting type settings to determine which of these fields are required or optional.
Note: Please do not add vacancies that have expired in the past, as these are unnecessary, and will just be set to Expired anyway if initially Published (determined by the vacancy posting type), or will just stay in TARGETconnect if set to Pending (but if/when published, these will be automatically set to Expired by the next day).

Field Name	Required	Reference Data	Multi-valued (\| separated)	Description
originalID	Yes	No	No	A unique identifier for the row – we can use this to identify the data in the source system and provide the ability to update after initial import
employerID	No	No	No	The external identifier for the associated Organisation
employerName	Yes	No	No	The name of the organisation
advertisingOnBehalfOf	No	No	No	If the organisation is advertising on another organisation’s behalf, then this is that organisation’s name
title	Yes	No	No	The vacancy title
summary	Yes	No	No	The vacancy summary (concatenated with otherDetails)
advertisingDate	Yes	No	No	The date when this vacancy is published – this can be in the past
closingDate	No	No	No	The date when this vacancy is closed. If this field is left blank, or if the "Combine Closing and Expiry Dates?" setting of the vacancy posting type is set to "Yes" (where the vacancy posting type is set by the postingType field), then the expiryDate field is used instead.
expiryDate	Yes	No	No	The date when this vacancy is expired
additionalApplicationDetails	No*	No	No	Application details (i.e. "How to apply")
applicationEmail	No*	No	No	Application email
applicationURL	No*	No	No	Application URL
otherDetails	No	No	No	Any other vacancy information (concatenated to summary)
salaryRange	No	Yes	No	Salary Range
salaryDetails	No	No	No	Salary description field – this is not the Salary Range [List but a free text field]
locations	No	Yes	Yes	Location
country	Yes	Yes	Yes	Country
businessAreas	Yes	Yes	Yes	Primary Business Area
typeOfOpportunity	Yes	Yes	Yes	Type of Opportunity
contactEmail	Yes	No	No	The contact’s email address
contactFirstName	Yes	No	No	The contact’s forename
contactLastName	Yes	No	No	The contact’s surname
contactPhone	Yes	No	No	The contact’s phone number
postingType	Yes	Yes	No	The opportunity posting type. This in particular is very important, as this can decide whether an opportunity is approved automatically or not. This is an ID and can usually be found under Maintenance > Manage Opportunity/Vacancy posting types
scheme	No	Yes	No	The scheme this opportunity is based on (only use if this opportunity is a placement). This is an ID and can usually be found when viewing a scheme’s details under Scheme list

How do we import self-sourced placement data?

If you require a self-sourced placement record upload, please contact your Account Manager as there is a cost associated with the work.
The self-sourced placement import supports both placement and placement contact data.
It is possible to detail an alternate address if the students placement is at a separate address to the organisation.
To download the Self-Sourced Placement sample spreadsheet please click here.

Field Name	Required	Reference Data	Multi-valued (\| separated)	Description
Student reg	Yes	No	No	Unique student id number which the self-source placement will be associated to
Scheme	Yes	Yes	Yes	The scheme this opportunity is based on. This is an ID and can usually be found when viewing a scheme’s details under Scheme list
Employer name	Yes	No	Yes	The name of the organisation
Linked organsiation	No	No	Yes	Name of linked organisation
Org. premises	Yes	No	Yes	Building number or name of the organisation
Org. street address	Yes	No	Yes	The organisation’s street address
Org. district	No	No	Yes	The area where the organisation is located
Org. town	Yes	No	Yes	Town or city where the organisation is located
Org. county	No	No	Yes	County where the organisation is located
Org. postcode	No	No	Yes	Postcode of the organisation
Org. country	No	Yes	Yes	Country the organisation will take place in
Is your placement at the above address	Yes	No	No	If yes, skip placement address. If no, please detail the placement address below
Plc. Premises	Yes*	Yes	Yes	Building number or name of the placement
Plc. street address	Yes*	No	Yes	The placement’s street address
Plc. district	No*	No	Yes	The area where the placement is located
Plc. town	Yes*	No	Yes	Town or city where the placement is located
Plc. county	No*	No	Yes	County where the placement is located
Plc. postcode	No*	No	Yes	Postcode of the placement
Plc. country	No*	Yes	Yes	Country the placement will take place in
Web link url	No	No	No	The url for the organisation's website
Primary business area	No	Yes	Yes	The sector the organisation is primarily situated in
Line manager first name	Yes	No	No	The contact’s forename
Line manager last name	Yes	No	No	The line manager’s surname
Job title	Yes	No	Yes	The line manager's job title
Line manager contact no.	Yes	No	Yes	The line manager's phone number
Line manager email	Yes	No	No	The line manager’s email address
Job title	Yes	No	Yes	The job title of the student's self-sourced placement
Start date	No	No	No	The start date of the student's placement dd/mm/yyyy
End date	No	No	No	The end date of the student's placement dd/mm/yyyy

* - These details are only necessary if the placement is located at a separate address to the organisation address.