Bulk Editing existing attendees

Bulk Edits allow you to make changes to multiple attendee profiles at once on your Upshot account. Rather than using the two existing options on the system itself of editing profiles (manually on an individual profile or via People > Add missing data) bulk edits give organisations a way of changing large numbers of attendee profiles at once via a XLSX file.

This process can be particularly helpful when an organisation has maybe added a new field and a large number of existing attendees need to have a selection against this, or it can be helpful if organisations have re-labelled fields and some data needs to be moved.

It is important that once this process is started, it is completed in a swift time frame, as when you upload your edited file it will overwrite any manual edits team members might have made manually to attendees in the interim period. It might be helpful to notify other users not to update existing attendee profiles in the system during the period of time you are working on a bulk edit.

Note, this process should only be used to edit existing attendee profiles on the account. It should not be used to add new attendees or to delete existing.

Once the template is downloaded, removing attendees from the download does not delete them from the system, it simply prevents their profile from being updated in the edit.

Overview

In short, the Bulk Edit process involves downloading and editing a XLSX file with the registration data of your existing attendees.

Example 'Attendee Import Template':

The XLSX template file replicates the fields from your Upshot registration form, including whether certain fields are required. Changes must not be made to the template file itself (columns, formatting, spelling etc.) before attempting to re-upload otherwise the system will not recognise this file and will not be able to complete the upload.

If changes need to be made to the registration form this should be done beforehand on Upshot by a System Administrator on your account via Admin > Attendee Data Fields and then a new template downloaded.

Once the information has been edited on the Attendee Import Template this can be then be re-uploaded via the same link as before.

If there are any errors in the upload such as incompatible email addresses/postcodes, required fields missing data or potential duplicates these will be flagged in an Error Log that will be sent to the email address held on the system of the user looking to complete the upload. The errors must be corrected before the edit can be completed.

Because this process involves potentially editing large amounts of your attendee data at once, it is recommended that users save a master copy of their initial download before making any edits. This would allow them to revert to this if needed.

It can also be beneficial to break down your edits into smaller chunks, this can help to minimise errors and speed up the process, ensuring users are re-uploading in a good time frame which addresses comments made at the start of this guide.

It is not unusual for new users to this process to receive an error log on attempting their first edit. Consequently, it is worth checking the data before attempting an upload to minimise the amount of time spent correcting the data.

Note, it is important that users adhere to the guidelines listed here and manage this process carefully, as incorrect data entry requires a significant amount of time and resource to correct and in some cases may incur a charge from Upshot to correct.

Downloading the Attendee Edit template

To download the XLSX template file to edit your attendee information go to the following link:

https://app.upshot.org.uk/accounts/login/?next=/do/attendee/bulkedit/

Note only users with the Project Manager role will be able to complete this action.

Here users will be presented with the option to Download attendees for edit, once the user clicks on Select attendees this will mirror the filters available via the People Report on the system.

It is recommended that these filters are used to narrow down your download to attendees the user actually plans to edit as it will be easier to work with this narrower data set.

This might be around criteria such as attendees ‘created’ in a certain time frame or those that have attended in a certain activity.

As previously mentioned, if it is unavoidable that extra attendees appear in your download these can either be ignored in the edit file (i.e. left as they are) or their row in the download deleted. This does not delete them from the system, but simply removes them from the participants that will be edited.

Once users have made their choices using the filters available they can click Download for Edit.

This is the same page and link which will be used to re-upload the saved file later.

Note: Because this process involves potentially editing large amounts of your attendee data at once, it is recommended that users save a master copy of their initial download before making any edits. This would allow them to revert to this if needed.

Core Rules

  • Only XLSX (comma delimited) files are accepted.
  • Required columns are marked with *.
  • First name or nickname must be given.
  • Dates (e.g. Date of Birth) must be in the DD/MM/YYYY format (e.g. 21/05/2013).
  • Post codes must include space (e.g., W1A 1HQ).
  • You may select any number of choices from the columns marked as “mark any”.
  • You may make only one choice from “mark one” columns. 
  • The edit process should only be used for Existing Attendees. Please do not look to add new attendees to your Upshot account using this tool.

Editing your data on the Upshot template

It is likely that organisations will have a mixture of fields:

  • Text area (free text, unvalidated)
  • Single choice drop-down
  • Multiple-choice field
  • Tick box
  • Date

The data against these fields must be entered in the correct format otherwise an error will be generated.

For anything where a specific format is required this will be indicated in the row containing the Field Name on the template:

For Single-choice fields – Mark one

For Multiple-choice fields – Mark Any

Note: To mark simply put a character such as an x into the relevant column to indicate the selection.

If users need some additional guidance on converting their existing data into x for the purposes of matching the template here, please refer to the guide here.

For Tick box fields, such as the Upshot default permissions mark TRUE or FALSE as relevant. (i.e. TRUE for the attendee ‘Attendee Has Consented for . . .’ ).

If this is left blank the tick box will be left unticked on the relevant profile once re-uploaded.

Key information about Upshot default fields

The following Upshot default fields may be displayed on your Attendee Import Template dependent on the data you collect, here is some key information to be aware of:

  • First Name: Users MUST enter either a First name or a Nickname.
  • Nickname: User MUST have either a Nickname or a First name.  
  • Gender: Users MUST mark one of the Gender options for an attendee.
  • Date of Birth: The format for entering this information should be DD/MM/YYYY. For example, 21/05/2013.
  • Identifying notes: The primary use of Identifying notes is to assist users in situations of ambiguity - for example identifying two separate users who may have similar details.
  • Contact relationship type: The user may choose one and only one contact relationship type from Attendee, Parent or Other. This will indicate whose contact information (Phone, Email) has been collected. Mark the option with an ‘x’ to select it.
  • Medical details: The user can mark any Medical conditions as needed with regards to the attendee. More information can be provided in the ‘Any other conditions, allergies or dietary requirements, etc.’ text area column.
  • Disability details: The user can mark any Disability that they may have from the options given - which includes the ‘other’ option for any disability which is not listed. If the user has no disability, they simply mark the ‘No Disability’ option. See the below example:

  • Ethnicity: The user has the option to mark only one option from the given list for the attendee. See an example below:

  • Faith: The user can mark only one option from the given list for the attendee.
  • Sexual Orientation: The user can mark only one option from the given list for the attendee.
  • Educational Establishment Name and Type: The user has the option to enter the educational establishment attended by the attendee, as well as marking the type of establishment too – such as Primary or Secondary School. See the below example:

Note: the above Upshot default fields are optional other than Gender. Organisations are free to hide the Upshot default fields and create their own custom fields if they would prefer different options or perhaps a narrower/broader set. System Admins can create custom fields at any time. Please contact support@upshot.org.uk if users need assistance with this. 

Uploading your completed template

Go to the following link:

https://app.upshot.org.uk/accounts/login/?next=/do/attendee/bulkedit/

Attach your file under Import Attendees and click Upload.

Users will then see the following message:

This will either update to let the user know that the upload was ‘successful’, or you will

receive an error message letting users know that there were ‘data validation errors.’

In addition, an email will be received either way informing them of this outcome or have the attached error log if necessary. Please do check junk/spam folder for this.

Note, dependent on the amount of data users are looking to upload/the amount of data existing on the account, this success/error email may take a few minutes to come through.

Understanding the Error Log

If the re-upload was unsuccessful the user attempting the upload will receive an email like below:

The attachment will contain the errors in the data that need to be corrected before the data can be uploaded.

Here is an example of the type of errors that may be highlighted:

The Row will always be highlighted allowing you to quickly navigate to the issue on your Attendee Import Template file.

Note, it is recommended to correct the errors from the bottom of this file and work your way up. This is because if any rows of data must be removed, this will not affect the ‘row number’ for any errors listed above.

In the examples above this is how they should be dealt with:

  • Row 5
    • Date of Birth needs to be in the correct Date format of DD/MM/YYYY
    • Ethnicity is a single-choice option so one selection must be removed here
  • Row 6
    • Potential duplicates flagged by the system must be removed from the Attendee Import Template – Here we would suggest keeping hold of this information on a separate file and after the edit is complete looking to edit the data on this attendee manually on the system (where the duplicate checker can be overwritten) if needed. More about managing Duplicates on Upshot can be found here.

Sometimes organisations may need to go back to attendees and ask them for missing information to allow them to be edited. For instance, if a field has been made required on the account after attendees have originally been added. If this is only a handful of attendees, it can be helpful to remove them from this process and look to edit either via another upload/manually later when you have all the relevant information so as not to slow down the whole process.

Understanding other Error Messages

Two more common error messages are shown below, these may appear when a user attempts to upload their Edited attendees file.

Common reasons the above may occur include:

  • The file is not saved in a XLSX file format
  • The template columns have been changed in some way (columns added/removed/altered)
  • The registration form on the organisations account has been changed, meaning that the template no longer accurately reflects the most current version of the registration form. In this case a new template should be downloaded, and the data moved across.

If users are struggling to understand the error when uploading their completed template, please do contact support@upshot.org.uk

Note if any files do need to be shared with Upshot Support throughout this process, please do password protect them as they contain sensitive attendee information.

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