During the Planning phase, Domain and Facility Administrators can manually add contacts or use the Contact Upload template to quickly add multiple contacts to their facility.
The template is a Microsoft® Excel® file (.xls or .xlsx) that is structured with columns for specific information in a specific order. The column header indicates what information should be provided there and the color of the column header indicates whether or not that information might be required. Information requirements are contingent on other fields. For example, a Username is only required for internal contacts that are granted Facility Access and expected to log in to eICS.
During the upload, contact information is automatically validated. Validation detects errors and identifies them in the Validated File, which can then be downloaded for review and correction before uploading the file again. When the upload process is complete and the contacts have been created, eICS sends the standard Welcome message to the new contacts to help them get started. Also, the system automatically removes the uploaded file 24 hours after processing. For details about the upload process, go to the article, Upload Contacts.
Download the Template
You can download the template from within eICS. To access it, point to Planning and click Contacts. On the upper right, click Upload Contacts. On the Upload Contacts window, click Download Template and the template will automatically download according to your browser settings.
Formatting and Conventions
This section describes the template, including the fields, formatting, and conventions that are necessary to successfully upload contacts.
The Contact Upload template can be used to:
- Upload contacts to facilities (not domains)
- Upload contacts to one facility at a time
- Add new contacts (not update existing contacts)
- Automatically identify contacts' primary phone numbers as Notify First
Data added to the template must comply with the following formatting and conventions:
- The upload file must contain all data columns in the order specified in the template.
- The first row in the file must be populated with headers and each column header must contain the name of that data element as specified in the template.
- Column headers that appear orange are required contingent on the other data provided for a contact. For example, a Username is only required for internal contacts that are granted Facility Access and expected to log in to eICS. Similarly, either the First Name and Last Name or Organization must be provided for every contact. If the cell for a required element is blank, the row will be invalid.
- If a username is provided for a contact, it must be unique. That is, it cannot match any other username in the file or the username of contacts currently in your eICS facility.
- The contact’s First Name and Last Name together cannot duplicate any other contact in the same facility.
- The phone number must be valid and complete. An extension of 1-6 characters is also allowed. For example, 555-555-5555 X123456.
- The email address must be formatted correctly.
- Any blank rows must be removed from the file before uploading.
- The file cannot be larger than 50 MB.
If the elements in the data file do not meet these requirements, validation errors will occur. You can still upload a file with validation errors, however only the valid records will be processed and added to your facility.
Template Data Fields
The template contains the following data columns:
Column | Format/Valid Values | Required |
|---|---|---|
First Name | Max: 32 alphabetic characters | Either First and Last Name or Organization must be provided. |
Middle Name | Max: 32 alphabetic characters | No |
Last Name | Max: 64 alphabetic characters | Either First and Last Name or Organization must be provided. |
Organization | Max: 100 alphabetic characters | Either First and Last Name or Organization must be provided. |
Department | Max: 100 alphabetic characters | No |
Title | Max: 50 alphabetic characters | No |
Facility Access |
| Yes |
Username | Max: 32 alphanumeric characters | Must have a Username to access eICS. When Facility Access is specified as Facility Administrator, a Username must be provided. |
Primary Email | Max: 128 alphanumeric characters in standard format (for example, name@domain.ext) | When Username is specified, the Primary Email must be provided. |
Primary Phone | Max: 64 numeric characters in standard format (for example, 555-555-5555 X123456) | When Username is specified, the Primary Phone must be provided. |
Primary Phone Type |
| No |
Secondary Phone | Max: 64 numeric characters in standard format (for example, 555-555-5555 X123456) | No |
Secondary Phone Type |
| No |
Tertiary Phone | Max: 64 numeric characters in standard format (for example, 555-555-5555 X123456) | No |
Tertiary Phone Type |
| No |
Secondary Email | Max: 128 alphanumeric characters in standard format (for example, name@domain.ext) | No |
Tertiary Email | Max: 128 alphanumeric characters in standard format (for example, name@domain.ext) | No |
Authentication Method | -- | Yes, this field must be empty. |
Resource Type |
| No |
Tip: If you believe the contact is already using another product such as EMResource or EMTrack, do not include that individual in the data file. Instead, use the eICS contact import feature.
Validation
The upload process automatically includes validation of the contact data. Validation entails verifying the file and data formatting against specified conventions. If errors are detected, a message appears in the Upload Contacts window that directs you to download the Validation File, which can be opened in Excel for review.
Contacts that do not contain errors are highlighted in green. Contacts that contain errors are highlighted in red. Comments describing the errors are provided to the right of the last titled data column. After reviewing and correcting errors in the Validation File, you can delete these comments and upload the file again. A message appears in the Upload Contacts window to let you know when the contacts have been successfully uploaded.