Cialfo Access: Uploading User Accounts
Creating & updating student, guardian, teacher or counselor accounts
Priscilla Ann avatar
Written by Priscilla Ann
Updated over a week ago

Cialfo - Access

Throughout the school year, students may move in or out of schools. By using the Import Users feature, schools can add user accounts in bulk - for instance, to add students who are rising up to Grade 9 and their guardians. Additionally, schools can also use this to bulk update account information (e.g. contact numbers, emails etc.).

Where do I navigate to find Upload (Users)?

On the left-hand menu, select Upload, then click Import Users.

Step 1 - Uploading your data file - (.csv) or (.xls) or (.xlsx) only

If you do not have a data file of your own, you may download our sample template files from the link provided in the blue instructions box. Alternatively, you may download the template files directly here - https://tinyurl.com/cialfo-upload2-users

Once you have your data file prepared, you are now ready to upload -
a. Click the upload box, then browse and select the file you want to upload OR
b. Drag the file that you want to upload from its folder and drop it into the upload box

Step 2 - Configuring the settings of your upload

  1. Select whether you would like to create Student, Staff (Teacher or Counselor) or Guardian(or Parent) accounts.

  2. Make sure to determine which format the dates in your file are in so that the data is read accurately by the uploader - our system accepts Day-Month-Year, Month-Day-Year, and Year-Month-Day date formats

Step 3 - Matching data columns to Cialfo fields

First, determine which row of data in your file contains the column headers. Next, looking at the data fields that are available on Cialfo, match the columns of data you have in your file to them. For ease of future uploads, your method of matching will also be saved and automatically applied on the next upload :)

Note: All required fields are marked with an asterisk (*). For optional fields, there is an option to Ignore this column and no data will be imported under that data field.

Step 4 - Preview & Confirm

Reviewing errors found

After processing your data, the magical wizard will then tell you exactly which row of data in your file contains errors and also what the errors are specifically. With this information, you can then do the necessary corrections. Alternatively, you may also download an error report.

Confirming new accounts to be created

On the next tab New, you will be able to see exactly what data will be imported by the uploader and also confirm the number of accounts you are about to create.

Turning on the "Update" function (Optional)

Intelligently enough, the uploader is also able to detect whether user accounts already exist within Cialfo; this is being checked against the email addresses column. When this is the case, you have the option of deciding whether to update data for the existing accounts.

Step 5 - Confirming your upload

Last but not least, click Finish Import and voila - all done! 

Watch your upload status turn green, and just in case you ever need to refer back to it, you can always check the details of it on the Upload Log page.

That's the end of Uploading Users, happy uploading! 

Next steps:

  1. Assign counselors to students - learn more here

  2. Send registration emails to students - learn more here

For any questions - feel free to use our Chat with Cialfo to speak to our team :)

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