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HR Import (multiple sources)

Welcome to this forum!

I have some general questions about HR Import that I think should be general enough to answer, but I haven't been able to find a definitive answer in the online documentation for v11.

I'm in the process of coming up with a plan for importing information from an HRIS data source on a schedule through the system. I am also planning to do an import from other sources manually through the HR import process (less frequently and for users not contained in the HRIS data source).

The automatic imports will have record ids that are generated at the source. The manual imports will have record ids that are generated in house by our own programs that would compare existing information with the contents of the files. My plan is to have a custom id containing alpha characters followed by sequential numbers to keep the ids unique enough that they will never interfere with the main imports. It is my understanding that as long as these record ids don't change or match those from the other import that we can do both import methods, multiple files/sets but only one set at a time. Am I correct?

Has anyone done this before? Any suggestions on best practices, etc., would be appreciated.

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Hi John,

You're correct, you can pull from two different sources and it sounds like you're managing the unique record identifier. You'll also need to make sure the files don't step on each other (e.g. if a file has an error and doesn't import, another file gets uploaded to the file server and overwrites it) and that you've set things up so that Totara knows you're not including all records in every upload. You'll find that in the settings.

Cheers!

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Wesley,

Thanks for the reply.

I am of the impression that since we're planning on multiple sources (each source using different organisation structures with different custom fields) that we'll need to make sure that all fields are mapped in the HR Import and also be listed in required files. In other words all fields will need to be in each organisation file, etc., depending on their type.

For example, the HRIS import has customfield_test1, customfield_test2. Then the other organisation import file has customfield_test3, customfield_test4. HRIS import will also need to have customfield_test3 and customfield_test4 as well as have their values set to blank. The other import file will need customfield_test1 and customfield_test2 and have their values set to blank.

I hope this isn't correct, and I have missed a key point somewhere that allows the ability to do custom mappings per source. Thankfully, I can deal with either scenario.

Thanks!

John

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Hi John,

Your files will need to include all custom fields and be structured the same way, as HR Import will always expect to receive the same fields. You can just leave the fields blank where you don't have a value.

Thanks!

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Hi John

There are some new settings in HR Import to make this more flexible n the upcoming v12 that allows more than one source file for each source type and also allows definition of default and customised settings for each element.

regards

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