This article explains how to bulk import Users from a file, either as a one-time import or on a scheduled basis. Review Data Imports for additional context about importing data into Absorb.

In Absorb, Users can represent Learners, Instructors, Admins, Reporters, Course Authors, and other people (or applications) that need to interact with the LMS. See this article for more information about Users. This article assumes you are already familiar with creating and managing Users manually in the Admin Portal.

Quick Start

This section lists the minimum inputs required to set up a User import. Additional configuration may be required depending on your use case.

Preparing the File

Use the Absorb Data Mapping document to determine which User fields can be included in your import file, including required fields and dependencies.

Download the most recent Absorb Data Mapping document from this helpdesk article. Refer to the Users tab for a list of available fields.

Configuration

This section describes configuration options specific to Users. In addition to the generic configuration options available to all modules, some settings are required (marked with *).

Column Mappings

The Data Imports - Configuration article covers column mapping in general. For a User import, specify which Absorb fields map to each column in your file based on the column headers (for example, a column with the header EID can map to the Absorb External ID field).

The following fields/columns are mandatory for Users:

• Username
• Email Address (optional if not used as the Unique Identifier)
• FirstName
• LastName
• Password (only if assigning a password from the file)
• Department
• ExternalId (optional if not used as the Unique Identifier)

Some columns require additional setup or special handling.

Role Assignment

This assigns the specified Admin Role to a User, assuming their Admin flag is true. The name of the desired Role must be included in this column and must be unique (assignment fails if multiple Roles with the same name exist in Absorb). Any configured Default Admin Role or Default Instructor Role will also be applied. If Skip assignment if other roles are present is enabled, it also applies to Roles assigned from this column.

Custom Fields

Set up Custom Fields in Absorb under Portal Settings before configuring and testing the import. Provide the column names in your file and the names of the Custom Fields they map to.

Field Mappings

Some fields only accept specific values. For example, IsAdmin accepts 0 (not an Admin) and 1 (Admin). If your file uses different values (for example, Yes/No), provide the value mappings. Common fields that require value mappings include:

• IsLearner, IsAdmin, and IsInstructor: accepts 0 and 1, but files often use values like Yes/No.
• Province/State or Country: accepts full Province/State names (for example, Alabama) or two-letter Province/State codes for Canada and the United States (for example, AL). Accepts two- or three-letter ISO country codes (for example, US or USA). Files may provide other representations (for example, U.S.A. instead of US).

Processing

This section covers how Absorb correlates imported rows to existing User records, and how the import assigns related values such as Department and Supervisor.

Correlation Properties

Correlation properties determine how the import identifies existing records and how related records are looked up.

Unique Identifier*

This setting uniquely identifies the record for the purpose of updating existing records (the key). Options include:

• Username
• External ID*
• Email*
• Employee Number*

*Absorb does not enforce uniqueness on these fields. The import requires a unique match to successfully process. Duplicate matches for a Unique Identifier result in skipped records. Because of this, Username is sometimes the best option.

Department Lookup*

This setting looks up and assigns the User Department (for example, a User belongs to the HR Department). Set up Departments in advance through the Admin Portal, or import Departments alongside Users (see Related Objects).

Options include:

• External ID (recommended)
• Name

Fallback Department

This setting defines the Department assigned when the Department value in the import file is invalid. If the Department does not already exist, it is created under the top-level Department. For this reason, it is usually best to pre-create it. Consider Admin permissions: placing a fallback near the bottom of the hierarchy can help prevent accidentally granting Admin permissions over a large portion of the Department tree.

Options include:

• None (default; Users are not created if the Department is invalid)
• Specific Department External ID
• Specific Department name (must be unique)
• Top level Department

A common example is creating a Department named Unknown and setting it as the fallback. Users with invalid Departments in the file are still created and can log in, but they remain in Unknown until updated to a valid Department. You can correct this manually in the Admin Portal or by importing updated records in a later file.

Note: If the import applies Admin or User Management settings, those settings still apply when a User is assigned to the Fallback Department. This can result in an Admin having User Management over the Fallback Department itself. If this is a concern, consider not using a fallback so Users are not created when the Department is invalid.

Supervisor Lookup

This setting looks up and assigns the User Supervisor (if a Supervisor column is provided). By default, the Supervisor Lookup uses the same value as the Unique Identifier, but these can be different.

Options include:

• Username (the Supervisor’s)
• External ID (the Supervisor’s)
• Email (the Supervisor’s)
• Employee Number (the Supervisor’s)

Admin and Roles

This section describes how the import sets Admin status and applies Roles for Admins and Instructors.

Admin Handling*

This setting defines how the Admin flag (the column mapped to IsAdmin) is set when processing the file.

Options include:

• File values
  • The Admin status for each User is set based on the value provided in the file. Manual changes in Absorb can be overwritten by the file.
• File values for new users only
  • The import does not change Admin status for existing Users. New Users created by the import are set based on the file. Use this option when most Admins are set correctly by the file, but some manual changes in Absorb are required.
• Existing admins remain as admin
  • The import does not disable Admin status for existing Users. The file governs Admin status for all other Users. Use this option when you need to manually enable Admin status for certain Users and do not want the import to overwrite those changes. Existing non-Admins can still be switched to Admins by the import.
• Existing non-admins remain as non-admin
  • The import does not enable Admin status for existing Users. The file governs Admin status for all other Users. Use this option when you need to manually disable Admin status for certain Users and do not want the import to overwrite those changes. Existing Admins can still be switched to non-Admins by the import.
• Existing admins with specific role(s) remain as admin
  • The import does not disable Admin status for existing Users with exactly this set of Roles. The file governs Admin status for all other Users. Use this option to exclude a specific set of Users from Admin status updates based on Role assignment.
• Existing admins without specific role(s) remain as admin
  • The import does not disable Admin status for existing Users with exactly this set of Roles. The file governs Admin status for all other Users. This is useful when the import uses one default Role and you want Admin status to be governed by the import for those Users. Assigning other Roles can exclude Users from Admin status updates, allowing you to manage them manually.

Default Admin Role

This defines the Role assigned each time Admin status is assigned by the import file. This is not enabled by default.

Default Instructor Role

This defines the Role assigned to Users who are assigned both Instructor and Admin status by the import file. Note that Instructor status (IsInstructor) can be assigned without assigning a Role. This is not enabled by default.

Skip Assignment If Other Roles Are Present

This optionally skips assigning the default Admin and/or Instructor Roles when an existing Admin already has other Roles assigned. This is not enabled by default.

Force Supervisor Admin Status

Users must have Admin status to be assigned as Supervisors. If this option is disabled (default) and a non-Admin is assigned as a Supervisor in the import file, Supervisor assignment fails. If enabled, the import forces the Supervisor to become an Admin to allow the Supervisor assignment to complete.

When forcing Admin status for Supervisors, the following options are available:

• Apply Role and User Management Settings: assigns the default Role and User Management Settings defined for the import.
• No Role or User Management Settings: assigns Admin status only, without applying Role or User Management Settings. This leaves the Supervisor with very limited Admin access until configured manually or by a later import.

Note: This option overrides any exclusions selected in Admin Handling.

User Management

This section explains how the import applies User Management settings when Admin status is assigned. More advanced setups may require separate Department Admin and/or Group Admin files. Refer to the Absorb Data Mapping document referenced in this helpdesk article for more information.

Default User Management*

This setting defines the type of User Management applied each time Admin status is assigned by the import file. Before applying this setting in bulk, create and test a few examples manually in the Admin Portal so you can confirm the resulting access.

Select one of the following options:

None (Default)

New Users receive the LMS default User Management setting (All). Existing Users do not have their User Management settings updated.

All Admin

The Admin can see all Users (no restrictions).

Department Admin

The Admin can only see Users in the Department they belong to.

The following sub-options are available:

• Include Sub-Departments: The Admin can also see Users in any sub-Departments.
• Reset Department List: If enabled, the Admin is set to manage only the Department they currently belong to, and any manually assigned Departments are removed on import. If disabled, the import adds the Admin’s current Department to the existing managed list (for example, if the Admin moves Departments, they still manage the old Department in addition to the new one).
• Exclude Existing All Admins: Admins already configured to manage All are not assigned the default Department Admin settings.
• Exclude Existing Department Admins: Admins already configured to manage other Departments are not assigned the default Department Admin settings.

Group Admin

The Admin can only see Users in a specific Group. The Group is automatically created and assigned if it does not already exist.

The following sub-options are available:

• Group Name Mapping: Names the Group using a value from the associated Admin profile. Available fields include Username, External ID, Employee Number, Email, First Name, Last Name, FirstName.Lastname, or the currently configured Unique Identifier for the User import.
• Group External ID Mapping: Sets the Group External ID using a value from the associated Admin profile. Available fields include Username, External ID, Employee Number, Email, First Name, Last Name, FirstName.Lastname, or the currently configured Unique Identifier for the User import.
• Automatic Groups: If disabled, the import does not add or remove Users from Groups created by the import (Behavior = Manual). Updates must be done manually or via a separate Group Assignments file. If enabled, the Group behavior is set to Automatic and rules are added to keep membership up to date. Rules use the format: User Field | Starts With / Contains / Equals / Ends With | Admin Field Value.
• Exclude Existing All Admins: Admins already configured to manage All are not assigned the default Group Admin settings.
• Exclude Existing Group Admins: Admins already configured to manage other Groups are not assigned the default Group Admin settings.

Examples:

• If Username is selected and the Admin’s Username is JDoe, the Group created for that Admin is JDoe.
• If Username is selected, the Group External ID is also JDoe.
• A rule like Custom Field 1 | Contains | External ID checks for Users whose Custom Field 1 contains that Admin’s External ID. This can be useful in supervisor-based User Management models.

For both default Department Admin and default Group Admin settings, an existing Group Admin is not overwritten by the default Department Admin setting and vice versa. The Default User Management setting does not switch existing Users between Department Admin and Group Admin types.

User Management Records to Process*

This setting determines which User records have default User Management settings applied.

Select one of the following options:

• All records
• Only new Users
• Only existing Users

User Management Exclusion Rules

If enabled, Users with or without specific Roles can be excluded from default User Management settings. This is particularly useful for excluding Users with the System Admin Role, since those Users should generally not have restricted access. This is not enabled by default.

Manager and Manager Roles

This section explains how to configure Manager relationships (Direct Reports) independently from Admin User Management.

Manager Handling

Users can be set to manage other Users, called Direct Reports. The following rules apply:

• Users can only have one Manager assigned at a time.
• Manager relationships cannot contain circular references.

The following fields are required to configure a Manager relationship:

• Manager Unique Identifier
• Direct Report Unique Identifier
• Manager Role

Note: Multiple Manager Roles can be assigned.

The following fields can be used as the Unique Identifier for Managers and Direct Reports:

• Username
• ExternalID
• Email Address
• Employee Number
• ID

Each line in the file represents one Manager-to-User relationship.

Sample Data Format:

Manager_Username, Direct_Report_Username, Manager_Role

Sample Data:

John.Smith, Jack.Miller, Manager

Additional Options

This section includes additional import options that are commonly configured for User imports.

Password Management*

This defines how passwords are initially set and updated. The Force New Learner Password Change option in Portal Settings still applies when a User logs in for the first time.

Options include:

• New users only - from file: new User passwords are set from the provided password column. Existing Users do not have their passwords overwritten.
• New users only - random password: new User passwords are randomly generated. Use this option when Users do not need to know their initial password (for example, when using Single Sign-On or when Users set their password through a welcome email link). Existing Users do not have their passwords overwritten.

Department Updates

By default, the import assigns a User to the Department specified in the file. Optionally, the import can skip updating the Department for existing Users.

Deactivate by Date Terminated

By default, Date Terminated is used for reporting and reference only. Optionally, the import can automatically deactivate Users based on their Date Terminated value. Deactivation only occurs when the User is included in the import file (populating the field manually in Absorb does not trigger automatic deactivation).

Options include:

• Date Terminated is present
• Date Terminated is on or after today
• Date Terminated is on or after yesterday
• Date Terminated is on or after a specific date value
• Date Terminated is on or before a specific date value

Related Objects

Users are a core object in Absorb and have many related objects. The following objects are often imported alongside Users:

• Departments
• Enrollments
• Department Admins
• Group Admins
• Group Assignments

For more information about these objects, refer to the Absorb Data Mapping document linked from this helpdesk article.

Emails to Users

Before importing Users, confirm whether you want emails to be sent upon import. When a User is created through a data import, Absorb sends the emails configured for your portal. By default, the New User (Welcome) email is enabled. Other emails (such as Enrollment notifications) may also send depending on your LMS configuration.

Data Examples

This section provides sample spreadsheet and text examples for a User import file.

Spreadsheet

The following image shows an example spreadsheet format for importing Users.

Text

The following example shows a CSV-style format for importing Users.

Username,Password,FirstName,LastName,ActiveStatus,Department_ExternalId,ExternalId,IsAdmin,IsLearner,EmailAddress,CustomField,Supervisor_ExternalId
john.doe@demo.com,Password5467,John,Doe,0,00002,100012,1,1,john.doe@demo.com,Custom Value,
jane.doe@demo.com,Password5812,Jane,Doe,0,00002,100013,0,1,jane.doe@demo.com,Custom Value 2,100012