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Decide Between Partial or Full Imports When Updating Employee Data

Update employee data with Culture Amp's Import Wizard. Choose partial or full imports for tailored demographic updates.

Jared Ellis avatar
Written by Jared Ellis
Updated over a month ago

Who can use this feature?

Available on:

  • All Culture Amp subscriptions

The Culture Amp Import Wizard provides a seamless way for you to update a fraction — or all — of your employees.

With partial imports, you can use the import wizard to upload, review, and apply updates to a subset of your employees. Employees not included in the upload will remain active and unchanged in Culture Amp. To overwrite all user data already the system, you can still choose a full import.

In a partial import you can add new employees and update employee demographic information. Choose this option if your latest employee data file contains only *some* people from your entire organization. (Note: you can also remove past employees by including an End Date in the past in their demographic information.) In a full import you can replace all previous information about your employees in Culture Amp to make sure it's completely up to date and in sync. Any past employees missing from this employee data file will be removed. Choose this option if your latest employee data file is complete, containing every person in your organization (and not just new people or one department, for example).

Partial import

A partial import updates employee demographic information for a subset of your organization. During the bulk import process, you can upload an employee data file that only includes information from a handful of your employees. Once processed, a partial import will only change that part of your organization. Employees not included in the import will remain active and unchanged in Culture Amp.

Partial imports are only available for CSV or XLSX file uploads.

When to use a partial import

Partial imports are a good option when you want to update demographics for some — but not all — of your employee base. Here are some commons scenarios where a partial import is useful:

Prompt/driver for import

Solution

Launch onboard surveys to a batch of new starters

Add new starters to Culture Amp in bulk with partial import

Launch exit surveys to a batch of recent departures

Update records of recent departures with partial import (requires also setting their end date to a future date)

Pulse survey to a single division/department

Update demographic data for a single department, then create and launch a survey

Correct inaccurate demographics for a handful of employees

Update troublesome records with partial import

Full import

A full import completely overwrites any user data you already have in the system. Any employees missing from the incoming employee data file will become inactive.

Full imports are available for both file uploads and HRIS integration syncs.

When to use a full import

Full imports are a good option when you want to make sure every employee record in your account is up-to-date. Here are some commons scenarios where a full import is useful:

Prompt/driver for import

Solution

Ask for feedback from the entire company

Update all data in your account with full import

Sync data using one of our HRIS native integrations

Native HRIS integrations always apply a full import

Your company undergoes a restructure and the entire company tree changes

Update reporting demographics for your entire company with a full import

Note:

  • If you’re importing your employee data manually, you can select between running a full import or a partial import.

  • If you’re using an automated HRIS integration, it will use a full import.

  • If you’re syncing your employee data via SFTP, it will use a partial import.

Handling inactive employees

You can deactivate employees with both full and partial imports:

  • Full import: This treats your file as the 'future state' of users in Culture Amp. If any active users are left off the file, they become inactive, with their End Date set to the import date, classified as former employees. It's like saying those missing are intentionally removed. Any user with an End Date set in the past also becomes inactive and classified as a former employee. We recommend explicitly providing End Dates for departing employees. This ensures your data accurately reflects turnover, boosting the value of features like Retention Insights.

  • Partial import: Users omitted from a partial import will remain active and unchanged in Culture Amp. To make a user inactive via a partial import, set their End Date to a date in the past. The user will become inactive and classified as a former employee.

Tip:

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