If you have a .csv or .xls file containing certificate information, this can be used to upload data and issue multiple certificates in bulk. The file should be saved as a .csv file ready to upload.
Certificates can be issued in bulk from one certification scheme at a time, either to individuals or to organisations, as permitted by the scheme. If the scheme allows certificates to be issued to individuals and organisations, and you wish to issue to a mixture, the csv file should be split in to two files one containing the data for individuals and the other for organisations.
On the down arrow of the 'Issue to Individual' or 'Issue to Organisation' button is an 'Issue certificates in bulk' option.
The next page allows you to upload a .csv file. The file needs to contain columns of data corresponding to the fields required for certificate, such that each row is a certificate. The first row can contain column headers. The columns do not need to be in a specific order and there can be extra columns of data that can be ignored.
On uploading, the rows of data will be listed and you can then select which field of certificate data the column refers to.
Certificates issued to an individual must include a first name, a second name (surname), and an email address for the certificate to be sent to. If the scheme has additional custom fields, data for these must be included if the data is required by the scheme. Categories marked* are required.
Certificates issued to an organisation must include an organisation type, an organisation country, an organisation number, an organisation name, and an email address for the certificate to be sent to. If the scheme has additional custom fields, data for these must be included if the data is required by the scheme. Categories marked* are required.
If a start date and time is not provided, the issue date and time will be used. If the certificate scheme requires a finish (expiry) date and time, and none is provided, it will use the default expiry duration provided in the scheme settings to calculate the expiry date from the start date (for example 1 year).
Once you have selected which columns of data correspond to which field of data, press 'Save column formatting'. This will store the settings for future uploads for this category (individual or organisation) for this scheme. As such, if you keep using similarly formatted csv files in the future, it should be quicker to upload and issue.
Once saved, you can 'Remove Headers', which ignores (hides) the first row.
You can then 'Issue all certificates'. This will automatically work through the list and issue the certificates according to each row of data.
If a certificate fails to issue, the field(s) causing the issue will be highlighted with the error code. You may edit the fields and press the re-issue button on the right for each case
Each successfully issued certificate will be shown with a green tick. You can press the green tick to open a new browser window to the view the digital certificate page if you wish. Alternatively, of course, all the issued certificates will appear as usual in the issued certificates area reached from the dashboard.
If you have a master .csv or .xls file containing certificate information relating to multiple schemes, this can be used to upload data and issue multiple certificates to multiple schemes in bulk. The file should be saved as a .csv file ready to upload.
The process works in a similar way to the bulk issuance described above except that you use one (or more) columns to designate the scheme to be issued to.
If you designate a scheme that has not yet had its own bulk upload settings created (as described above), then this will be required as one of the steps.
This approach can also be used to:
The column allocations in the multi-scheme bulk case must be the same as in the single scheme bulk issuance cases described above. However, each certification scheme can have its own mappings for individual and organisation issuance.
There is only one multi-scheme bulk upload setting per organisation. It is the totality of each of the certification schemes' settings. However, once set, it is stored ready for next time, and can be edited and added to as more schemes are created.
Bulk uploads and multi-scheme bulk uploads are advanced features, so if you need help setting one up, please just get in touch.