Bulk Import New Employees from Excel

You may import NEW employees using the Import from excel option found on the settings page. This is normally used to import a batch of employees where you already have an excel copy of the names, surnames, SOC and NRC Numbers. There is also the option to upload other data like Bank Account Numbers or MTN Cellular Numbers or NHIS Health Numbers along with the Names and NRC Numbers. If you are not an existing offline Harvester user, then the NAPSA csv file of all your employee data can easily be used to populate the Harvesteronline upload template file as follows: From the Home page, go to the Settings page. Go to the Import from Excel link on the left hand side of the settings page. You will be taken to the Choose-your-Template page. Click the MIDDLE image (of the THREE options) to Proceed with Make-Import-Template. Save the excel template file that is created and then copy your names, surnames, SOC and NRC Numbers into this generated template file. Make sure that you use the same format for employee data in each column of the template file by observing the first 3 "Test" employees. You should over write these "Test" employee names. (Note the source of these names does not have to be from the NAPSA csv file but this can be useful here). Check your date format is correct on your computer. It should be set to English(UK) or English(Zambia). To know how to change this, type "Date" in help and look for help on "Date format needs to be dd/mm/yyy". Make sure that you use the same format for employee data in each column of the Import-Template file by observing the way your existing data is saved. eg Column O and P : For the phone numbers(MTNMobile) or Bank-Account-Numbers or NHIMA employee numbers to update your online employees properly, keep the existing format. Then click on "Go-to-Step 1" at the bottom of the Choose-your-Template page. Then Click on "Step 1" at the top to add the upload file. Once you have added the file you can then proceed to "Step 2". NB Note1: If you want new employees to be added to an existing department, then you have to make sure the Department Name(NOT DEPARTMENT CODE) in column F on the excel import template file is exactly the same as the department on the online. Please also ensure the department name is 7 or less characters and has NO spaces. If you have two department names(NOT DEPARTMENT CODE) that are the same on your existing departments then its possible that none of your new employees may be imported. Note2: Any existing Company-Wide extras will be added automatically, but not the department specific extras if you are importing to a pre existing department. After upload you can then use the Assign Extras to Department option to assign non-company wide extras to that department. Note3: VERY IMPORTANT Please use the example in the original downloaded excel TEMPLATE file to see THE EXACT data examples that are accepted. Eg if there is no value in a data Columns you need to enter a 0 and not a blank or empty space. (Like excel data) For data Columns like pay-rate and fixed wage where for example the daily rate is 0 and the fixed wage is a positive value: make sure a 0 is entered if there is no positive value. Follow the True or False values for the respective Column Data and leave no blanks or 0's in these columns. For the Employee-numbers please use the example. Eg start with 1001 or at least have the same amount of digits as the sample ie not just the number 1. For the Date Columns you may leave these values blank if there is for example, no birth date. For Columns G : For the phone numbers(MTNMobile) or Bank-Account-Numbers to import your online employees properly. For Columns F : For the NHIMA employee numbers to import your online employees properly, keep the existing format for the NHIMA number. If you get a message that there is a wrong amount of columns then Harvester thinks you are trying to import from an old Harvester offline package and not your own list of employees in the excel template file. In which case check your "Import Template Choice" is correct. The Import-Template file is for Importing NEW employees. (It has 20 columns of data up to Column S) The last column is the "email" column. The Update-Template file is NOT FOR IMPORTING. It is for Updating EXISTING employees and NOT adding new employees. (It has 20 columns of data up to Column S) The last column is the "StartDate" column. Click on Step 3 and the employees will be imported and updated and you will be ready for entry. If you need to import more than 7 different batches of employees after you have already used this feature seven times, then you need to contact support@harvesteronline.net You are allowed 7 different batch uploads on the standard version. This can easily be updated to allow further batch uploads of new employees after paying a small upgrade cost. See help on Multiple Batch uploads by typing "Multiple" in help.