Resources – Batch input

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Rather than having to add all your customers, tasks and sites into Groundleader one at a time it may be faster for you to use the batch import feature, especially if you already have your information stored in a spreadsheet format.

To batch import your data into Groundleader select the ‘Batch upload’ option from the ‘My account’ section of the main menu.

Customers

If batch inputting your data you should input your customers and sites before adding tasks. To get a blank copy of the Customer batch upload spreadsheet click the ‘Download customer template’ button on this page.

Peach colored fields in the spreadsheet are required fields, white are optional. The second row of the spreadsheet shows either the maximum allowed length of the text to be entered, the expected date format or if you need to enter X to indicate yes. See the customers help page for more details on the information required when adding a customer.

• Contact ID, this must be unique for each customer.
• Contact type, eg. Private. If this does not match an existing customer type stored in Groundleader a new contact type will be created. You can view the stored customer types by clicking the ‘manage customer types’ button on the ‘Customers’ page.
• Title, Mr, Mrs etc.
• First name.
• Surname.
• Organisation/Building, this is the second line of the customers address (after their name).
• Address line 3.
• Address line 4.
• Postcode.
• Billing address line 1.
• Billing address line 2.
• Billing address line 3.
• Billing address line 4.
• Billing postcode.
• Phone 1.
• Phone 2.
• Email.
• Website URL.
• Approx contact date, the approximate date you started working with this customer.
• Annual requote, enter X if this customer needs to have their tasks price requoted every year.
• Customer onsite, enter X if the customer is onsite.
• ID for accounting software, If you use accounting software enter the customers unique ID used in that software. Groundleader integrates with Sage, Xero and Quickbooks.
• Not in accounting software, enter X here if the customer is not already stored in your accounting software. Groundleader can produce a spreadsheet used for importing your Groundleader customers into your accounting software. if you don’t use accounting software or don’t use plan n exporting data from Groundleader this can be left blank.
• Payer type. Enter the payer type, a popup should appear when you hover over this column showing what to enter for each payer type. If left blank it defaults to option 1.
  • 1 = Cheque/BACS.
  • 2 = Direct debit adhoc. Do not use, feature in development.
  • 3 = Direct debit instalments. Do not use, feature in development.
  • 4 = BACS.
  • 5 = Cash.
  • 6 = Card.
  • 7 = Paypal

The final four columns that relate to direct debit do not need to be filled in. The ability to integrate with direct debit providers is a feature currently in development. If you select a direct debit payment type it will default to Cheque/BACS.

Upload the customers spreadsheet

Once you’ve added all your customers to the spreadsheet save it on your computer. On the Customers section of Groundleaders batch upload page click the choose file button and navigate to the spreadsheet on your computer. Once the file is selected click the ‘Upload customers’ button.

If there are any validation errors in the spreadsheet they will be shown on the screen along with the row number the error was found on. Uploading customers is all or nothing, if any errors are found none of the contacts on the spreadsheet will be uploaded. If need be, correct any errors and try to upload the spreadsheet again.

Sites

Sites are the locations where your tasks are carried out, they are stored separately from customer addresses. Due to the way sites are stored in Groundleader, even if you do have a spreadsheet with the information, it is likely that you will have to adjust it slightly before it can be uploaded. It is highly recommended that you familiarise yourself with how sites are stored before attempting to batch upload them.

It may be faster to enter your sites one at a time on the sites page than using the batch upload feature.

To get a blank copy of the Site batch upload spreadsheet click the ‘Download site template’ button on ‘Batch upload’ page.

• County/metropolis, Town-city/Borough, Neighbourhood and Street. These are the top four levels of the site location. Each level may have multiple levels underneath it, for example Grampian could be a county which could contain the town-citys Aberdeen, Stonehaven and Peterhead. Each of these town-citys could then contain multiple neighbourhoods and so on.
• Site ID, This is the site name, for example ’14 apple street’ or ‘The old manse’. Each site ID must be unique, if there is a popular house name in your area you will need to make each one unique by adding something to it, for example ‘The old manse Milton’.
• Site hazards, optionally enter any hazard information relevant to the site. This will be shown on the printed information produced for your staff.
• Critical risk, enter X if this site presents a critical risk to your staff, tasks at these sites will be highlighted on the printed worksheets.

An example of how the site location columns could look while adding sites to the spreadsheet.

The order in which the sites are listed on the spreadsheet is important, it will effect how Groundleader orders your various locations.

Upload the sites spreadsheet

Once you’ve added all your sites to the spreadsheet save it on your computer. On the Sites section of Groundleaders batch upload page click the choose file button and navigate to the spreadsheet on your computer. Once the file is selected click the ‘Upload sites’ button.

If there are any validation errors in the spreadsheet they will be shown on the screen along with the row number the error was found on. Uploading sites is all or nothing, if any errors are found none of the sites on the spreadsheet will be uploaded. If need be, correct any errors and try to upload the spreadsheet again.

Tasks

Before you can batch input your tasks you will need to have already added all your customers, sites, task types, teams and arisings specifications.

Arisings describes what to do with the clippings for the task, for example mulch, collect or compost. Arisings can be added or edited by selecting ‘Other settings’ from the ‘Global settings’ section of the main menu then selecting ‘Arisings’.

To get a blank copy of the Task batch upload spreadsheet click the ‘Download task template’ button on ‘Batch upload’ page.

Peach colored fields in the spreadsheet are required fields, white are optional. The second row of the spreadsheet shows either the maximum allowed length of the text to be entered, ‘integer’ if it needs to be a number and if you need to enter y or n to indicate yes or no. See the tasks help page for more details on the information required when adding a task.

The following fields will need to be filled in for each task.

• Task ID, a unique identifier for each task.
• Contact ID, needs to be the ID of a contact you already have stored in Groundleader.
• Site ID, needs to be the ID of a site you already have sored in Groundleader. For example ‘4 West street’.
• Customers ref, any customers reference for this task.
• Task description, enter a description of the task here.
• Task type ID, Enter the short code of a task type that is currently stored in Groundleader. For example ‘GF14’. Schedule values for the task (start date, finish date, num visits, days between etc.) will be populated using the default values from the selected task type. Any percentage adjustment to the base hourly rate set in the task type will also apply to this task.
• Schedule type, Select how you want to schedule visits for this task (DB, ES, AA, FI or NA) see here for more information on the different schedule types.
• Task hazards, enter any hazards relevant to this task.
• Task m², optionally enter the task area here.
• Team ID, enter the name of the team that would normally carry out this task. It needs to be a team name that is currently stored in Groundleader. If the task is usually carried out by a subcontractor enter the subcontractor name as it is stored in Groundleader. Leave blank if a team is not applicable to this task.
• Arisings, enter the arisings specification as stored in Groundleader, for example COLL or COMP. Leave blank if not applicable for this task.
• Is fixed price, enter ‘y’ if the task is fixed price, ‘n’ if it is to be carried out at an hourly rate.
• Fixed price, if the the task is set to fixed price then enter the fixed cost here.
• Travel time, tasks whose pricing type is set to an hourly rate can be set to have a travel cost added to the calculated visit cost. The travel time is set in minutes and is charged at same rate as the task. Cost for travel time is only added once to each visit regardless of how many staff attend.
• Disposal cost, enter a default waste disposal cost for this task, whatever you enter here will be used as the default waste disposal value when you log a visit. As waste disposal can often vary from visit to visit it is okay to leave this field blank and enter the desired value for each visit.
• Est man hours, enter your estimated man hours for the task here, it may be left blank but can be useful if filled in.
• Active task, enter ‘y’ if this is an active task, ‘n’ if not.
• Weather, enter ‘r’ if the task can be carried out on a rainy day, ‘d’ if it needs to be done on a dry day or leave blank for any weather.
• Annual requote, enter ‘y’ if this task need to be requoted every year, ‘n’ if not.
• Warn duplicate, enter ‘y’ if you want Groundleader to give you a warning if you try to log two visits in the same day for this task, ‘n’ if not.
• Critical risk, enter ‘y’ if this is an task presents a critical risk to your staff, ‘n’ if not.
• Adjust price for weather, if this task is priced at an hourly rate and you want to adjust the hourly rate for this task depending on the weather conditions logged during each visit enter ‘y’, otherwise enter ‘n’. This is explained in greater detail in the Visits help page.
• Peak rate adjust. This is for a feature that is currently in development, just enter ‘n’ for every task.
• Start/finish times required. If this is an hourly rate task the start and finish times will always be required. For fixed price tasks it is up to you to decide. Marking them as required shows an asterix (*) on the printed job-sheets used by the staff, this should let them know they have to fill in the start and finish times. Enter ‘y’ or ‘n’.
• Visits remaining. If you have chosen the ‘Auto-adjust’ schedule type for this task and it is being added part way though the current season this needs to be filled in in. This schedule works by fitting the remaining number of visits for the task into the remaining time in the season. In this case you should enter the desired number of visits to be carried out for the task in the remainder of the current season. If you plan on logging the full amount of visits for the season then leave the column blank.
• Region, If you have added more than one region to Groundleader enter the region name this task belongs to. Leave this blank to set this task to your default region or if you have not added more regions.

Upload the tasks spreadsheet

Once you’ve added all your tasks to the spreadsheet save it on your computer. On the tasks section of Groundleaders batch upload page click the choose file button and navigate to the spreadsheet on your computer. Once the file is selected click the ‘Upload tasks’ button.

If there are any validation errors in the spreadsheet they will be shown on the screen along with the row number the error was found on. Uploading tasks is all or nothing, if any errors are found none of the tasks on the spreadsheet will be uploaded. If need be, correct any errors and try to upload the spreadsheet again.

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