Skip to content
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

How to Bulk Upload Data

The Bulk Upload section lets you import large volumes of data at once using CSV files. This is ideal for onboarding new employees, loading historical timesheets, importing approved leave, or adding job items in bulk.

How to Bulk Upload Data

The Bulk Upload section lets you import large volumes of data at once using CSV files. This is ideal for onboarding new employees, loading historical timesheets, importing approved leave, or adding job items in bulk.

Getting There

  1. Click Settings (cog icon) in the left sidebar.
  2. Select Bulk Upload from the settings menu.

Available Upload Types

Depending on your permissions, you may see some or all of the following options:

Timesheet Upload

  • Import attendance and timesheet records.
  • Click Download Timesheet Upload Template to get the CSV template.
  • Fill in the template with your data, then click Timesheet Upload to upload.

Legacy Timesheet Upload

  • Use this option if your data follows the older timesheet format.
  • Click Download Legacy Timesheet Upload Template to get the CSV template.
  • Fill in the template with your data, then click Legacy Timesheet Upload to upload.

Approved Leave Upload

  • Bulk-import pre-approved leave entries using a CSV or XLSX file.
  • Click Download Approved Leave Upload Template to get a template pre-configured for your account.
  • Fill in the template, then click Approved Leave Upload.

Template columns - the template you download has four columns. The third column depends on your account setup:

 
 

Column

 

Awards-enabled accounts

 

Non-awards accounts

 

1

Employee Payroll Code

Employee Payroll Code

2

Date (YYYY-MM-DD)

Date (YYYY-MM-DD)

3

Leave Type Name

Exception Payroll Code

4

Exception Days

Exception Days
 
 
 
  • Awards-enabled accounts - use the Leave Type Name exactly as it appears on your leave types list (e.g. "Annual Leave", "Sick Leave").
  • Non-awards accounts - use the Exception Payroll Code assigned to each leave type.
  • Deleted leave types are automatically excluded - only active leave types can be uploaded.

Error handling - if your file contains errors, the upload dialog shows row-by-row messages telling you exactly what went wrong. For example:

  • Row 2: Leave Type Name "Sik Leave" is not available in your account. - check the spelling matches your leave types exactly.
  • Row 5: Employee Payroll Code "EMP999" is not available in your account. - verify the payroll code exists in Timecloud.
  • Row 8: Date is invalid. Use the YYYY-MM-DD format, for example 2026-10-01. - correct the date format.

Fix the flagged rows in your file and re-upload.

Bulk Employee Upload

  • Add or update multiple employees at once.
  • Click Bulk Employee Upload to open the guided import wizard.
  • The wizard walks you through uploading your file, mapping columns, previewing data, and importing - see the How to Bulk Import Employees guide for full details.

Choosing Template Columns

Before downloading a template, you can choose which optional columns to include:

  • The Template columns section appears on the upload step, below the download buttons.
  • Required columns (First Name, Last Name, Email, Shift Pattern) are always included and cannot be removed.
  • Use the Add Column button to pick additional columns such as Profile Details, address fields, or emergency contacts.
  • Your column selection is remembered for next time.
  • Both Download Import Template and Download Current Employees respect your selection, so the file only contains the columns you need.

Profile Details Columns

You can include employee profile details in your bulk upload. Add these columns via the template column picker:

 
 

Column

 

Format / Notes

 

Title

Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss, Mx, Dr, Prof, Rev

Date of Birth

DD/MM/YYYY

Mobile

Phone number (e.g. 021 123 4567)

Job Title

Free text

Reports To

Full name of the reporting manager (must match exactly one employee)

Occupation

Free text

Work Start Date

DD/MM/YYYY

Work End Date

DD/MM/YYYY

Standard Days per Week

Number (e.g. 5)

Standard Hours per Week

Number (e.g. 37.5)
 
 
 

Address columns - Home and Postal address fields are available:

 
 

Column

 

Example

 

Home Address Line 1

123 Main Street

Home Address Line 2

Suite 4

Home Address City

Auckland

Home Address Region

Auckland

Home Address Post Code

1010

Home Address Country

New Zealand

Postal Address Line 1

PO Box 456

... (same sub-fields as Home Address)

 
 
 
 

Emergency contact columns - up to two emergency contacts:

 
 

Column

 

Example

 

Emergency Contact 1 Name

Jane Smith

Emergency Contact 1 Relationship

Spouse

Emergency Contact 1 Phone

International format, e.g. +6491234567

Emergency Contact 1 Email

jane@example.com

Emergency Contact 2 Name

(same sub-fields)

...

 
 
 
 

Things to know about Profile Details:

  • Profile details are optional - only the cells you fill in are imported. Blank cells are left unchanged.
  • When updating an existing employee, filled-in address or emergency contact fields are merged with the employee's current values.
  • The Reports To column matches by full name. If two employees share the same name, the row will be flagged with an error.
  • Emergency contact phone numbers must be in international format (e.g. +6491234567).
  • Dates must use DD/MM/YYYY format.

Job Title vs Role

Job Title is a free-text field on the employee's profile (e.g. "Senior Developer"). Role is the company role assigned to the employee from your roles list. If your file has a column called "Job Title", it maps to the free-text Job Title field. To assign a company role, use a column called "Role".

If your file header reads "Job Title" and you intended it to set the company role, the wizard shows a warning. You can change the mapping to Role on the column mapping step.

Job Item Upload

  • Import job hierarchy items for each job layer.
  • One upload option appears per job layer (e.g. "Bulk Site Upload", "Bulk Project Upload").
  • Click the corresponding Download Template link, fill it in, and upload.

How to Upload

  1. Download the template for the data type you want to import (for employee upload, the template is available inside the wizard).
  2. Open the CSV file and fill in your data, following the column headers exactly.
  3. Return to the Bulk Upload page and click the upload button for your data type.
  4. Select your completed CSV file.
  5. Review any validation errors - correct them in your CSV and re-upload if needed.

Tips

  • Always start with the official template - column headers must match exactly for the import to work.
  • Use the template column picker to only include the columns you need. This keeps your file manageable and avoids accidental edits to fields you did not intend to change.
  • Test with a small batch (5-10 rows) before uploading your full data set.
  • Check for duplicate entries before uploading - the system may create duplicates if records already exist.
  • Use bulk employee upload during initial onboarding to save time adding staff one by one.
  • When uploading Profile Details, leave cells blank for fields you do not want to change - blank cells are skipped, not cleared.