Introduction
The Mentoring Connections tool enables administrators to easily import connections through a .CSV file upload. This functionality provides bulk-matching for partnerships that whose matches were determined outside the platform.
Why it matters: Importing connections is an efficient way to provide platform connections for mentorships that were already in progress outside of the platform or, when connections need to be created and approved by a committee prior to being technically matched on the platform.
The Mentoring Connections tool may use a term other than 'Mentoring' if you have customized this term in your program, e.g., 'Coaching' Connections.
Preparing Your File for Import
Minimum Data: CSV files used for importing connections need the minimum data of mentee and mentor emails. The first row should provide the column headers as shown below.
Mentor Email Address
Mentee Email Address
Mentoring Connection Name (optional): You can also include a column labeled to define a specific name for each connection, if you would like to define those on your own. If this column isn't in the file, then the system will use the default naming schema that is configured under the Connection Settings tool (either First Name & First Name or Last Name & Last Name).
Downloadable Template: To download a the CSV template click here: Template - Import Connections via CSV.csv. Note that the second row of this file contains an example pairing for reference; please be sure to remove these examples before adding your own data to the file and before importing your own connections.
CSV files uploaded to Chronus must be encoded in UTF-8: The file included in the link above is already saved with this encoding, but if you are creating your own version from a scratch, you can set this encoding to your document in Excel by clicking File -> Save As. Next, click the drop-down menu just beneath the file name and select "CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv)" from the list, then click Save to commit the change:
Import Procedure
Step 1: Navigate to the Mentoring Connections Tool: Manage > Matching > Mentoring Connections
Step 2: Click the down arrow on the 'Create New Mentoring Connection' button on the upper right corner of the page and select 'Import Mentoring Connections'.
Step 3: Import Mentoring Connections
Tab 1: Setup
Upload .CSV: Clicking 'Import Mentoring Connections' provides the 3-step setup shown below. Be sure to read through all of the instructions on the page and make any necessary changes before uploading to ensure your file will be accepted by the system. Once your file is ready, drag and drop it into the box 'CSV File' area, then click the 'Continue' button.
Tab 2: Map & Validate
Here you will select:
The Connection Plan Template that the imported connections will utilize.
Whether these imports will be in a Drafted state or will be published immediately.
Who the connections will be created by (this will be the admin account you are currently using by default).
Which column contains mentor emails and which column contains mentee emails within the CSV file.
If you also included Mentoring Connection Name data in your file, you can map the column on this page as well.
Once you have made your selections on this page, click the Map & Validate button near the bottom right corner of the page. At this point, the system will check to ensure that:
Users included in the file are already in the program in an Active state.
A row isn't missing a mentor or mentee email address in it.
Tab 3: Create Mentoring Connections
If there are any errors, they will be displayed in a red error message on the following screen after the system attempts to validate the file. If there are any errors in your file, click the hyperlink in the error message ("...errors in # rows...") to download the error log to your device. Open the error log file to see which rows had errors and what those errors were:
If there are multiple errors in a row, you may need to click the individual cell under the "Error Message(s)" column to see all of them, as demonstrated in the image above.
From this point, you can either continue to complete the import for the pairs that did not contain any errors, or click Cancel to return to the previous tab and upload a corrected version of the CSV file, then try validating again.
If your file does not have any errors, click the Complete button on the right side of the page to import your connections.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can I import group connections through CSV as well?
You can! For each additional individual with the same role (i.e. a second mentor or a second mentee), add a comma, followed by the email address of the user to be added to the connection. Repeat this process as needed until the roles are fulfilled for the connection.
As an example, if you wanted three mentors to be in a connection, three mentor email addresses would all need to be in the same cell in the following format: [email protected]
I have the teacher (third) role enabled for my program. Can I import users with this role?
You can! Simply include an additional header in your CSV with the title of the role followed by the word "Email" (e.g. Teacher Email). Just remember that each connection needs at minimum one mentor and one mentee in it—you cannot create a connection between just a mentor or mentee and a teacher.
Is there a limit to how many connections I can import at once?
You can import up to 1,000 connections per CSV document.
Can I use the import feature to update existing users in connections that have already started?
No, this feature only creates new connections.
How many times can I include a mentor in a connection?
You can include up to the number of mentoring connection slots the mentor currently has available. Any connections that you attempt to make that would go beyond that limit will not be created with the import.
How do I publish connections that I imported in a Drafted state?
On the Manage page under the Matching card, click (Mentoring) Connections, then click the tab labeled Drafted to find your drafted connections.