How to Import Users (ConfTool Pro)

Every conference has persons with special tasks, like conference chairs or reviewers. Some of these users need special rights in the ConfTool system; therefore, they need an account with the according role / status.

If these users register themselves, administrative users can change the role of these persons (select "edit" from the list of users). However, for organizers it is often advisable to create the required user accounts and not to wait for the persons to register themselves to speed up this process. If you already have a list of confirmed reviewers and want to import them directly, please follow the instructions for the import of users. However, sometimes it is more polite to invite persons first and wait for their acceptance or rejection. If you prefer this procedure, please consult the information regarding the import of invitees (invitations) below.

Creating Individual User Accounts or Invitations

Several options exist to create new user accounts in the ConfTool system. Any user with administrative rights can always create individual user accounts "manually" one by one: Select "User and Participant Management" from the overview page and then "Create New User Account". Here you can also set the status / role of the new user and send him an automatically generated e-mail with his registration details.

Likewise, you can create individual invitations for invitees manually and one after another. Please go to "User and Participant Management" and "Create an Invitation" and fill in the relevant details for this invitee. Choose the type of invitation, i.e., if the person is invited to become a program committee (PC) member, reviewer, author, or participant. The invitation will be added to the list of invitations and an e-mail to the invitee(s) can be sent via the bulk e-mail function now or later using Overview => Bulk E-mails => Send E-mails to a Group of People in the List of Invitations.

Importing a List of Users or List of Inivitees 

If you already have a digital list of users or a list of invitees, e.g. an Excel file with your reviewers or PC members, you can also use the import function of ConfTool Pro. The file has to be in CSV format (Comma Separated Values). You find example files below. To create a CSV file, you can use (almost) any spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc. Usually, you find this function in the menu "File" => "Save As..." and select "Text CSV" (or similar) as file type.

Please go to this page to start the import process:
Overview => Data Import and Export => Import Data

In ConfTool Pro, the import process for users and invitations consists of four steps:

a.      If you import users: You can now also set the user status / role (e.g. reviewer, chair) for all persons imported at this time. Furthermore, you have the opportunity to send them e-mails with their user name and password (see image 3). As administrator, you can also send them the user name and password later using the bulk mail feature (usually recommended).

b.      If you import invitees: You can select the status of the invitee, e.g., if the person is invited to submit a paper, become a reviewer or PC member of if you like them to attend at your event. Now the system will also create unique invitation codes which are used to identify the invitees (see image 4).

  1. Select the file to import, the character set, and other details regarding your CSV file format. If you don't know how the file is formatted, open it with a text editor, or just try different options. You find example files below. Choose the required import mode: Decide either for users or for invitations to be imported, and furthermore if you want the existing data in your database to be updated ("Check for existing entries by e-mail, update these entries only") or amended ("Import all rows, do not check for duplicated entries by e-mail", please enable the expert settings for this option). The "Update" mode is recommended in most cases to avoid duplicated entries (see image 1).
  2. Now you can preview the import and assign the columns of the import file to the according fields of the ConfTool Pro database. The three fields "Name", "First name" and "E-Mail" are mandatory. We recommend importing the address, too, if available, so people do not have to enter that data manually.
  3. Verify how the import will be performed and select the rows to be imported (see image 2).
  4. Start the import. You will get an overview of the import results.

   

Please click on the images below to enlarge.

Image 1: Import Parameters
Image 1: Import Parameters
Image 2: Assign Fields
Image 2: Assign Fields
Image 3: Select Rows User Import
Image 3: Select Rows User Import
Image 4: Select Rows Invitees
Image 4: Select Rows Invitees

Notes

  • For user import, user names and passwords can be created automatically during the import process. You can also import user names and passwords, but user names must be unique (or they will be generated) and passwords must meet the security requirements of ConfTool (minimum length etc.) or they will be generated, too.
  • For invitees: Use the bulk mail function to send links to the users to accept or reject an invitation. If the users accept the invitation, they will be guided through the registration process and their corresponding status will be set. If they already hold an account, only their status will be updated.

Pre-processing import files: If your import file has first name and family name in one field / column, you have to split this field into two fields first. With Excel, this can be done using some simple string functions.

If the full name is in field "A2", please create two new empty columns right of the first column (B and C).

The first name can be calculated by using    =LEFT(A2;FIND(" ";A2;1) -1)

The surname can be calculated by using   =RIGHT(A2;LEN(A2)-FIND(" ";A2))

If you want to merge two string fields in Excel use "&", for instance:   =A1&", "&A2