Bulk Records — Import & Export

The Team Certifications page can export every record in your agency to a CSV, and import a CSV back. Same flow handles certifications, background checks, training records, vaccinations, etc.

This is most useful for:

• Backups — periodic full export of agency records.
• Bulk seed — when you onboard a new agency or migrate from another system, hand-build a CSV and import.
• Bulk update — export, edit a column in Excel, re-import; matched rows update in place.

The CSV is metadata only. Supporting documents (PDFs, photos) are not included; see Supporting documents below.

The record lifecycle

Every record moves through three states. The state controls who can edit what.

State	Set by	Who can edit	What can be edited
Editable (unlocked)	Default on creation	The record's owner (the named member) and admins / training coordinators	All fields
Validated (still unlocked)	Agencies that don't require approval, on creation	Same as Editable — owner can keep editing	All fields
Locked	Admin runs Validate on a pending record, or clicks the manual lock button	Anyone with access can read; only notes can be edited	Notes only

Two important properties of this model:

1. A record is editable until it's deliberately locked. Auto-validation (in agencies that don't require approval) does not lock the record. The owner can still attach a file, fix a typo, or replace a wrong value.
2. Locking is one-way through the UI. Admins can re-unlock from the cert detail modal if needed.

Exporting

From Team Certifications → Export → CSV. Runs as a background task; you'll see a "Comprehensive backup exported" toast when ready.

The exported file is named Team_Certifications_<timestamp>.csv and contains every record where the subject is a person in your agency.

CSV columns

Column	What it is	Behaviour on import
Record ID	The internal UUID of the record	Optional. When present, the import matches the CSV row to that exact record (rename-safe). When blank, import falls back to matching by (member email, record name, record type). Leave blank for fresh imports so the import creates new records instead of trying to update non-existent ones.
Record Type	CERTIFICATION, BACKGROUND_CHECK, MEDICAL_RECORD, VACCINATION, TRAINING_RECORD, LICENSE, INSURANCE, OTHER	Required.
Subject Type	Always PERSON for member records	Required.
Template Name	The name of the agency Record Template, if the record was created from one	Optional. If present, the import looks up that template by name; if not found, the record is still created but template-linked fields (lock flags, notification timing) won't apply.
User Email	The agency member's login email	Required. Lookup is case-insensitive but the user must already exist in the agency. Rows with unknown emails are skipped with an error.
User First Name / User Last Name	Display only	Ignored on import — the user is identified by email.
Record Name	The cert / record name	Required.
Description	Free text	Optional.
Issuing Organization	Who issued it	Optional.
External Record ID	The ID printed on the certificate, if any (different from Record ID above)	Optional.
Issue Date	YYYY-MM-DD	Required.
Expiry Period	Months until expiration. Falls back to the template's value if blank.	Optional.
Status	ACTIVE, EXPIRED, etc. — recalculated from Issue Date + Expiry Period on save.	Ignored — the system computes it.
Validation Status	valid, pending, invalid	Optional. Defaults to pending when blank or unrecognized. Setting valid does NOT lock the record. The value affects what an admin can do next — see Validation Status and the import below.
Training Hours, Location, Instructor, Certification Level, Notes	Free-text / numeric metadata	Optional.
First / Second / Third / Final Notification Days	Days before expiration to send each notification. Falls back to the template's values if blank.	Optional.
Type Specific Data	JSON blob for record-type-specific fields like check_type for Background Checks	Optional.
Created By Email	Audit trail	Ignored on import — the importer's email is recorded.

Importing

From Team Certifications → Import. Pick a CSV file; the import runs in the background and shows a results modal when done.

What the import does, row by row

1. Find the user by User Email (case-insensitive). Skip the row with an error if not found.
2. Check for an existing record:
   • If Record ID is present and matches a record in your agency → update that record.
   • Otherwise, look for an existing record with the same (user, Record Name, Record Type). If found → update.
   • Otherwise → create a new record.
3. Apply the CSV's values to the record. The owner can edit anything except notes after this — unless the record is already locked.
4. Files are not affected. Existing files on existing records survive untouched.

Import results

The modal reports:

• Created — new records added.
• Updated — existing records where one or more fields changed.
• Errors — per-row error messages (e.g. "Row 47: User with email orphan@example.com not found in agency"). Other rows in the same file still import normally.

Validation Status and the import

The import never locks records on its own — locking is always a deliberate admin action (Validate or the manual Lock button). But the value you put in Validation Status controls what the admin can do next.

Validation Status in CSV	Imported record state	What admins see
Blank, or pending	pending, unlocked	Validate button is available. Clicking it flips the record to valid AND auto-locks it. This is the normal review flow.
valid	valid, unlocked	Validate button is unavailable (record reports "already validated"). To lock, admin uses the manual Lock button. Owner can edit until the lock fires.
invalid	invalid, unlocked	Validate button is available — admin re-validates → record flips to valid and auto-locks.

Recommendation: for a fresh agency seed or a normal bulk import, leave Validation Status blank. Records arrive as pending, the admin reviews each one through the normal Validate flow, and the lock happens at the moment they sign off — same as records created through the wizard.

Pre-marking rows as valid is appropriate when you're migrating from another system where approvals already happened. In that case the records skip the review step but do not lock automatically; lock them manually if you want them sealed.

Other ways to keep imports clean

• Don't worry about Record ID. If you're seeding fresh records, leave the column blank (or omit it entirely) and the import will create new rows.
• Status and Created By Email are read-only. The system computes Status from issue date + expiry; the importer's email is recorded as Created By automatically. Anything you put in those columns is ignored.

Round-trip update workflow

The most reliable bulk-update pattern:

1. Export the CSV from Team Certifications.
2. Open in Excel; edit only the cells you want to change.
3. Re-import. The Record ID column ensures every row matches the original record; only your edits are applied.

This avoids the "two records with the same name got collapsed" edge case that can happen when matching by name alone.

Supporting documents

The CSV does not include file attachments. To add a supporting document for a record:

1. Open the record from Team Certifications (or the member's own My Certifications page).
2. Use the Edit action.
3. Drag-and-drop or pick a file in the Supporting Documents section.
4. Save.

This works whether the record was created via the wizard or imported from a CSV. The only thing that prevents file uploads is a locked record (lock = admin signed off).

For agencies that need full backup including files, contact support — file-bundle export is on the roadmap but not yet built.

Permissions summary

Action	Required permission
Export CSV	Admin or Training Coordinator
Import CSV	Admin or Training Coordinator
Edit a record (when unlocked)	The record's owner, or Admin / Training Coordinator
Edit notes only	Anyone with view access
Validate a pending record	Admin or Training Coordinator
Lock a record manually	Admin or Training Coordinator
Unlock a locked record	Admin