Onboarding Automation

This article will help you to understand the content that needs to be uploaded for onboarding automation as well as the formatting rules needed for full functionality in the platform.

Steps to Automate

1. Format your "user file" correctly
2. Navigate to "Admin" settings - top right hand on home page  
3. Click "Settings" tab - top left hand
4. Click "Onboarding" - left column list

Formatting Your User File

In order for the automation to be able to process awards, the platform user file sent to the Awardco servers must include a hire date for each user in the platform. The hire date will be accepted in any of the following formats:

As you consider sending this information, please contact your Awardco point of contact before making any changes to your user file. The more our team knows about the information you're sending over, the better assistance we can provide.

We highly recommend discussing the addition of this feature to your platform with your Client Success Manager. Because the system schedules awards using a set number of days or months after the new employees' start dates, the frequency with which the platform user file is updated can have a significant impact on the way the file processes the recognitions. To make sure your file is updated at a frequency that is compatible with this automation, be sure to discuss the feature with your Client Success Manager. 

Building the Automation

Locating the Onboarding Program in Settings

Once you have loaded a hire date for each user in the platform, the next step is telling the platform what to do with that date. The rules for this automation will be entered into the platform by uploading a .CSV file in the "On-boarding Beta" sub-tab in the settings tab of your admin section. To begin, download the template by clicking the "Upload CSV" button and "onboard.csv" under the template section in the pop-up window. Open the .CSV file and follow the instructions below. 

.CSV File Field Explanation

To better assist you as you create this file, please reference the sample file attached to this article at the bottom of the page. 

Country Code - Onboarding programs are organized by country and so, each country running an onboarding program will fill its own row. Begin by inputting the two letter country code for each participating country. For example, Canada is CA, the United Kingdom is GB, the United States is US, Mexico is MX, Germany is DE, and so on. You can find two letter country codes at World Atlas or another similar site. There are a few countries with two letter codes that can be represented in different ways, so if you are unsure of the code you should use here, please contact us.

One thing to note, it's possible for a country code to be used on multiple rows provided the day or month is different from the other occurrence. This provides a way by which you can send out multiple emails to your new hires. One way this is commonly used is when new employees go through standard training programs. For example, on day 5 the "General Welcome" email is sent. On day 15, the "Two Weeks in the Bag" email is sent. On day 40, the "Innovation Training Completion" email and award is sent. Use this ability to get creative with the way you welcome your employees! 

Metadata Rules - Using the metadata rules column, it is possible to tailor your onboarding automation to specific subgroups of your organization. To utilize this option, you must include metadata in your user file. Enter data in cells under this column using the following format {"#Metadata Header":["Metadata Value"]}. For example, {“Department”:[“Sales”], “Clearance Level”:[“1”,”2”]}. Be sure to omit the "#" value before "Department" and "Clearance" in the metadata header, as it upload the data, but not populate the automation if "#" is left in the header. When using this option, remember to configure a row for users in the listed metadata grouping and any users who are not a part of the metadata grouping. For example, if you create one row for employees in the US who are in sales, unless you include a second row for US employees who are not in sales, no other employees will receive an onboarding award.

Month - The number of months after the hire date on which the recognition and any associated emails will be sent. For example, if you input '3' and the user's hire date is January 15th, the recognition will process on April 15th. 

Day - The number of days after the employee's hire date on which the recognition and any associated emails will be sent. For example, if you input 8, the recognition will send 8 days after the employee's hire date. 

From Supervisor - The 'From Supervisor' column must be filled with a "True" or "False" value. If you enter "True," the system will access the hierarchy established in your user file and will use the recognition recipient's direct manager as the "from" value on the recognition. The recognition in the platform and any reference to a "from" user in the email will reference the user's direct manager. If you enter "False," you will need to input a value in the "From User" column.

From User - If you enter "True" in the "From Supervisor" column, leave this cell blank. If you enter "False" in the "From Supervisor" column, enter the employee ID for the user you would like the recognition to be sent from. 

Note - This is the text that will be attached to the recognition in the platform feed. While you are able to enter what you like, we recommend keeping this message rather short. If you would like to communicate a welcome message from the CEO, highlight terms of use for the platform, or any other long message, we recommend including these in the email that is sent to the user.

Amount - This value is the amount that will be attached to the recognition. If you are not attaching a monetary amount to these recognitions, enter zero in this cell. 

Budget - If you are awarding any amount greater than zero, you will need to designate the budget from which the funds will be sourced. For the automation to function correctly, the budget name entered here must exactly match the name of the budget in the platform. For example, if you would like to pull from the "New Employee" budget and you type "Welcome New Employees" in this cell, the platform will be unable to pull funds from the correct budget.

Public - This field is a "True" or "False" statement. When you enter "True," the recognition will be displayed publicly in the platform's feed. When you enter "False," the recognition will be processed privately and will not be displayed on the public feed.

User Email Template - In this field, enter the name of the template that you would like to send to the new employee. The value entered here will need to match the name of the template exactly. While this field is not required, we recommend working with the Awardco team to build and utilize an email that will celebrate your employee. 

Supervisor Email Template - In this field, enter the name of the template you would like sent to the employee's direct manager. The value entered here must match the name of the template exactly. Like the user email template, this field is not required but is recommended. The supervisor email can only be sent at the same time as the user email. It is not currently possible to send the manager email before the user email. 

Time - The hour must be entered in the 24-hour format. For example, if you would like the recognition to be processed at 3:00 pm, enter "15." As the system will only process recognitions on the hour, a minute value should not be provided. 

Time Zone - Enter the time zone by spelling the time zone out completely. For example, east coast time in the U.S. would be entered as eastern standard time. There is no need to adjust for daylight time as the system will automatically make the adjustment based on the time of year. You may reference this Wikipedia article to locate your local time zone. 

Uploading the .CSV File and Final Settings Configuration

After you have built the file, return to the platform and in the same pop-up window, upload the new file by clicking "Choose File." Click "OK" to load the file into the platform. If there are any problems with the file, follow the directions in the error message to correct the file, and re-upload the file. If you cannot resolve the file issue, please speak with your Awardco point of contact. Once the file is successfully loaded into the system, you will see your file loaded into the table below the headers on the onboarding page.

Please note that this automation does not award retroactively. The system will use the rules you have loaded to search the platform once a day and schedule upcoming awards in the bulk recognize function. You can view and delete these pending awards by going to the queues tab in the admin section and clicking bulk recognition. 

If you feel this article left your questions unanswered, please contact your Client Success Manager so we can better assist you.