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Import Employee Documents

Go paperless and keep all your employee documents in one place by importing your employees' documents into Avanti.

If Import Employee Documents isn’t on your System Menu yet, go to How to Add New Items to Your Avanti Menus for more information.

Overview

  • You can import documents with any of these file types: PDF, DOC/DOCX, CSV, DBF, HTML, TXT, XLS/XLSX, XML, GIF, JPG, PNG.

  • Avanti can only import one file type at a time. You’ll need to import every other kind of file separately.

  • You can only import from one folder at a time.

  • You must include the employee number in the file name, including leading zeros.

  • Documents in Avanti are categorized by document types, such as Appraisals and TD1 forms. If you’re importing files with different document types, you’ll need to import every document type separately.

How to Name the Documents

When importing documents, the most important thing is how you name these documents. This is how we attach the document to the correct employee and ensure the right files are uploaded.

Including Employee Numbers
You’ll need to include the employee number in each file name, so the file will be added to right employee. Even though you can include the number anywhere in the file, we recommend keeping your employee numbers at the beginning of the file name for simplicity.

Once you’ve added the employee number, add either a - or a _ before the rest of the file name. Just be sure to use either - or _ consistently for all the file names.

If your employee number has leading zeros, include them in the file name. We recommend copying the number from the Employee Profile to ensure the documents are added to the right employee.

For example, if we are importing a Promotion Letter for employee 000000001, we would name the file "000000001-Promotion Letter".

Importing Different Document Types
It’s essential to keep the naming conventions consistent for each type of document you’re importing. Documents for every document type are imported separately.

For example: If you’re importing Role Change Letters and Direct Deposit Forms, you’ll want to import all Role Change Letters, then all Direct Deposit Forms.

000000001-Promotion Letter.pdf
000047294-Promotion Letter.pdf
000043245-Promotion Letter.pdf

000000001-Direct Deposit Form.pdf
000000002-Direct Deposit Form.pdf
000000003-Direct Deposit Form.pdf

You can import the different document types by including a File Search Mask of *Promotion Letter during the first import and *Direct Deposit Form during your second import.

Additional Text in the file name
If you have additional text in the file name that varies from file-to-file, you can still use Import Employee Document; you’ll just need to include a * in the location of the varying text in File Search Mask.

For example: If you’ve included the date at the end of each file, you can import the files by setting the File Search Mask to *Promotion Letter*. This would ensure all these files are imported:

000000001-Promotion Letter-2021Jan1.pdf
000047294-Promotion Letter-2021Feb1.pdf
000043245-Promotion Letter-2021May1.pdf

How to Import Employee Documents

Once you’re done updating the file names, you’re ready to import the documents.

How to make the Import File Selections

Step 1: Open Import Employee Documents in the Avanti Desktop Application.
By default, this can be found in Canadian Payroll >> Employee Profile.

Step 2: Select the arrow beside Input Folder, then navigate to the location you saved the documents. Select OK.

Step 3: Enter the file mask. Add a star * at the beginning of the mask to represent the employee number. If there’s any other text that isn’t consistent in the file names, replace it with a star. The file extension is required.

Additional Information
To import all files in the folder, enter * in File Search Mask.

Step 4: Select the type of file to import in File Type.

Additional Information
Select DOC to import both DOC and DOCX files. Select XLS to import both XLS an XLSX files.

Step 5: To ensure you’re set up to import the correct files, select Show Matching Files.

Additional Information
The name of all the matching files appear in the results.

Step 6: If your employee number is at the beginning of the file name, enter 1 in Employee Number Segment. Otherwise, enter the location of the employee number in the file name in Employee Number Segment.

Additional Information
In the file name, each segment is separated with a - or a _. For example if the file name for employee 000001002 is:

  • ‘T2200-2020-000001002.pdf’, the Employee Number Segment is 3.

  • '000001002-Promotion Letter.pdf', the Employee Number Segment is 1.

Step 7: Select what separates each segment of the file name in Segment Separator. It can either be a - or a _.

Step 8: Determine what happens if an employee already has a file with the file name.

  • To import the file with a new revision number, select Import With Different Revision.

  • To import the file with a new name, select Import With Different File Name. An underscore and number will be added to the end of the imported file name.

  • To delete the existing file and replace it with the imported, select Replace.

Additional Information
A message displays to let you know before a duplicate file is imported.

How to Include Additional Employee Document Information

This section guides you through selecting the Document Type and adding additional information for the documents. The document information displays in the Avanti Desktop and on the Avanti Self-Service Portal before the document is viewed.

Step 1: Select the Document Type for the imported files.

Step 2: Select how to save your PDF documents. If you’re not importing PDF files, skip to Step 3.

  • Select Save PDF Forms As Non-Fillable, to make all the fillable fields in the document read-only.

  • Deselect Save PDF Forms As Non-Fillable, if employees will need to update the fillable fields in the PDF.

Step 3: Enter a Description for the documents.

Additional Information
This helps ensure you’re opening the correct document when you look at it in the future and is required.

Step 4: Enter a Summary if you’d like to include some additional information for these documents.

How to Import the Documents into Avanti

Once you’ve reviewed your import selections, you’re ready to import your employee documents.

Step 1: Select Import.

Important Information
As soon as you select Import, the documents start uploading into Avanti.

Step 2: Before we import a file with a duplicate name in Avanti, a message similar to the following displays:

Determine what to do with the document you’re importing:

  • Select Yes to import this document.

  • Select No to skip importing this document.

  • Select Yes To All to import all documents with the same file name as a file within Avanti.

  • Select No To All to skip importing all documents with the same file name as a file within Avanti.

  • Select Cancel to stop importing the documents.

Nice job! You’ve finished importing your employee’s documents. We recommend printing or saving the results for future reference.

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