📖 user-guide

Import Data

<span class="feature-status implemented">Implemented</span> — Batch import (Tab 1, Story 10.1) and legacy BAT-format export/import (Tab 4, Story 10.20) are both live. Historical CSV/JSON batch import

Last updated: June 13, 2026 Reading time: 5 minutes File size: 6.58 KB

Last Updated: 2026-06-13

Overview

The Import Data tab consolidates all five batch import modals into a single, organised screen. Previously, import buttons were scattered across the event management dashboard, company management screen, and user list — they have been moved here and removed from those pages.

A second, related surface — the Export / Import tab (Tab 4) — handles full data round-trips in the legacy BAT JSON format. See Legacy BAT-Format Export & Import below.

Navigation: Administration → Tab 1 (Import Data)

Import Types

Each import type is presented as a card with a description and a trigger button.

Events

Import historical event records in bulk.

Use case: Backfilling past BATbern events (e.g., the 57-event historical archive) for reporting and the public archive browser.

Fields: event number, title, date, venue, type, topic

Sessions

Import session/presentation data for historical or upcoming events.

Use case: Populating session details for events that were managed outside the platform.

Fields: event reference, session title, speaker name, session type, time slot, abstract

Companies

Import company records in bulk.

Use case: Initial data load from spreadsheets or a previous system.

Fields: company name, Swiss UID (CHE-XXX.XXX.XXX), tier, website, address

Speakers

Import speaker profiles.

Use case: Migrating a speaker database from a previous CRM or spreadsheet.

Fields: name, email, company, bio, expertise areas, LinkedIn URL

Participants / Attendees

Import historical attendance data.

Use case: Backfilling attendance records for past events to enable partner analytics and attendance tracking.

Fields: event reference, attendee name, email, company name, attended (boolean)

Import Process

Each import modal follows the same multi-step flow:

1. Choose file  →  2. Validate  →  3. Preview  →  4. Import  →  5. Result

Step 1: Choose File

  • Accepted formats: CSV and JSON
  • File size limit: 10 MB
  • Drag-and-drop or file browser

Step 2: Validation

After uploading, the platform validates every row before importing anything:

  • Required fields — missing mandatory values are flagged
  • Format checks — Swiss UID format, date format, valid email syntax
  • Duplicate detection — records that already exist in the database are identified

If validation finds errors, a summary is shown and no data is imported. You can download an error export (CSV) listing each invalid row and the reason.

Step 3: Preview

A paginated preview table shows the first 50 rows that will be imported, with colour-coded indicators:

Colour Meaning
Green New record — will be created
Yellow Duplicate — will be skipped (or optionally updated)
Red Invalid — will not be imported

Step 4: Import

Click Start Import to begin. A progress indicator shows:

  • Records processed
  • Records created
  • Records skipped (duplicates)
  • Records failed

The import runs in the background — you can navigate away and return to check progress.

Step 5: Result

A summary report shows final counts. You can download:

  • Success report (CSV) — all imported record IDs
  • Error report (CSV) — rows that could not be imported with reasons

Tips

Prepare your file first: Review column headers against the expected field names. The import modal shows a template download link for each entity type.

Start small: For large imports (1,000+ rows), test with a 10-row sample first to verify column mapping before running the full file.

Historical participant data: When importing participants for analytics purposes, the company name field is used directly for partner attendance aggregation — ensure it exactly matches the company names already in the system.

Legacy BAT-Format Export & Import

Implemented (Story 10.20)

Separate from the per-entity batch importers above, the Export / Import tab (Tab 4 of the Administration page) handles full data round-trips in the legacy BAT JSON format. This is used to migrate data between system versions and to interoperate with the old BATspa platform.

The per-entity CSV/JSON importers (Tab 1) are for backfilling historical records; the legacy BAT export/import (Tab 4) is for whole-dataset round-trips. They are complementary.

What you can export

Export Endpoint Contents
Legacy data GET /api/v1/admin/export/legacy A single JSON file with the envelope { version, exportedAt, events[], companies[], speakers[], attendees[] }
Asset manifest GET /api/v1/admin/export/assets A JSON manifest of presigned download URLs ({ exportedAt, assetCount, assets[] }); each URL is valid for 1 hour

Both exports are organizer-only (other roles receive 403).

What you can import

Import Endpoint Behaviour
Legacy data POST /api/v1/admin/import/legacy (multipart JSON file) Upserts events, sessions, speakers, companies, and attendees; returns { imported, skipped, errors }. Idempotent — importing the same file twice has no side effects. Invalid JSON returns 400 with structured errors.
Assets POST /api/v1/admin/import/assets (multipart ZIP file) Unpacks the ZIP to S3 under an imports/{timestamp}/ prefix and links each asset to its entity by filename convention.

Using the tab

  1. Navigate to Administration → Export / Import
  2. To export: click the export button — the JSON (or asset manifest) downloads as batbern-export-{date}.json
  3. To import: pick the JSON (or asset ZIP) file, then confirm in the confirmation dialog that appears before any import runs
  4. After import, a result summary shows per-entity counts of records imported, skipped, and any errors

Because the legacy import is idempotent, it is safe to re-run after fixing a partial dataset.