Setup > About the Candidates screen > Importing candidates with a spreadsheet

Importing candidates with a spreadsheet

Candidates (also known as “students” or “learners”) are people that take tests using Surpass. Unlike users, candidates do not log into Surpass. Candidates only access their tests in the test driver—either in a web browser or SecureClient.

You can use a spreadsheet to import up to 1,500 candidates in the Candidates screen.

TIP: You can also create candidates individually in the Surpass UI in the Candidates screen. For more information, read Creating a candidate.

This article explains how to use a spreadsheet to import candidates in the Candidates screen.

1. Go to the Candidates screen

To view the Candidates screen, go to Setup > Candidates.

2. Select Upload Candidates

Select Upload Candidates to open the Upload Candidates dialog.

3. Set up centre and subject associations

Before you can upload your candidates, you must first define their parent centre and subject(s).

Use the Select Centre menu to choose a parent centre.

The chosen centre determines the available subjects. Select the subjects you want to associate the candidates with in Select Associated Subjects. Use Select/Deselect All to select or clear all subjects.

TIP: Use the search bar to search for specific subjects. If multiple subjects match your search criteria, you can use Select/Deselect filtered subjects to select all subjects that match your search criteria.

4. Create import spreadsheet

Select Download Sample CSV to download a template spreadsheet.

The following table lists all columns in the template spreadsheet. Use this information to populate your spreadsheet. Use one row for each candidate.

NOTE: Columns marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory.

Column	Description
SCN	Enter the candidates’ unique reference codes. NOTE: If this column is left blank, Surpass will automatically generate a reference code for each candidate.
Forename*	Enter the candidates’ first names.
Middlename	Enter the candidates’ middle names, if available.
Surname*	Enter the candidates’ last names.
Gender	Enter the candidates’ genders. Accepted values are `M`, `F`, `U`, `Male`, `Female`, and `Unspecified`.
Date of Birth*	Enter the candidates’ dates of birth in DD/MM/YYYY format.
Telephone	Enter the candidates’ telephone numbers, if available.
Email	Enter the candidates’ email addresses, if available.
Reasonable Adjustments	Indicate whether the candidates should be granted extra time on their tests. Accepted values are `Y` and `N`.
Expiry date	Enter the candidates’ expiry dates in DD/MM/YYYY format. NOTE: If left blank, candidates' expiry dates are automatically set to ten years from the upload date.

TIP: You can add new columns to the spreadsheet for custom candidate tags. Use the name of the tag group as the column header and enter the relevant tag values against each candidate. For more information on candidate tags, read Setting up candidate tags.

Save the spreadsheet in CSV format when complete.

5. Upload spreadsheet to Surpass

Select Browse in the Upload Candidates dialog to open your device’s file explorer. Choose the spreadsheet to upload it to Surpass.

When the spreadsheet has uploaded, its filename appears under Upload File.

6. Import candidates

Select Upload to import the candidates to your chosen centre and subject(s).

NOTE: The import may fail if there are more than 1,500 candidates in the spreadsheet, if there are tag values in custom tag group columns that do not already exist in Surpass, or if a custom tag column does not have any tag value data in its cells.

TIP: You can re-upload a spreadsheet with updated data to edit many candidates at the same time. Using the same spreadsheet does not overwrite candidates or create duplicates providing each candidate reference (SCN) in the spreadsheet matches the candidate in Surpass.