Importing Historical Records into SoterAI

If your organisation has existing safety records in a spreadsheet or another system, you can import them directly into SoterAI's Records Management module. This lets you migrate historical data — incidents, hazard reports, inspections, or any other record type — without re-entering it manually.

Before you start

• Who can import: Owners, Managers, and Users can import data. Read-Only and Actions Access users cannot.
• Supported file formats: CSV (.csv) and Excel (.xlsx)
• Maximum file size: 10 MB
• Maximum records per import: Up to 10,000 records — the system is designed to process a file of this size in under 5 minutes.
• Have your Record Type ready: You must have an existing Record Type set up before importing. The import maps your file's columns to the fields defined in that Record Type. If you don't have one yet, create it first in Records Management.

How to import records

Step 1 — Open the import tool

Navigate to Records Management in the sidebar and open the Record Type you want to import data into. On the records table page, click the Import button.

Step 2 — Upload your file

Select your CSV or Excel file and upload it. The system will read the file and display a column mapping interface.

Step 3 — Map your columns

The column mapping interface shows your file's columns on one side and the fields defined in your Record Type on the other. Match each column from your file to the corresponding field in the Record Type.

A few things to keep in mind:

• You don't need to map every column — only map the fields you want to import
• Required fields in your Record Type must be mapped (or have a default value) for the import to succeed
• Unsupported field types (Repeating Sections and File fields) cannot be imported via CSV/Excel — if your Record Type contains these, you will see a warning and guidance on how to handle them
• Date fields accept the ISO format: YYYY-MM-DD (e.g., 2025-03-15). Make sure your date columns are formatted correctly before importing

Step 4 — Handle locations

If your records include a Location field, the system will attempt to match the values in your file against the locations already defined in your workspace.

If a location in your file does not yet exist in the workspace, the system will automatically create it by default. You can turn this option off if you prefer — in which case, rows containing unrecognised locations will be flagged as candidates for rejection rather than imported.

Step 5 — Confirm and import

Review the mapping and click Import to start the process. The system will validate your data before completing the import. Any rows that fail validation will be reported so you can correct them.

After the import

Once complete, your records will appear in the Record Type's table alongside any manually created records. Imported records behave exactly like records created manually — they can be viewed, edited, filtered, exported, and have actions attached to them.

Tips for a smooth import

• Check your date formats before uploading — dates that don't match YYYY-MM-DD may fail validation
• Clean up your spreadsheet first — remove any summary rows, merged cells, or formatting that isn't data
• Match your column headers to your Record Type field names where possible — this makes the mapping step faster
• Start with a small test file (e.g., 10–20 rows) to verify your column mapping before importing the full dataset
• If your file is larger than 10 MB, split it into multiple files and import them in batches