Manage Data Through File Transfers

This article covers how to manage users and groups through Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). SFTP allows automatically importing files to create, update, and delete users, groups, memberships, and facilities. Each file type has its own set of column name requirements, see the sections below for detailed explanations, or download our example files. The standard SFTP integration supports uploading a single file for each data type (groups, users, memberships, and facilities). If you need to upload more than one file for any given data type, please contact your Account Manager or our Support team.

Automatic imports can occur at any interval that best fits your organization’s needs. Typically uploads occur either daily or weekly.

Important Notes

• It is important that the file(s) are formatted correctly to avoid errors.
• For the user file, the fields are mostly the same as the Member List Download
  • Unique Id and Location (lat;lon) are not in the member list download file, but SFTP supports those. UniqueId is required.
  • A valid email is required per user. A valid placeholder email can be used if needed.
• If files are uploaded using SFTP, we compare the uniqueIds in the new file to:
  • Update any user with a matching ID.
  • Add a user for rows with a UniqueId that is not in the system.
  • Remove any users where the uniqueId exists in the system but is no longer in the file.
• There are settings to determine which fields data is pulled from that development will set.
• The configuration of what fields are pulled must be configured by our development team.

What Data Can Be Transferred Using SFTP

Users

• The following columns are required when importing a user file:
  • UniqueId: A unique identifier (such as Badge Number, User ID, or Employee ID)
  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Email
• The following columns are common, but not required:
  • Role (if the role column is included, values must match a known role in the system)
  • Title
  • Cell Phone
  • Business Phone
  • Location: if provided, user locations will be displayed for geo-fenced alerting
  • AssetId: required if importing facility data. Users will be associated with the correct facility if a match is found. Values are matched to the UniqueId column in the facility file
• If you want to manage public users through SFTP, an additional column will need to be added.
  • Column Name: Classification
  • Column Values:
    • Internal: Used for any internal users within the file
    • Public: Used for any public users within the file
      • Public users apply to Government customers and Public Alerting Authorities.

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Groups

• Required columns (in order):
  • uniqueId: Unique ID for the group
  • parentId: The unique ID for the parent group if the group is a subgroup. If the group is not a subgroup leave this cell blank.
  • groupName
  • GroupStructureImport: leave all rows blank, this notates the file data type
• If you want to manage public groups through SFTP, two additional columns will need to be added:
  • Column Name: Classification
  • Column Values:
    • Internal: Used for any internal groups within the file
    • Public: Used for any public groups within the file
  • Column Name: ShowOnPublicSignUp
  • Column Values:
    • True
    • False

Public groups apply to Government clients and Public Alerting Authorities.

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Group Memberships

• Required columns (in order)
  • memberId: Unique ID of the associated user
  • groupId: Unique ID of the group the user belongs to
  • groupName
  • GroupMembershipImport: Leave all rows blank, this notates the file data type

Group Structure

Users and groups should not be mixed when nesting groups. Users should only be added to the lowest level of nesting within a group structure.

Good Example:

• Departments
  • Security
    • User 1
  • Facilities
    • User 2

Bad Example:

• Departments
  • Security
    • User 1
  • Facilities
    • User 2
  • User 3

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Facility Files

Facilities

The following columns are required when importing a facilities file:

• UniqueId: A unique identifier for the facility
• FacilityName
• LocationType
• FacilityLocation: Latitude/Longitude of the facility
• FacilityAddress1
• FacilityAddress2
• FacilityCity
• FacilityState
• FacilityCountry
• FacilityPostalCode
• AssetsImport

Facility Definitions

Facility definitions provide additional details about your sites that are used within our Geo-Fenced Alerting tools. Both a Facility and Facility Definitions file are required if you would like to import your organization's facility data.

The following columns are required when importing a facility definitions file:

• AttributeName
• AttributeType
• Attributevalue
  • This is the only column that will need to be edited from the example file
  • The value of this column should match the various LocationType values in the facility file in a semi-colon delimited format
  • Example: Data Center;Local Office;Main Office
• AssetsDefinitionImport

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Requirements

There are several requirements and information that is exchanged to establish a connection to the SFTP server. Upon requesting an SFTP account you will be provided with a more detailed explanation of what is needed and how to connect.

The basic requirements include:

• SSH (Secure Shell) key for Authentication
  • Rather than username/password, keypair authentication is used to connect to the server
  • We will need the public SSH key that pairs with your private SSH key to create your SFTP account
  • You will use your private SSH key to connect to the server
• A unique/secure username provided by Konexus
• Konexus only allows known IP Addresses to connect to the server
  • The public IP address for any computer you wish to connect with will need to be provided to Konexus

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File Examples