The end-user article Practitioner — Bulk Upload from Spreadsheet describes how a user runs an upload. This article is for the administrator who prepares the source data or troubleshoots a failed import. It covers the column specifications, what validates and what does not, and how to recover from failures.

Uploader	Path	Required catalogs that must exist in HMIS first
Doctors	/admin/staff/upload_doctors.xhtml	All Specialities
Consultants	/admin/staff/upload_consultants.xhtml	Doctor Specialities
Staff	/admin/staff/upload_staff.xhtml	Optional: Bank institutions (for column O), Department, Branch

Privilege required: AdminStaff.

Column	Field	Validation	Notes
A	Code	None	Short internal code. Optional. If purely numeric it is also captured as the integer code.
B	Title	Must match a Title enum label (Dr., Prof., Mr., Ms., …).	Required.
C	Name	Non-empty	Required. Becomes Person.name.
D	Registration Number	None — free text.	Optional.
E	Description	None	Optional.
F	Sex	Must be M or F.	Required.
G	Mobile Number	None	Optional but recommended for SMS.
H	Speciality	Must match a Speciality.name (All Specialities catalog). Case-sensitive.	Required; rows with an unmatched value will appear in the preview without a speciality and will not save.

Action method: dataUploadController.uploadDoctors. Save method: dataUploadController.saveDoctors.

Same eight columns as the Doctor upload, with one key difference: the Speciality column must match a DoctorSpeciality.name (Doctor Specialities catalog), not a Speciality.name.

Column	Field	Notes
A	Code	Optional
B	Title	Required
C	Name	Required
D	Registration Number	Optional
E	Description	Optional
F	Sex	Required (M / F)
G	Mobile Number	Optional
H	Speciality	Required (Doctor Specialities catalog)

Action method: dataUploadController.uploadConsultants. Save method: dataUploadController.saveConsultants.

The staff uploader handles non-doctor records (nurses, technicians, cashiers, etc.). It has fifteen columns and runs as a background-polling import for files of any meaningful size.

Column	Field	Required?	Notes
A	Code	Optional	Internal code.
B	EPF No	Required	Payroll EPF number. Used for many salary reports.
C	Title	Required	Mr., Ms., etc.
D	Name	Required	Display name.
E	Full Name	Required	Legal full name.
F	Name with Initials	Required	X. Y. Surname form.
G	Address	Required	Postal address.
H	Sex	Required	M / F.
I	NIC No	Required	National identity card.
J	DOB	Required	Date of birth. Excel date or ISO.
K	Date of Retired	Optional	Set if importing already-retired records.
L	Department	Optional	If supplied, must match an existing Department name.
M	Branch	Optional	Existing institution name.
N	Account No	Optional	Salary account number.
O	Bank	Optional	Bank institution name (must already exist).

Action method: dataUploadController.uploadStaff. Save method: dataUploadController.saveStaff. The screen also enables <p:poll> to refresh the preview every 10 seconds while parsing.

The Upload step parses the file into an in-memory list. Nothing is committed until the user clicks Save. The preview grid is the only place to spot issues before persistence — if the spreadsheet has a typo in a Speciality value, the row appears with an empty Speciality and the user can decide whether to fix and re-upload.

There is no automatic duplicate detection. Re-uploading the same spreadsheet a second time creates a second set of records.

Field	Reason
Code uniqueness	The system does not check that two rows have different codes.
EPF No uniqueness	Same.
NIC uniqueness	Same.
Department / Branch existence (Staff upload)	If a value does not match, the field is left blank on the record; the row still saves.
Bank existence (Staff upload column O)	Same.
Dates (DOB, Date Retired)	The uploader trusts whatever Excel parsed; bad strings end up as null.

The administrator is responsible for ensuring the source data is clean before upload.

There is no "undo upload" button. If a Save has produced wrong records, the only remedy is to retire the unwanted records:

1. Identify the rows added in error (sort the relevant list by Created At; the newest rows are usually the import batch).
2. Tick them on the Bulk Delete Staff screen (Practitioner — Deactivate and Bulk Delete).
3. Click Remove Selected.

Soft-deleting hides them from active lists; the records remain in the database. If absolutely necessary, hard-delete the rows with a database administrator's help — but be aware this loses any linked bills, sessions, or audit references.

Before running a real production upload:

1. Open a small test instance (or a test institution) and trial the spreadsheet end-to-end.
2. Confirm the speciality, department, branch, and bank names in the spreadsheet match the catalogs exactly (case-sensitive).
3. Confirm the Title column matches recognised values.
4. Check that no two rows share the same EPF No or NIC, since the uploader will not warn you.
5. Save a copy of the file under version control — the system does not retain the source.

• No row-level error report. If a row fails to save (e.g., because of a database constraint), the screen does not produce a downloadable error log.
• No upload schedule or background queue. Large files block the user's session for the duration of parsing.
• No promotion path. A row in the Doctor uploader cannot be marked as "this should be a Consultant"; for consultants, use the Consultant uploader from the start.

• Practitioner — Bulk Upload from Spreadsheet — end-user workflow.
• Admin — Specialities Catalog
• Admin — Doctor Specialities Catalog
• Admin — Staff Categories, Designations, Grades
• Practitioner — Deactivate and Bulk Delete

Back to Admin — Practitioner Module Configuration Overview