Importing participants and staff from a spreadsheet

Bring your workforce in from a spreadsheet with a CSV bulk invite, and add participants through intake. Larger migrations of participants, plans and opening balances are run with the CompanionAxis team.

Before you begin

• The worker invites permission (for bulk invites) and participants create permission (for participants).
• Your branches set up, with the same names you’ll use in the spreadsheet.

Prepare the staff CSV

1. Create a spreadsheet with a header row and one person per row.
2. Use these column headings: name (required), email, mobile, role, branch, employment, start.
3. Write employment as casual, part_time, full_time or contractor, and start as a date such as 2026-12-01.
4. Save it as a CSV file.

Example row: Alex Smith,[email protected],0412345678,support_worker,Parramatta,casual,2026-12-01

Bulk invite workers from the CSV

1. Go to Team → Invites and onboarding and select Bulk invite.
2. Select Choose a CSV file, or paste the rows into the box.
3. Under Send by, tick Email and/or SMS, then select Check.
4. Review each row: Ready, or Fix this row with the reason underneath. Fix the file and check again if needed.
5. Select Send N invites. Rows that still need fixing aren’t sent.

Add participants

1. Go to People → All participants and select Add participant.
2. Work through Details and NDIS number, Plan and funding, Contacts and nominee, Communication and preferences, Risks and consent and Services and agreement.
3. Select Create participant on the last step.
4. Repeat for each participant, starting with those you’ll roster first.

Plan a full data migration

CompanionAxis has an import service for participants, users, NDIS plans and budgets, and budget opening balances, with a dry run before anything is saved and a 24-hour undo.

1. Export participants, staff, plans and spent-to-date balances from your old system.
2. Contact CompanionAxis support to arrange the import.
3. Track progress in Settings → Organisation and sites → Set-up and updates under Migrate: Participants imported, Staff imported, NDIS plans and budgets loaded and Opening balances checked.

Tips

• For participant imports, each row needs at least first name, last name, date of birth and branch. NDIS numbers must be 9 digits starting with 43.
• Import opening balances so budgets show what was already spent before you moved.

If something goes wrong

Rows show Fix this row

Read the message under the row (for example a missing name or an unknown branch), correct the CSV and select Check again.

Nothing happens after choosing the file

The file must be a .csv with a header row. Save the spreadsheet as CSV (comma separated) and choose it again.

An imported budget shows the full amount remaining

Opening balances (spent to date) weren’t loaded. Ask support to import them, or record an adjustment on the budget.