This article will help you to automate your organization's Birthday Awards via CSV file. Please consider configuring service swards through our Birthday Awards Automation Builder first before pursing this option.
Formatting Your User File
In order for the automation to be able to process awards, your platform user file sent to the Awardco servers must include a birthdate for each user in the platform. The birthdate will be accepted in any of the following formats:
As you consider sending this information, please contact your Awardco point of contact before making any changes to your user file. The more our team knows about the information you're sending over, the better assistance we can provide.
Building the Automation
Locating the Birthday Program in Settings
Once you have loaded a birthdate for each user in the platform, the next step is teaching the platform what to do with that date. The rules for this automation will be entered into the platform by uploading a .CSV file in the Birthdays sub-tab in the Settings tab of your Admin Section. To begin, download the template by clicking the "Upload CSV" button and "birthdays.csv" under the template section in the pop-up window. Open the .CSV file and follow the instructions below.
Birthday Rule File Fields Explanation
To assist you as you create this file, please reference this sample .CSV.
Country Code - Birthday programs are organized by country and so, each country running a birthday program will fill its own row. Begin by inputting the two letter country code for each participating country. For example, Canada is CA, the United Kingdom is GB, the United States is US, Mexico is MX, Germany is DE, and so on. You can find two letter country codes at World Atlas or another similar site. There are a few countries with two letter codes that can be represented in different ways, so if you are unsure of the code you should use here, please contact your main Awardco point of contact.
From Supervisor - The 'From Supervisor' column must be filled with a "True" or "False" value. If you enter "True," the system will access the hierarchy established in your user file and will use the birthday recipient's direct manager as the "from" value on the recognition. The recognition in the platform and any reference to a "from" user in the email will reference the user's direct manager. If you enter "False," you will need to input a value in the "From User" column.
From User - If you enter "True" in the "From Supervisor" column, leave this cell blank. If you enter "False" in the "From Supervisor" column, enter the employee ID for the user you would like the recognition to be sent from.
Note - Here you will enter the text that will be displayed with the recognition in the platform. The best practice is to keep this message quite short. A longer birthday message can be built into the email template chosen in column H.
Amount - The amount designated here is the amount you will award to the birthday award recipient. If you would like to process a non-monetary award, enter "0." It is important to note that the amount will be awarded in the currency the platform was built in. If your platform uses USD, entering 15 will award $15 USD.
Budget - If you are awarding any amount greater than zero with this birthday award, you will need to designate the budget from which the funds will be sourced. For the automation to function correctly, the budget name entered here must exactly match the name of the budget in the platform. For example, if you would like to pull from the "Birthday" budget and you type "Birthdays" in this cell, the platform will be unable to pull funds from the correct budget.
Public - This field is a "True" or "False" statement. When you enter "True," the recognition will be displayed publicly in the platform's feed. When you enter "False," the recognition will be processed privately and will not be displayed on the public feed.
User Email Template - In this field, enter the name of the template that you would like to send to the employee celebrating the birthday. The value entered here will need to match the name of the template exactly. While this field is not required, we recommend working with the Awardco team to build and utilize an email that will celebrate your employee.
Supervisor Email Template - In this field, enter the name of the template you would like sent to the employee's direct manager. The value entered here must match the name of the template exactly. Like the user email template, this field is not required but is recommended. We recommend providing specific guidelines for managers when notifying them of their employees' birthdays, as some employees may not appreciate public recognition in the workplace. Providing manager guidelines helps to ensure that managers are mindful of how they help their employees celebrate.
Hour - The hour must be entered in the 24-hour format. For example, if you would like the recognition to be processed at 3:00 pm, enter "15." As the system will only process recognitions on the hour, a minute value should not be provided.
Time Zone - Enter the time zone by spelling the time zone out completely. For example, East Coast time in the U.S. would be entered as Eastern Standard Time. There is no need to adjust for daylight time as the system will automatically make the adjustment based on the time of year. You may reference this Wikipedia article to locate your local time zone.
Supervisor Offset - The supervisor offset field allows you to schedule the manager notification email to be sent in the days leading up to the employee's birthday. The value entered here must be between -21 and 0. If you enter '-3' the manager notification email will be sent three days prior to the employee's birthdate. If you want the manager notification to be sent at the same time as the employee email, enter '0.'
Metadata - To utilize this option, you must include metadata in your user file. Enter data in cells under this column using the following format {"#Metadata Header":["Metadata Value"]}. For example, {“Department”:[“Sales”], “Clearance Level”:[“1”,”2”]}. Be sure to omit the "#" value before "Department" and "Clearance" in the metadata header, as it upload the data, but not populate the automation. When using this option, remember to configure a "birthday" row in the user file to distinguish any users that are listed in the metadata grouping and any users who are not a part of the metadata grouping. For example, if you wanted to reward employees differently who are full time vs employees who are part-time, you would create a new row where the text in the field would be a "FT" for a full-time employees, and you could either enter a "PT".
Uploading the .CSV File
After you have built the file, return to the platform and in the same pop-up window, upload the new file by clicking "Choose File." Click "OK" to load the file into the platform. If there are any problems with the file, follow the directions in the error message to correct the file, and re-upload the file. If you cannot resolve the file issue, please speak with your Awardco point of contact. Once the file is successfully loaded into the system, you will see your file loaded into the table below the headers on the Birthdays page.
Linking the Birthday Program to Smart Award Networks
Using the "Recognition Program" field, you have the ability to link the birthday award automation to a smart award network that has redemption options different from what you offer in your standard award network.
For example, maybe you would like to make gift cards the only available option for users spending these birthday points, or perhaps gift cards aren't available to users in your other programs but you would like to make them available only to users receiving birthday points. To do this you would use this feature to create those point usage restrictions.
If you do not want to change the options available to birthday award recipients and you would like the birthday recipients to view the same, standard award network, you may leave the "Recognition Program" field blank. If you are interested in setting up a smart award network for birthday awards, please speak with your Awardco Client Success Manager. You may also see the Smart Award Networks article for more information on what is possible with this feature.
If you have any questions, please contact Awardco Admin Support.