This article guides you through automating your organization's Birthday Awards using a CSV file. Before proceeding with this method, consider configuring birthday awards using the Birthday Awards Automation Builder.
- Formatting Your User File
- Building the Automation
- Uploading the .CSV File
- Linking the Birthday Program to Smart Award Networks
Formatting Your User File
To process birthday awards, your platform user file must include a birthdate for each user. Below are accepted date formats.
Important: If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your Awardco point of contact before making changes to your user file for guidance. Providing our team with context about the information you're sending helps us offer the best support.
Building the Automation
Prerequisite: Ensure birthdates are loaded for all users in the platform user file.
Steps:
- Log in to the platform.
- Select the “Admin” button at the bottom of the left navigation menu.
- From the left navigation menu, select “Recognition,” "Programs," then "Birthday Awards.”
- Click “Upload CSV” and download the birthdays.csv template.
- Open the CSV file and follow the instructions below.
Birthday Awards Fields Explanation
To better assist you as you create this file, please reference the sample .CSV template you downloaded.
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 prepared your CSV file:
- Log in to the platform.
- Select the “Admin” button at the bottom of the left navigation menu.
- From the left navigation menu, select “Recognition,” "Programs," then "Birthday Awards.”
- Click “Upload CSV” and select your prepared file.
- Click “Upload.”
- Review and address any error messages that appear, and then re-upload the file.
Once the file is successfully uploaded, you will see it listed in the table below the headers on the Birthday Awards page.
Linking the Birthday Program to Smart Award Networks
The "Recognition Program" field allows you to connect your birthday award automation to a Smart Award Network. This feature enables you to offer different redemption options for birthday award recipients compared to your standard award network.
For example, you might want to restrict birthday point spending to gift cards only, or perhaps make gift cards available only to those receiving birthday awards while they are not an option in your other recognition programs. To implement such restrictions, you would utilize this feature to create a specific award network.
If you wish for birthday award recipients to have access to the same standard award network as other users, simply leave the "Recognition Program" field blank. If you are interested in setting up a Smart Award Network for birthday awards, please contact your Awardco Client Success Manager. You can also refer to the Managing Award Networks article for more detailed information on the possibilities of this feature.
If you have any questions, please contact Awardco Admin Support.