Import data brings your existing records into Sahora from Excel or CSV files: employees, company details, timesheets, previous payroll and opening balances. Nothing is saved until you check the rows and click Import, and an import can be undone until a payroll uses its data.
Before you start
- Open Company setup and click Import data, or use the import button on the Employees, Time log, Payroll or Company setup pages.
- Use the Sahora template for each kind of import (it works on every plan), or your own file layout. Paid plans Matching the columns of your own Excel formats comes with the paid plans.
- For timesheets, create the pay period first (see Creating pay periods).
What you can import
| Import | What it brings in |
|---|---|
| Employees | Your masterlist: names, dates, government numbers, pay, bank details |
| Company details | Registered name, TIN, RDO, address, employer numbers, contact person, branches |
| Timesheets | Attendance as daily rows, a column per day, biometric punches, or cut-off totals |
| Previous payroll | Payroll registers from your previous system |
| Opening year-to-date balances | Year-to-date totals per employee as of a date |
| Opening loans and deductions | Loans, cash advances and voluntary programs still being deducted |
| Opening leave balances | Days left per leave type for a year |
If you are moving mid-year, see Moving to Sahora mid-year for which to use.
Upload and check a file
- On Import data, find the kind of import and click Upload a file. To start from the template, click Download the Sahora template first.
- For timesheets, choose the Payroll period.
- Under 1. Choose your file, click Choose a file. The file is read on your computer; nothing is sent yet.
- Under 2. Sheet and header row, check the sheet and the row with the column names.
- Check 3. What Sahora read.
- Then:
- A Sahora template: step 4. The Sahora template appears. Click Check these rows.
- Paid plans Your own layout: match each column under 4. Match the columns, check 5. How the values read and 6. The rows in Sahora's fields, then click Next: check and import. Click Save mapping so the next file in the same layout is matched without asking.
Review, fix and import
The review page lists every row. Use the filters (Problems, Needs your decision, Will be added, Will be updated, Skipped) to work through them.
- Click a value to correct it. The row is checked again. Government and bank numbers show only their last four digits; type the full number to replace one.
- For each row that needs a decision, choose Add as new, Update or Skip. Tick several rows to decide them at once.
- To send the problems back to whoever made the file, click Download the problems (Excel), to send back with the file.
- Click Import, then Yes, import.
Discard throws the file's rows away instead. A file left unimported is discarded after 14 days.
Each period becomes a draft payroll. Approve them on the Payroll page, oldest first, as usual. An Owner / Management user sets how far a register's net pay may differ from gross less deductions under Previous payroll on Import data.
Undo an import
- Open the import from Import history.
- Click Undo this import, then Yes, undo.
Undo removes what the file added and puts back what it changed. It is refused once a payroll approved after the import uses its data. The owner, your accounting firm or the person who imported the file can undo it.
Who can import
- Owner / Management: every import.
- Payroll officer: prepares every import, and imports employees, timesheets, opening loans and opening leave balances. Previous payroll, opening year-to-date balances and company details are imported by the owner.
- HR admin: employees, opening loans and opening leave balances.
A role that can't import sees "Your role can check this file but not import it: ask the owner to import it."
What can go wrong
- "This file can't be read. Open it in Excel, save it again, then upload."
- "There is no open payroll period. Create the periods on the Attendance page first."
- "A payroll approved since this import uses its employees, so it can no longer be undone. Change the employees on their pages instead."