Important

All Fields

Do NOT put double quotes (") in any field while editing the data in the spreadsheet editor. This is because double quotes will be used as a field delimiter when the spreadsheet is exported as a CSV file. From the spreadsheet software, if given the option, the field delimiter should be a comma. If you have commas in any field, you MUST use double quotes (") as the text delimiter. 


Import Failures

If the import did not process correctly, there is no way to "undo" it. However, you can reset the set of data in the BlueView database, which will remove ALL relevant data, including those already in the BlueView database before the import. In BlueView, look under Tools, Import, then Reset Database.


Permissions

Importing sheet data does NOT automatically provide access to doors or shifts for any groups, people or credentials. To create a Permission, navigate to the Cardholder Permissions screen, under the configuration tab. Use this to define rules for WHO (Group) can go WHERE (Company/Site/Area/Door), WHEN (Shift). After permissions have been configured, the doors must then be activated under the Activations tab of the Cardholder Permissions screen.


Load Batch of Cards 

This feature allows you to add a set of credentials with users quickly and easily. The credentials must be in numerical order and have the same Facility/Site Code. 

Model -The model of the door controller that these credentials will be used for. Most users will leave the default NetGen 1 


Credential Type - The type of credential that will be imported.


Group - If checked, the new cardholders will be assigned to the selected Group, in addition to the All group. (All cardholders in BlueView are assigned to the All group, regardless of whether the box is checked.) 


Name - The cardholders created by this tool will have a blank first name and a last name that consists of the text input in this box plus the card or pin number assigned to that cardholder. 


Facility Code - This is the Facility or Site Code for the cards assigned to this batch. (Credential types that do not need this will have this box grayed out.) 


Start/End Card Number and Start/End Pin Number  - Which of these options are enabled depends on the Credential Type selection. The Start Card number will be the first credential loaded in the batch. After that, credentials will be loaded sequentially until the credential selected as the End Card or Pin Number is reached. 


After all parameters have been input, click OK to load the batch of credentials. A box will pop up with a success message when the load is complete. Open the Cardholders screen to verify the new cardholders and their credentials. 


Import Groups/People/Cards

This feature allows you to import a set of people and their credentials from a file quickly and easily. The file must have a txt or csv extension and contain comma separated values. There is a easy sample file at the end of this page.


In BlueView, go to the Tools menu. Choose Import, then Groups/People/Cards. 


1. Click Generate to create a spreadsheet template. BlueView will ask where you would like to save the template file. Once the template file has been saved, BlueView will attempt to open the template file for editing using a spreadsheet editor on your computer, such as Microsoft Excel or Apache OpenOffice. (Spreadsheet editors are not provided with BlueView.) Alternatively, the template file can be edited in text format using Notepad or a similar program. 


Note: Alternate Option 

Another option is to export your existing BlueView groups/people/cards to use as a template. Choose Reports from the BlueView main menu. Select "System Export" as the Report Type, then "Groups/People/Credentials" as the Export Type, and click Get Report. To save the output, click on File, then Export and choose a name for the csv file.


2. Edit the file to remove the example data and add your data for import into BlueView. Be sure to leave the first row populated with the column headings.

Column A: GroupName 

Column B: FirstName 

Column C: LastName 

Column D: EmployeeID 

Column E: CardNumberPIN 

Column F: FacilityCode 

Column G: CredentialType 

Column H: CredentialMode 

Column I: CredentialStatus 

Column J: CredentialStartDate 

Column K: CredentialExpirationDate 


Data Descriptions

GroupName - The group name (or comma-separated list of group names) that the person should be added to in BlueView. Group names that do not match an existing group in BlueView will be used to create new BlueView groups. If left blank, the person will be added to the built-in All group only. Each group name must be 50 characters or less. 


FirstName - First name of the cardholder. Must be 50 characters or less. 


LastName - Last name of the cardholder. Must be 50 characters or less. REQUIRED FIELD.


EmployeeID - Must be 20 characters or less. 


Note: If populated, it must be unique across all cardholders, including both those in the import spreadsheet and in the existing BlueView database UNLESS the checkbox to "Allow duplicate Employee IDs" is checked. In that case, any rows that have a duplicate Employee ID, either in the spreadsheet or in the existing BlueView database, will be interpreted as updates to the original record with that Employee ID. Updates will only ADD credentials and/or group memberships, not remove or replace any previously assigned groups or credentials


CardNumberPIN - Should be completed with either the card number or the pin number credential to be assigned to the person. Numbers only - limits are subject to the credential type specified. Combined with the Facility Code, it must be unique across all people records, including both those in the import spreadsheet and in the existing BlueView database. Only one credential per person can be imported. 


FacilityCode - Card number credentials require a corresponding Facility Code. This number may be determined from the documentation that came with the cards, or by swiping the card at a BlueWave door and checking the reports for the resulting Card Number and Facility Code. 


CredentialType - Choose from the following values for the credential type field, which describes the type of credential that will be assigned to the person: 26-BIT, 34-BIT, 35-BIT, 8-BIT PIN.


CredentialMode - Choose from the following values for the credential mode field, which describes the behavior of the credential that will be assigned to the person: Normal, Lockdown, Unlock, Managed, Manager, Master. If left blank, this field will default to Normal.


CredentialStatus - Choose from the following values for the credential status field: Active, Inactive, Expired, Suspended, Lost, Stolen. If left blank, this field will default to Active.


CredentialStartDate - This field indicates when the credential status should become Active. If left blank, the credential will become Active immediately.


CredentialExpirationDate - This field indicates when the credential should expire. If left blank, the credential will never expire.


Note for Dates: The recommended format is “mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm xm” to the nearest hour. For example, "11/27/2017 05:00 PM".


Duplicates

This tool is designed primarily for use in system commissioning and initial data entry. BlueView assumes each row in the spreadsheet is a new person to be inserted in the database. It does not try to match people by first and last name for either validation or input, because a person's first and last name cannot generally be relied upon to be a unique identifier for that person. Therefore, attempting to import "John Smith" into BlueView when a "John Smith" already exists in BlueView will result in duplicate cardholders being created.


To use the import tool to update existing cardholder records with new groups and/or credentials, there MUST be an Employee ID used in both the spreadsheet and in the existing BlueView database so that the software can match the records. In the event that a record is matched for update rather than insert, note that new groups and credentials found in the spreadsheet will be added to the person's record, but existing groups and credentials will NOT be removed automatically.


From the spreadsheet software, save the newly populated spreadsheet as a .csv (comma-separated values) file. If opened in Notepad or another text editor, the contents of the resulting file should look similar in format to the text below:


GroupName,FirstName,LastName,EmployeeID,CardNumberPIN,FacilityCode,CredentialType,CredentialMode,CredentialStatus,CredentialStartDate,CredentialExpirationDate


,Joe,Brown,1,14557,120,26-BIT,Normal,Active,,

Management,Mary,Brown,2,1234567,,8-BIT-PIN,Master,,07/20/2017 05:00 PM,07/20/2018 05:00 PM

"Management, Overnight",Bob,Brown,3,14559,120,26-BIT,Normal,Active,,


Notes on Legacy Format

Files exported from BlueView 16 will only contain the first 7 columns described above. The import utility will allow import of these legacy files. The software will warn that the incorrect number of columns was detected, but it will proceed to import the records, setting the additional fields to their default values.


3. Select the file you just edited by clicking the Browse button in the Import screen in BlueView, then click Validate to validate your file for import.


Troubleshooting Steps

• You may need to close the spreadsheet editor, if it still has the file open. 

• If the validation reports errors, go back to the spreadsheet editor to make corrections and then try again. 

• If the validation reports an incorrect number of columns, make sure that the first row of your spreadsheet contains the column names to match the spreadsheet template. 

• If the validation reports duplicate Employee IDs, and the intent was for the import to update the matching records, check the checkbox next to "Allow duplicate Employee IDs" and try the validation again.

• If you're having trouble and do not need to specify CredentialMode, CredentialStatus, and Credential Start/Expiring Dates, these columns can be left off completely, and their values will be set to defaults as described above.


4. Once the import file has been validated, click Import to import the data into BlueView. Progress will display in the status box at the bottom of the screen.  When the import is complete, you can verify the import by checking for the new records in BlueView under Configure->Cardholders. 


Please be aware that if you are importing a large number of records (> 10,000), the import may take a long time. Please be patient, or else break up the data into several smaller .csv files. 


Import Doors 

This feature allows you to import a list of doors from a file quickly and easily. The file must have a txt or csv extension and contain comma separated values. 


In BlueView, go to the Tools menu. Choose Import, then Doors. 



1. Click Generate to create a spreadsheet template. BlueView will ask where you would like to save the template file. Once the template file has been saved, BlueView will attempt to open the template file for editing using a spreadsheet editor on your computer, such as Microsoft Excel or Apache OpenOffice. (Spreadsheet editors are not provided with BlueView.) Alternatively, the template file can be edited in text format using Notepad or similar. 


Note: Alternate Option 

Another option is to export your existing BlueView doors to use as a template. Choose Reports from the BlueView main menu. Select "System Export" as the Report Type, then "Doors" as the Export Type, and click Get Report. To save the output, click on File, then Export and choose a name for the csv file.


2. Edit the file to remove the example data and add your data for import into BlueView. 

Column A: Site 

Column B: Area 

Column C: DoorName 

Column D: IPAddress 


Data Descriptions


Site - Site name under which the Door will be stored in BlueView. Must be 50 characters or less. 


Area - Area name under which the Door will be stored in BlueView. Must be 50 characters or less. 


DoorName - Name to use for the Door in the BlueView software. For larger systems, it is useful to prepend door names with abbreviations for the Site and Area under which it falls, in order to more easily identify the door in all screens. Must be 50 characters or less. 


IPAddress - The IP address that will be used to communicate with the controller at this Door. 


Note 

The process to assign IP Addresses to NetGen controllers is separate from the process of importing the IP addresses into the software using this tool. Please refer to the document for more information about setting controller IP addresses.


All columns must be populated. From the spreadsheet software, save the newly populated spreadsheet as a .csv (comma-separated values) file. If opened in Notepad or another text editor, the contents of the resulting file should look similar in format to the text below: 


Site,Area,DoorName,IPAddress


Example Site,Example Area 1,Front Door,192.168.0.10 

Example Site,Example Area 2,Back Door,192.168.0.11 

Example Site,Example Area 2,Side Door,192.168.0.12

 

3. Select the file you just edited by clicking the Browse button in the Import Doors screen in BlueView, then click Validate to validate your file for import. 


Troubleshooting Steps

• You may need to close the spreadsheet editor, if it still has the file open. 

• If the validation reports errors, go back to the spreadsheet editor to make corrections and then try again. 


4. Once the import file has been validated, click Import to import the data into BlueView. Progress will display in the status box at the bottom of the screen. When the import is complete, you can verify the import by checking for the new records in BlueView under Configure->Door. 


Import Shifts 

This feature allows you to import a list of shifts from a file quickly and easily. The file must have a txt or csv extension and contain comma separated values. 


In BlueView, go to the Tools menu. Choose Import, then Shifts. 


1. Click Generate to create a spreadsheet template. BlueView will ask where you would like to save the template file. Once the template file has been saved, BlueView will attempt to open the template file for editing using a spreadsheet editor on your computer, such as Microsoft Excel or Apache OpenOffice. (Spreadsheet editors are not provided with BlueView.) Alternatively, the template file can be edited in text format using Notepad or similar. 


Note: Alternate Option 

Another option is to export your existing BlueWave doors to use as a template. Choose Reports from the BlueView main menu. Select "System Export" as the report type, then "Shifts" as the Export Type, and click Get Report. To save the output, click on File, then Export and choose a name for the csv file. 2. Edit the file to remove the example data and add your data for import into BlueView.

 

Column A: ShiftName 

Column B: ShiftType 

Column C: ShiftAppliesTo 

Column D: SU 

Column E: M 

Column F: TU 

Column G: 

Column H: TH 

Column I: 

Column J: SA 

Column K: StartTime 

Column L: EndTime 


NOTES: 


ShiftName - The name of the Shift. Each ShiftName specified must be unique across both the spreadsheet for import and any existing shifts in the BlueView system. Must be 50 characters or less. 


ShiftType -  The shift type defines how the shift will operate. Options are Normal, Unlock, Unlock with a Card, Toggle with a Card, Manager.


ShiftAppliesTo - Defines whether this is a holiday or regular shift. Options are Normal, Exception, or Both.


ShiftDays(SU, M, TU, W, TH, F, SA) 

These columns indicate on which days of the week this shift will be valid. Place an 'x' or an 'X' in the appropriate column if the shift will be active on that day of the week, and leave the column blank if the shift will NOT be active that day. 


StartTime/EndTime 

These columns specify the start and end time for the shift. Recommended time format is HH:mm:ss AM/PM (ie, 12:00:00 AM). 


Note 

Shifts cannot cross the midnight boundary - if such a shift is required, it should be split into two separate shifts. For example, a 10 PM to 4 AM shift should be specified as two shifts, one from 10:00:00 PM to 11:59:59 PM, and another from 12:00:00 AM to 4:00:00 AM.


From the spreadsheet software, save the newly populated spreadsheet as a .csv (comma-separated values) file. If opened in Notepad or another text editor, the contents of the resulting file should look similar in format to the text below: 


ShiftName,ShiftType,ShiftAppliesTo,SU,M,TU,W,TH,F,SA,StartTime,EndTime

 

M-F 8-5,Unlock,Normal,,x,x,x,x,x,,08:00:00 AM,05:00:00 PM

24x7,Normal,Normal,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,12:00:00 AM,11:59:59 PM 

M-F 8-5 M,Manager,Both,,x,x,x,x,x,,08:00:00 AM,05:00:00 PM

M-F 8-5 UwC,Unlock With a Card,Both,,x,x,x,x,x,,08:00:00 AM,05:00:00 PM

M-F 8-5 TwC,Toggle With a Card,Both,,x,x,x,x,x,,08:00:00 AM,05:00:00 PM


3. Select the file you just edited by clicking the Browse button in the Import Doors screen in BlueView, then click Validate to validate your file for import. 


Troubleshooting Steps

• You may need to close the spreadsheet editor, if it still has the file open. 

• If the validation reports errors, go back to the spreadsheet editor to make corrections and then try again. 


4. Once the import file has been validated, click Import to import the data into BlueView. Progress will display in the status box at the bottom of the screen. When the import is complete, you can verify the import by checking for the new records in BlueView under Configure->Door.