This KB is part of a series of " VAX Did You Know ? " articles
The attached pdf has the following information.
You Can Import a Cardholder List for a New or Retrofit Installation
On a new installation, it is very common to create cardholder records manually one-at-a-time. This works well for a small site that does not have a large or existing cardholder list.
However, for larger sites that have hundreds if not thousands of potential cardholder records that need to be created this manual process may not be the best route. This also holds true if an installation is being retrofitted with the VAX access control solution from some other manufacturer’s access control system.
If it is a new installation, often times the HR department can provide a list of Employees by their names, which as a CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file can be easily merged with the known new credential information. This import file will contain four primary fields to bring into the system – FirstName, LastName, Site/Facility Code and an assigned unique CardNumber.
For a retrofit installation whereby there is an existing older system that is being replaced by the more advanced VAX access control system, most access control products have some form of an export tool that allows the administrator to extract the minimum key cardholder information from that systems database that is required for a cardholder record to be functional in the new system – that being a FirstName, LastName, Site/Facility Code and CardNumber.
If this basic information can be extracted from the original system (highly likely), it can be formatted into a CSV file and imported into the VAX access control system using our Card Import Utility on the Home page. It is a quick, seamless process that is often a great selling point for the VAX system.
Before the import remember to create applicable User Timezones and applicable Access Privilege Groups. These groups are not part of the import process and must be assigned accordingly.
Instead of importing the entire CVS master file at once we recommend breaking up your import file into batches and importing the batch file one at a time and assigning it to a specific Access Privilege Group (if necessary).
The process is simple, powerful and even with thousands of users ultra-quick.