Only Admin users with Edit Account Settings and Data set as On have access to the CSV Import & Export Tool.
You can use the CSV Import/Exporter to:
Add new empty Placeholders
Export Placeholders
Update Placeholder details
You cannot delete Placeholders in Runn with the CSV Tool. You will have to delete them manually in Runn.
You can click on the Table of Contents on the right to jump to any section anytime.
Before you start
You MUST have the following data set up in your account:
Projects
Default Roles
This importer allows you to add empty placeholders to your project. If you want to add assignments to the placeholders, you can use the Assignments importer.
Adding Empty Placeholders to Projects
1. Download Template
Hover your cursor to the top right-hand corner, click Settings
Click CSV
From the Project Tab, expand Placeholders
Click Download Template CSV
You will see some samples from the template for your reference. You can remove them and add your actual data to the file.
2. Preparing your data in the CSV file
Data Format and Requirements
Refer to the examples in the template and the Data Format and Requirements section to prepare your data.
Here are some points to note:
Typically one placeholder represents one person
If you need 6 developers on a project, you should add 6 Developer Placeholders to the project
If you are doing high-level planning, you can create one placeholder to capture the overall demand (6 FTE), but you will have to create multiple placeholders subsequently to transfer the work to a named resource
Column headers
It is recommended that the column header names stay the same as those you see in the file downloaded from Runn. This way, Runn can automatically map the data into the system
Can I use my own column header names in my CSV file?
If it is more convenient for you to use your internal naming conventions in the column headers, it is also possible. You will have to manually match the data with a few clicks during the importing process
Our CSV tool allows you to match the column headers into Runn's format with just a few clicks. See the help article here.
Remove Optional columns if you don't need it
If the field is marked as optional and you don't need to import data against it, you can delete the column entirely from your spreadsheet.
Importing a file without the optional column will not delete any data in Runn
Remove all unrequired columns
If you have other columns on your spreadsheet that are not listed in the downloaded CSV file, please remove all these columns before importing.
3. Importing Placeholders
Jump to the Importing CSV file in Runn section and follow the steps to import your CSV file.
Updating/Exporting Existing Placeholders
If your account already has Placeholders and you want to add new placeholders or update existing placeholder's details, you can easily download the existing placeholders' details, make the changes, and re-import the CSV file to Runn.
The data in the newly imported CSV file will overwrite/ add to existing data in Runn.
1. Exporting Existing Data
Hover your cursor to the top right-hand corner, click Settings
Click CSV
From the Projects Tab, expand Placeholders
Click Download Existing Placeholders CSV
Update the data in this CSV file.
Placeholder Identifier column
The downloaded file contains a numeric Placeholder Identifier column, which is a unique identifier in Runn.
Please do not make any changes to this column, or the CSV importer may be unable to identify which data point you want to update.
2. Preparing your data in the CSV file
Data Format and Requirements
Refer to the Data Format and Requirements section to prepare your data.
Here are some points to note:
Column headers
It is recommended that the column header names stay the same as those you see in the file downloaded from Runn. This way, Runn can automatically map the data into the system
Can I use my own column header names in my CSV file?
If it is more convenient for you to use your internal naming conventions in the column headers, it is also possible. You will have to manually match the data with a few clicks during the importing process
Our CSV tool allows you to match the column headers into Runn's format with just a few clicks. See the help article here.
Do not change the Identifier columns
When updating existing data, please do not make any changes to the Project Identifier and Placeholder Identifier column, or the CSV importer may be unable to identify which data point you want to update.
If you would like to add new placeholders, you can leave the Placeholder Identifier column blank and just enter the placeholder data in a new row:
Default Role Name Consistency
Make sure that the Default Role Names are the same as those added via the Roles, Default Rates and Cost CSV or under the Manage > Roles.
Please note that the Default Role Rate and Default Role Cost of the new role will be $0. You will have to adjust the rate/cost manually under Manage > Roles.
Remove all unrequired columns and rows
If you have other columns on your spreadsheet that are not listed in the downloaded CSV file, please remove all these columns before importing
3. Importing CSV file in Runn
After preparing the CSV file, you can import the updated data in Runn.
Hover your cursor to the top right-hand corner, click Settings
Click CSV
From the Project Tab, expand Placeholders
(Skip this if this is your initial account setup or you are just adding new data)
If you want to remove and replace existing Skills and Tags with the ones in your file, you can choose Replace mode before clicking the Import button.
Read this help article to learn more.
4. Click Import Placeholders CSV
4. Upload Placeholders
Drag your file to the screen or click Import Placeholder CSV
5. Matching the columns
On this screen, the items on the left are the column headers in your CSV file, while the items on the right are the column headers required in our CSV Tool.
If you haven't changed the column headers, they should be exactly the same. In this case, click Confirm
What do I do if the column headers are not the same?
Check out this help article to learn more.
6. Reviewing Entries
Carefully scroll through the page and check if all the information is correct. Fix any typos if needed.
You can only add Default Role Names and Team Names that already exist in Runn.
❌ What to do if there is an error?
Check out this article to learn more about how to fix errors.
If everything looks good, click Complete Import
Congratulations! You have successfully imported placeholders! 🎉
7. Validating the data
You can validate if the data are successfully uploaded by following the steps below:
Go to the Project Planner
Open the projects that you have added the placeholders to. You should now see the placeholders in Runn:
8. Add custom field inputs to the Placeholders
You can add the custom field inputs to the placeholders manually in Runn (Click on the 3-dot icon next to the placeholder > Edit Details).
We do not have a CSV tool for bulk updating placeholder custom fields at the moment.
8. Adding assignments to the placeholders
If you want to add assignments to the placeholders, you can use the Assignments importer.