Who it’s for: Administrators

Platform: Sense HR

Available on: Elite and Enterprise plans

Before you begin

Make sure you’ve:

☑️ Logged in to the Sense HR web app

☑️ Been assigned administrator permissions

☑️ Access to Screen Designer

☑️ A good understanding of your data structure and how it should appear in Sense HR

💡 Tip:

If you are uploading standard Sense data (employees, entitlements, time off), before Go Live, use the standard bulk upload process instead. This article only applies to custom or customised screens.

Overview

Advanced bulk upload with custom screens allows you to design your own data structure using Screen Designer, export screen-specific templates, and upload new data either:

During initial system setup, or
To extend a live system in a controlled way (new screens, new fields in form-type screens, or new record rows in table-type screens)

This approach gives you flexibility to collect additional or legacy data that isn’t covered by standard templates, but it must be used carefully.

Unlike standard bulk upload, validation is based on your Screen Designer field settings, not fixed system rules.

If you’re new to Screen Designer, see our Screen Designer series for step-by-step guidance.

How this differs from standard bulk upload

Standard bulk upload	Custom screen bulk upload
Uses predefined templates	Uses screen-specific templates
Implementation only	Can be used on live systems for new data (with rules)
Templates downloaded from Bulk Upload	Templates downloaded from Screen Designer
Limited to Sense standard screens	Works with custom and customised screens
Fixed structure and validation	Structure and validation defined by your screen

⚠️ Important:

Custom screen bulk upload does not include bulk updates to core system data such as working hours, entitlements, or planner configuration.

What custom bulk upload supports

Scenario	Supported?
Bulk upload to any new or unpopulated custom screen	✔ Yes
Bulk upload for employees whose screen is currently empty (even if others have data)	✔ Yes
Bulk upload to an empty field on populated form-type screens	✔ Yes
Bulk upload new rows (records) to a populated table-type screen	✔ Yes
Bulk upload data to a newly added column for existing table rows	✖ No
Replace or update existing data	✖ No

Key definitions for this article

Populated screen

A screen that contains data for at least one employee — either via bulk upload or manual entry in Sense HR.

Once a screen is populated:

Its structure should not be fundamentally altered without checking where employee data exists
Removing fields may permanently remove stored employee data

You may still export the template and bulk upload:

Data for employees whose screen is currently empty
Data for empty fields in form-type screens

A screen may contain data for some employees and not others. However, structural changes in Screen Designer apply to all employees using that screen.

Unpopulated screen

A screen that contains no data for any employee.

Unpopulated screens can be fully edited in Screen Designer before bulk upload, without risk of affecting existing employee data.

You may:

Add or remove fields
Change field properties
Export the template
Bulk upload all required data

Empty field

A field that does not currently contain data for a specific employee.

An empty field does not necessarily mean the screen is unpopulated.

Table-type screen

A screen with a table layout that allows multiple records per employee, displayed in rows.

Bulk upload can add new rows only — it cannot update existing rows.

Form-type screen

A screen with a form layout that stores a single record per employee.

New fields can be added and populated via bulk upload, but existing values cannot be overwritten.

Important prerequisites and constraints

Before exporting and uploading any custom or customised screen template, review the following requirements and design constraints.

⚠️ Known issue

The Employee ID field can currently be deleted by removing it from the Employment details screen. Similarly, the Employment details screen itself can be deleted.

These are process-critical components and must not be removed.

This behaviour will be restricted in a future update. Until then, do not delete or remove the Employee ID field or the Employment details screen.

1. The screen must be assigned

The screen must be added to a profile template
That profile template must be assigned to at least one employee

Bulk upload relies on Employee ID to attach data to the correct employee record.

If a screen is not assigned to a profile template, the upload will fail.

Helpful article:

Screen Designer: Manage profile templates

2. Bulk upload adds new data only

Bulk upload is additive. It cannot update or overwrite existing records.

You may use bulk upload to:

Populate empty fields in form-type screens
Add new rows (records) to table-type screens
Populate entirely new or unpopulated custom screens
Bulk upload data for employees whose screen is currently empty

You must not:

Update or overwrite existing data in populated screens
Use bulk upload as a correction tool

If data already exists, bulk upload can only extend it — never replace it.

3. Mandatory template sequencing (before go-live)

If you are using custom screen templates before go-live, upload these first:

1.EmployeeData
2.EventEntitlementData
3.TimeOffData

⭐ Conditional:

7.CustomPublicHolidayData — upload first if used.

Only after these are complete should you upload custom or customised screen templates.

🖊️ Note: This sequencing does not apply to live systems where employee data already exists.

4. Core screens behave differently

The following screens are populated by the mandatory 1.EmployeeData template:

Personal details (form-type)
Employment details (form-type)
Contact details (form-type)
Job details (table-type)

These screens are populated by the EmployeeData template and must always be treated as populated.

Before uploading 1.EmployeeData:

You must not remove or change existing fields in these screens.

The EmployeeData template relies on their original structure.

After uploading 1.EmployeeData:

You may extend these screens carefully.

For form-type core screens:

Add new fields
Export the updated template
Complete only the system validator columns (Employee ID, First Name, Last Name) and the new field columns
Upload using Upload custom screen data

🖊️ Note:

You do not need to re-enter existing screen data, including mandatory columns.
You can add data to optional fields that were previously left empty.

For the table-type core screen (Job details):

Add new rows only
Do not add new fields
Do not update existing rows
Do not alter existing system fields

Editing layout or existing fields may prevent successful upload.

5. Employee ID, First Name, and Last Name are reserved columns

Every exported template includes the columns:

Employee ID
First Name
Last Name

These are system validators, not screen-level fields.

They:

Must not be used as field labels on custom screens
Should not be relabelled
Should not be recreated as custom fields
Must not have their column headers edited in exported templates
Must always be completed before uploading a template

Editing these fields in Screen designer may affect other screens, validation, reporting, and system behaviour.

💡 Tip:

If a screen that you want to customise already contains these fields (for example, Other Contact Details):

Remove the fields from that screen
Add new fields with different labels (e.g. Given name, Surname, Contact first name)

If you’re creating a new custom screen and need name-type fields:

Create new fields with labels like Given name, Surname, or Full name
Add these fields to the custom screen instead of using First Name or Last Name

6. Shared fields affect all screens

Fields in Screen Designer are shared objects.

If you change a field’s label, character length, help text, or dropdown options, the change applies to every screen that uses that field.

As a result:

If a field label is renamed, standard template uploads for those screens will fail validation
If other field properties are changed (e.g. required status or character limits), standard template uploads will still run — but they will validate against the original system rules, not your updated Screen Designer settings

💡 Best practice:

If a field needs different behaviour on one screen only, remove the shared field and create a new custom field specific to that screen.

7. Table-type screens have additional limitations

For table-type screens that already contain data (e.g. Pay Details, Training, Equipment):

Bulk upload can add new rows only
It cannot update or amend existing rows
It cannot populate newly added columns for existing rows

If you add a new column to a populated table-type screen, or need to change data in existing rows, updates must be made manually in the system.

Bulk upload for populated table-type screens should be treated as a way to add new records only, not modify existing ones.

Download the custom screen template

Go to Settings > Screen Designer > Screens
Locate the relevant screen
Click More actions (...) menu
Select Export template
Complete the template as follows:

• For unpopulated screens: complete all required fields.

• For adding new fields to populated form-type screens: complete only the system validator columns and the new field columns.

• For adding new rows to populated table-type screens: complete only the system validator columns and the new row data.

⚠️ Do not rename column headers, remove columns, or restructure the downloaded template.

Upload custom screen data

Go to Settings > Bulk upload
Click New upload
Select Upload custom screen data
Select the relevant screen
Enter a Session name — this allows you to return to the session later and at any time during editing.
Drag and drop or browse to upload your file.
Click Next.
Click Validate (upper right).
The system will check your data and show:
• Warnings: Rows with non-critical issues
• Errors: Rows with missing or invalid data
• Success: Rows ready to import

🖊️ Note: Errors fields will be highlighted in dark red.

If there are errors in your upload you can edit inline:
• Click the edit icon ✏️ at the start of the row to make corrections directly in that row.
• When finished, click the check icon ✅ at the start of the row to confirm your change/s and auto-validate.

You can delete rows that contain persistent validation errors or that are no longer required.
- Click the bin icon (🗑️) in one or more rows
- Click Delete [X] item(s) (the number reflects the rows selected)
- Confirm deletion
💡 Tip:
To speed up validation, use the Status dropdown (upper left) to filter rows by error type — for example, Required field or Duplicate — and resolve them one group at a time.

💡 Tip:
You can revalidate at any time before importing — either the entire template or specific
rows. Simply click Revalidate.
This is useful if you return to an editing session after a break or make changes incrementally.
Once all data is valid, click Import (this option will only be available once all data is valid)

✅ Sense HR will process your import. You can safely close the browser or continue other tasks — processing happens in the background and may take up to 30 minutes for large files.

Validation behaviour

Standard templates validate against fixed system rules, not field properties.

Custom screen templates validate against your Screen Designer field properties, including:

Field type
Required status
Character limits
Dropdown values

You are responsible for ensuring:

Date formats are consistent
Units are consistent
Capitalisation is consistent
Special characters are avoided where possible

Custom upload provides flexibility, but places responsibility on you to ensure correct design and data consistency.

Common pitfalls

Using the standard upload path instead of Upload custom screen data
Editing template structure after export
Modifying core screens before uploading EmployeeData
Editing shared fields without realising the impact
Trying to update existing data in populated screens
Trying to add new columns to populated table-type screens

When to use standard bulk upload instead

Use the standard bulk upload process for:

Initial system setup where no changes have been made to screen structure
Core HR data (employees, entitlements, time off)
Uploading data using Sense-provided standard templates (downloaded via Bulk Upload)
Adding data to employees whose screen is currently empty, where the screen has not been customised

See: