Using Load from File

The Load from File process seeds Identity Manager accounts with basic values, such as account ID, first and last name, and e-mail address. The account ID is the only required attribute.

The Load from File process imports the contents of a comma-separated values (CSV) file into Identity Manager. The top line of this file contains a list of attribute names, separated by commas. Each subsequent line contains a series of corresponding attribute values. All attributes must also be separated by commas.

.Load from File also accepts XML files, but the syntax of an XML file must match the syntax generated by the Extract to File feature. This format is beyond the scope of this discussion.

Load from File also accepts XML files, but the syntax of an XML file must match the syntax generated by the Extract to File feature. This format is beyond the scope of this discussion.

The data in a CSV file is often exported from a resource. For example, the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC (Microsoft Management Console) allows you to export the contents of an organization unit directly into a CSV file. The console exports all users defined in the organization unit as well as the displayed attributes. Therefore, you should verify only attributes that will be managed by Identity Manager are displayed in the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC. Including extraneous attributes will cause loading times to increase.

Some resources are not capable of directly exporting user account information to CSV format. If you wish to use to this method of data loading, you might need to extract the information programmatically or add data manually.

For example, the first three lines of a CSV file might look like this:

accountId,firstname,lastname,EmployeeID
Josie.Smith,Josie,Smith,1436
AJ.Harris,Anthony,Harris,c310

The attributes listed in the CSV file must be pre-defined as user view attributes. Basic attributes such as accountId, email, password, and confirmpassword are pre-defined. Others are defined in the extended user attributes configuration object. By default, this object adds firstname, lastname, and fullname to the list of available attributes.

If you want to retain values for attributes that are not pre-defined in Identity Manager, such as an employee ID, you must add them to the Extended User Attributes Configuration object.

The Load from File process configuration page prompts for a correlation and confirmation rules. Since this is the first attempt to load data, select the User Name Matches AccountId correlation rule. You do not need a confirmation rule.

It is important to remember that the data contained in the CSV file is used for Identity Manager accounts only. Even if the data is exported directly from Active Directory, for example, the data is not linked to any Active Directory accounts or resources unless you have created a custom user form to do this. Without a custom user form, a different data loading mechanism must be used to link resource account data to an Identity Manager user. User forms are discussed briefly in Assigning User Forms.

.The Load from File process does not add entries into the Identity Manager account index. Therefore, you must perform a full reconciliation, or update the users, before your Identity Manager deployment is complete. In addition, the Load from File does not run any workflows when creating users in Identity Manager.

The Load from File process does not add entries into the Identity Manager account index. Therefore, you must perform a full reconciliation, or update the users, before your Identity Manager deployment is complete. In addition, the Load from File does not run any workflows when creating users in Identity Manager.