Data Import — Switcher Program

Who this guide is for: Tenant admins moving to EmbayLMS from another LMS who need to bring over their users, course enrollments, and historical completion records via CSV.

Overview

The Switcher Program lets you import nine kinds of data from any other LMS using plain CSV files — no per-vendor connectors. Imports are platform-agnostic: export to CSV from Moodle, Canvas, TalentLMS, Docebo, Cornerstone, Absorb, or anything else, match the columns below, and upload. The nine entities are: users, groups, group members, categories, learning paths, path courses, enrollments, completion history, and path enrollments.

You can import each entity from its own CSV, or fill one multi-tab workbook (one sheet per entity) and upload it all at once — see Multi-tab workbook below.

Every import runs in two steps:

1. Validate (dry run) — we parse your file and show a preview with a per-row error list. Nothing is written until you confirm.
2. Confirm — valid rows are applied in the background; you get an email when it finishes, and any failed rows can be downloaded as an error CSV to fix and re-upload.

Imported records are tagged source = import so reporting can tell historical data from native activity, and imported completions keep their original completion dates.

Prerequisites

• The admin role (Settings → Data Management → Data Import requires it).
• Your courses already exist in EmbayLMS with a slug (or external ID) set, so enrollment and completion rows can resolve to them.
• A CSV file (UTF-8). Excel “Save As → CSV UTF-8” works; a BOM is handled automatically.

Step-by-step

1. Go to Settings → Data Management → Data Import.
2. Choose what you’re importing: Users, Enrollments, or Completion history.
3. Click Choose file and select your CSV, then Validate.
4. Review the preview: total rows, valid rows, and any rows with errors (with the reason).
5. If there are errors, fix them in your CSV and re-upload. When you’re happy, click Import N rows.
6. Wait for the confirmation (or check Import history later). For failed rows, click Download errors to get a CSV of just those rows with their error messages.

CSV formats

external_id is the primary matching key; email is the fallback. Provide at least one.

Users (users)

external_id,email,first_name,last_name,role,locale,manager_external_id,group_names
e-1001,jdoe@acme.com,Jane,Doe,learner,en,e-1000,Sales|Ontario
e-1000,boss@acme.com,Pat,Lee,manager,en,,Sales

New users are created without sending an activation email — this is a historical backfill. Invite them through normal user management when you’re ready.

Enrollments (enrollments)

email,course_slug,status,due_date
jdoe@acme.com,whmis-2024,active,2025-03-31

Completion history (completions)

email,course_slug,completed_at,score
jdoe@acme.com,whmis-2024,2023-05-01,92

A completion with no existing enrollment auto-creates a completed enrollment so the transcript and compliance evidence are intact.

Groups (groups)

Dedup key: name.

Group members (group_members)

Maps users into groups. Import users and groups first.

Categories (categories)

Dedup key: slug.

Learning paths (learning_paths)

Dedup key: title. New paths are created as draft and hidden so an import never publishes a path by surprise.

Path courses (path_courses)

Maps courses onto a path. Import learning paths and the courses first.

Path enrollments (path_enrollments)

Enrolls users onto a path. Import learning paths and users first. Path completion stays derived from course completions — this only records the enrollment.

Multi-tab workbook

For a full migration, use the workbook instead of nine separate uploads:

1. Go to Settings → Data Management → Data Import → Multi-tab workbook and click Download workbook template. You get an .xlsx with one sheet per entity, each with the right headers (your tenant’s custom user fields are included on the Users sheet).
2. Fill in the sheets you need — leave the rest empty.
3. Upload the filled workbook. Each non-empty sheet is validated and shown with its row counts, then imported in dependency order (users → groups → group members → categories → learning paths → path courses → enrollments → completions → path enrollments) when you click Import N sheets.

The workbook headers always match the current CSV contract above — if a column is added to an import, the next template download includes it automatically.

Configuration reference

Troubleshooting