Topic:

There are two methods for uploading facility locations into Visual Command Center (VCC); directly through the VCC Admin Console or through SFTP in the Everbridge Suite Manager Portal.

Description:

In the examples below, a Data Type called Facilities has been created under My Data to manage facilities and buildings. As a prerequisite, download the template from the Admin Console by following the steps in the example below. Log in to VCC. Click on the menu icon in the upper right-hand corner. Click on Admin Console. Click on Data on the right-hand side of the page. Under My Data click on Facilities. Under Import Data, click on the Download Template... link. Save the file.

Once all the required fields are added to the template and saved, it can be uploaded via the Import Data feature in the VCC Admin Console or via SFTP in the Everbridge Suite Manager Portal.

The default fields in the template are listed in the table below. NOTE: Custom attributes can be added to the template through the Admin Console before downloading it.

*The required fields are denoted in red.

Uploading Facility Locations in the VCC Admin Console

Log in to VCC. Click on the menu icon on the upper right-hand corner. Click on Admin Console. Click on Data on the right-hand side of the page. Under My Data click on Facilities. Click the Upload New File button. Select the desired file to upload and click the Upload button. (The upload will then cycle through six steps before completing.)

During the third step, click on Review. (This step is for reviewing and approving the upload taking place.) If there are issues with the upload, click Reject. If there are no issues with the upload, click Approve.

The fifth step will then begin geocoding the information in the file. (Upload times will vary and will depend on the size of the file.) NOTE: To reduce the time it takes to geocode information in a file, include the latitude and longitude in the file before uploading it to VCC. The final step confirms that the file upload is complete.

Uploading Facility Locations via SFTP

SFTP uploads are configured through the Everbridge Suite Manager Portal. Please see knowledge base article EBS: SFTP Access Guide - Configuring SFTP for Use With Everbridge Suite for instructions.

By using SFTP, assets uploaded through the Manager Portal are automatically synced to VCC. This process does not require any user intervention however, status and error messages will appear in the VCC Admin Console only. (shown in step 8 above)

NOTES: 

• SFTP uploads in VCC can be done only at the organization level.
• Upload file size is limited to 50MB when using SFTP. 
• The review step in the upload process is automatically set to approve any uploads made via SFTP.

File Drop Location:

• SFTP uploads should be placed in vcc_asset/update/file_name.csv.

Note that while the folder name is "Update" the operation performed is a REPLACE, see Supported Data Operations below.

File Naming Conventions:

• The name of an upload file must match the name for that Data Type in the Admin Console. For example, if the Data Type for the assets being uploaded is My_Facilities, the file uploaded should be named My_Facilities.csv.
• The file name can include additional characters. (i.e. date stamp, versioning information etc.) Additional characters will not affect the upload as long as they are separated from the asset name with three underscores. For example , if the asset name is My_Facilities all of the following names are valid:
  1. My_Facilities.csv
  2. My_Facilities___001.csv
  3. My_Facilities___11-18-2020.csv
• File name matching is not case-sensitive. For example, if the asset name is My_Facilities, all of the following names are valid:

1. My_Facilities.csv
2. my_facilities.CSV
3. mY_FACILITIES.csv

Supported Data Operations:

Note: A REPLACE operation is performed for each upload. This consists of all three actions below.

• ADD: Data rows with an ExternalID not found among existing records of the target data type will be added as new records.
• UPDATE: Data rows with an ExternalID value that matches that of an existing record of the target data type will be updated with the contents for the matching row in the uploaded file.
• DELETE: Existing records of the target data type with an ExternalID value that does not match any row in the uploaded file will be deleted.