Topic

Bulk contact-to-asset associations in Everbridge Suite and Critical Event Management (CEM), including supported bulk methods, required data, and association verification.

Description

Asset Associations link contacts to assets so contacts can be treated as stakeholders for a location and targeted by CEM Orchestration workflows and Visual Command Center (VCC). A contact keeps its primary profile and can be associated with one or more assets temporarily or permanently. An association functions as a secondary address or assignment.

Associations can be assigned to individual contacts or contact groups. Bulk changes are made through CSV uploads.

Prerequisites

• Enable Asset Management. Asset Management requires the Safety Connection subscription and must be enabled for the account and each organization where assets are stored. An account administrator, working with the account team, enables Asset Management. Assets cannot be entered until Asset Management is enabled.
• Create the assets first. When creating assets by CSV upload or API, Name and External ID are the core required fields. Contacts uploaded without an assigned asset do not receive notifications when targeting by asset. Assets must exist before contacts are linked to them.
• Use the official asset template. For Safety Connection buildings and similar asset types, use the Everbridge asset upload template and field definitions provided on the "Adding Assets to Your Everbridge Suite Organization" help page. The Manager Portal template requires Name, External ID, and Icon. Name must not be empty, header names must match the template exactly, and the number of header columns must match the number of value columns. An extra empty value column can cause upload failures, especially with the Delete operation. VCC Admin Console templates can differ from Manager Portal templates.
• Create any groups first. Groups can be created manually under Contacts > Groups or during a contact upload that includes a Groups column. Asset upload files do not create groups. Any group referenced in an asset import or association must already exist.

Method 1: Match Contacts to Assets by External ID (Contact-Driven)

This is the main method for associating large numbers of contacts. Each contact carries a value that matches an asset's External ID, and the system links them on import:

• SFTP or CSV contact upload: Include a Location ID field for each contact containing the same value as the External ID of the target asset. Add group membership in the same file with the Groups column when needed.
• Create Contact API: Set the assetExternalId field to the External ID of the asset. The older locationId field is legacy and may not work. assetExternalId is the supported field.
• Association column formatting: When a contact upload uses association columns, only a few columns are required, and their header names must match exactly. See Section 4 of the "Uploading Contacts to Multiple Organizations in Everbridge Suite" article.

Method 2: Assign Associations with the Upload Assets Template (Asset-Driven)

This method creates associations from the asset side and is the recommended approach when manual edits in the asset UI are insufficient or failing. Define the association, then upload the asset data.

1. Create an Association Type at Settings > Organization > Contacts/Assets > Asset Association > New Asset Association. Enter a unique label, and save. For a small number of assets, add an association directly to an asset by going to Assets > Asset List, opening the asset, selecting Edit > Add Association, choosing the definition, selecting contacts or groups, and saving.
2. Go to Contacts/Assets > Assets > Upload Assets, and download the template that includes the association columns.
3. Complete each asset row with the core fields Name, External ID, and Icon. Enter pipe-separated values in the association columns. Use Contact External IDs for contact associations, for example, "EXT123|EXT456|EXT789". Use group names for group associations, for example, "Building A Staff|Floor 3".
4. Save the file as CSV, upload it through the Upload Assets page, and confirm that the rows process successfully.

Existing buildings migrated into Asset Management, typically under an asset type named "Buildings", are managed in the same way. Update these assets through the Upload Assets page or the Asset Management API.

SC Building Lookup Pattern

Some organizations load a master asset file using the SC Building asset type as a lookup table. These SC Building assets are typically disabled for alerting and serve only to geocode contacts and provide the correct static location for lookup and association.

After the SC Building assets exist with unique External IDs and correct geocoding, link contacts to them using the contact-driven matching described in Method 1. The Location ID or assetExternalId must match the building's External ID. Associations can also be assigned by group through the Upload Assets template.

Data Consistency and Verification

Every bulk method depends on exact value matching.

• The value in the contact's Location ID or assetExternalId must match the asset's External ID exactly. If the organization uses name translations that map source-system location names to Everbridge assets, values must match either the asset External ID or an existing translation rule. Otherwise, the contact is imported with only its address and is not associated with the asset.
• Contact External IDs and group names used in Upload Assets association columns must match existing contact and group records exactly because asset uploads do not create groups.
• Keep asset Name and External ID values stable so associations and downstream workflows remain valid.

To verify the results, open Assets > Asset List, locate an asset, and inspect its association section to confirm that the expected contacts or groups are linked. In Visual Command Center, confirm that associated contacts appear at the correct locations. Also confirm that alert workflows and VCC targeting rules include asset associations so notifications reach the intended stakeholders.

Limitations and Roadmap

Current bulk association relies on either contact-driven matching, where contact fields match asset External IDs, or asset-driven association through CSV files containing pipe-separated contact or group references.

Work is planned to allow a rule to be associated with an asset. For example, a contact rule based on a field such as building name could allow contacts to be mapped to assets without maintaining explicit lists of identifiers. Until rule-based association is available, use the CSV template-driven methods and integration fields described in this article.