This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to create a Merit Template from a Data Source. By following these steps, users can easily generate a template and configure it according to their needs, making it a valuable resource for anyone looking to streamline their data management process.

Create your data source. This should be in a format like a spreadsheet that can be downloaded as a CSV file.

- Every column header is a Field within the template
- Dates should be formatted as either YYYY-MM-DD or MM-DD-YYYY

1. Ensure the data that you want to send as merits is in a CSV file and properly formatted.
   1. For Google Sheets &gt; File &gt; Download &gt; Comma-Separated Value (.csv)
   2. For Excel: File &gt; Save as &gt; Comma-Separated Value (.csv)

Template Types Explained

- Merits: Issued from an organization to a person
- Folios: Issued from an organization to another organization
  - Example: If you create a Folio called Partner Organization and send it to another organization, that organization will be able to create merits based on any merit where Permissions are set to Yes.

Click "browse" to select the CSV file you created

Email is set as the default Unique identifier.  You may add an additional unique identifier or change the identifier to something else like Member.  

The unique identifier will determine merits issued on future uploads.  For example, if the email is set as a unique identifier then a subsequent upload of the same data with only the last name changed will result in the merit being edited for the new last name.  

The Data type for each column of data uploaded are automatically set but can also be changed at this stage along with things like date formats. 

These are the field data types available for use

Click "Next" at the bottom-right of the screen once you are finished making changes

Enter your merit template name and data source name in this their respective boxes. 

This page will show how the columns in your data source are mapped to the template's fields.  You may edit the names of the newly created template fields if necessary.  

Click "Submit" once you are done with any changes

Auto mapped templates are created with the default setting to manually approve each merit sent.  Change the merit template settings to Auto Approve if you would like all merits to be sent automatically when a data source is uploaded.  The following instructions show this process. 

Click "View" next to the merit template that was just created

Click "Save" at the bottom right of the screen and "Save" again when the popup appears

Click the X at the top-right of the screen to exit the template settings

The template will now show that Auto-approve is turned on. 

Click the X at the top-right of the screen to exit the template view

To send merits from this newly created merit template and data source, click on "Create & Configure" then "Data Source"

Once in the Data Source section, click "View" next to the data source that was recently created

To view the merits that were sent, click "Verify & Manage"

Then click "Records" to view all sent merits

If the Auto-approve setting wasn't turned on, records will display as "unissued."\
To issue them follow the steps below. 

Click "Approve" next to the unissued merits. 

Auto-Create a Merit Template from a Data Source