What common errors may occur when preparing the data file?
Using Microsoft Word®files saved as text will not work, mainly because different editions of Word® use different computer-recognizable quotation marks. These may appear the same when viewed on screen, but are recognized as a different character by computers. Please ensure you use Notepad®to create the data file or, if using another program, take care to export it as a comma-delimited file. Another common error is to include an empty space between data elements. This is probably due to the natural space behind a comma. To ensure successful uploads, no spaces should be included unless an actual space exists in the name of the program used or the name of the trainee. Also common is omitting double-quotes at the end of a data element, causing the record to fail. Example: incorrectly submitting “Segal”,”Stephen,10/1/1957″ rather than the correct “Segal”,”Stephen”,”10/1/1957″. In this case, the system sees Stephen,10/1/1957 as the trainee’s name and does not recognize the date of birth. This
