Bulk Document Uploader - Upload by Filename

There are several ways admins can upload documents to investor profiles in IMS. If unique documents need to be uploaded to a specific group of investors, such as tax documents, admins can utilize the bulk document uploader. 

There are 3 methods admins can use when bulk uploading documents; Manual Match, Upload by Filename, and K-1 Matching. This article will review Upload by Filename. Articles on the other 2 options can be found here: K-1 Matching and Manual Match.

Bulk Document Uploader Best Practices 

No matter which upload method you choose to use, there are several universal best practices to help admins get the most of this feature. 

• Documents uploaded need to be computer generated and in a readable format PDF. The system cannot read documents that are scanned and turned into PDFs. 
• While the system is processing the documents for matching, users can navigate to another tab within IMS or can begin another batch upload without losing their progress. However, do not refresh the page, log out, or shut the browser completely. 
• When the batch is finished uploading, the batch name will change from grey to blue and the user will be able to click into the batch. 

To begin, navigate to Documents > Personal and Project Documents, then click the drop-down arrow in the top right corner of the screen. 

 

Upload by Filename 

Step 1: To use this method, select Upload by Filename on the drop-down menu. Begin filling in the fields prompted on the screen. *NOTE: The Project and Entity are not required fields, but if selected, only investors associated with the Project or Entity will be prompted during the match process. 

Step 2: There are two options for uploading by filename, Investment ID, and Investor Profile ID.

- Investor Profile ID: This method is recommended for bulk uploading documents that involve multiple entities or projects because this method primarily relies on matching a document to a specific investor, not a project. 

- Investment ID: This option will associate a document to an investor's investment in one entity.  The document will be associated with both the investor profile and the entity that they are invested in on the Investor Dashboard.

 

Filename Convention

Step 3: This form of bulk upload relies on specific naming conventions to quickly and automatically match documents to investors in the IMS CRM. All documents uploaded in a single batch must follow a standard naming convention, including the type of delimiter. The file name must include the Investment ID OR investor's IMS Profile ID in the name. 

Option1: Upload by Investment ID

With this upload method, the Investment ID must be included in the filename prior to uploading the document. If you are uploading tax documents, we suggest asking your tax preparer to format your documents this way before sending them to you. 

To download a list of Investment IDs, you can export an Entities Report. Navigate to Projects > Entities > Export by Investment and include both 'Investor Info' and 'K-1 Information'. This report will show the Investment ID for the selected entities.  You can also export the cap table of a specific deal if you are only working on documents for one project.

*NOTE: Investment IDs will change when there is a transfer, new contribution, or deletion of an investment so we recommend pulling a fresh entities report before each batch upload to ensure the investment IDs are accurate. In addition, if you are exporting the Entities report to pull IDs for investors with multiple contributions, you'll need to decide which ID you would like to use and exclude any other values that are not one of the 3 accepted delimiters (dash, space, underscore).

Option 2: Upload by Investor Profile ID

With this upload method, the Investor Profile ID must be included in the filename prior to uploading the document. If you are uploading tax documents, we suggest asking your tax preparer to format your documents this way before sending them to you. 

To download an Excel file with IMS Investor Profile IDs, navigate to the CRM, select all investors, and then click Bulk Actions > Export Contacts in Spreadsheet.

Choosing a Delimiter 

Step 4: No matter the upload method, users must select a delimiter ruleset when creating a document batch. The delimiter allows IMS to quickly read file names and associate it to an investor in the CRM. Users may choose a filename convention that includes either a Dash, Space, or Underscore for a delimiter either at the beginning or the end of the file. For Example Investor Profile ID_Document Name (123_Investor Name) or Document Name-Investor Profile ID (K1-123). The only required fields are the Investor Profile ID and the delimiter ruleset, all other characters in the document name are optional but including additional details such as the Investor Name and Document Name will be helpful if manual matching is needed. 

Users may also check 'remove unique filename identifier upon upload' which will remove the Investor Profile ID as indicated before or after the delimiter. 

Step 5: Once you have selected a delimiter ruleset, select the document type and upload the files that you wish to process in this batch. 

Step 6: Once the batch has finished uploading, the batch name will change from grey to blue. Select the batch name. 

Step 7: Because of the filename convention with the delimiter, the system will automatically match the document to the associated Investor Profile ID. Navigate to the Matched column to review the document pairings. If any edits need to be made, begin typing in the box of the associated investor to see a preview of contacts in your IMS CRM.

To see a preview of the document, select the blue document name. 

Step 8: When you are ready to publish the documents, select 'Publish' in the bottom right corner or from the yellow menu bar. If you chose to 'Notify Investors', investors associated to the document will get an email notification as well. This notification can be customized under Investor Settings > Portal Notifications > K-1 Document Upload Notification.

 

*NOTE: Users may process the batch in stages and do not have to match all documents in a batch before publishing the batch to investors with assigned documents. If you wish to reorder the document on the Investor Portal, you can select a different Publish Date other than the current date (default)

To see a status indicator of the batch, navigate back to the batch manager. Here you can see how many documents have been published from the batch and how many are remaining. 

Pro-tips:

Outside of the initial setup, if you need to edit the Batch Name, Document Type, or Publish Date at any point in time, this can be done on the Manage Batches page. Click on the drop-down arrow next to the batch name and then choose Edit Batch Name, Edit Document Type, or Edit Publish Date. The system will prompt you with the current selection and allow you to overwrite it for that batch. Once this has been entered or selected, click Save.

If documents need to be unpublished for any reason, simply navigate back to the Manage Batches page and select the drop-down arrow next to the batch name. Select Unpublish All. If you do not get a desired match rate, check to see if the internal entity or investor's Tax ID has been entered correctly and select Retry Unmatched once any changes or updates are made.