Bulk uploading risks and controls

Bulk upload risks and controls to a project or framework if you need to avoid time-consuming manual data entry, migrate data from another system, or use additional websites (such as UCF Common Controls Hub) to populate your list of controls.

Note

You can bulk upload risks, controls, and issues using one of the two options below.

  • From the Projects or Frameworks apps This is an old way of doing things, but it has limited functionality. You can only upload a few resources, which include risks, controls, and issues. Also, you cannot update resources with this option. Continue with this topic if you are happy with the old approach.
  • From Launchpad This is our recommended approach. You can upload more resources and you can also update resources with this option. For more information, see Bulk importing Diligent One resources using Launchpad.

How it works

You download the Risk and Control templates from the Projects app and prepare data in the templates. Then, you upload the templates to the Projects app. You can bulk upload risks and controls to projects or frameworks associated with either a Workplan or Internal Control workflow.

Note

Bulk uploading only includes adding risks and controls to a project or framework. Once the bulk upload is complete, you still need to associate the risks and controls.

Limitations

  • Bulk updating risks is not supported, but you can bulk update control attributes using Mission Control.
  • You can define a maximum of 500 objectives per project or framework.
  • Each objective can contain a maximum of 1000 risks and 1000 controls.
  • The maximum number of records that can be contained in the Risk template or Control template and uploaded to the Projects app is 1000.
  • You can only upload risks and controls into newly created objectives or into objectives that have pre-existing risks and controls.

    You cannot upload risks and controls into locked objectives (objectives that have been checked out using Diligent HighBond for iOS or Android or Offline Projects).

  • When you bulk upload controls and specify control owners, only the person's name displays in the owner field in the Projects app.

    The person is not automatically assigned the control and notified via email.

  • One worksheet per objective is created to enter data. Additional worksheets are not processed.

Where are the uploaded risks and controls?

Once you upload risks and controls, the data is accessible within the Project Plan or Risk Control Matrix of the project or framework.

Risks and controls information is also available in the downloadable Risk Control Matrix reports and the OrganizationName Project Report (final audit report).

Before you start

Before you can download the Risk and Control templates, you must complete the following tasks:

  1. Create a project or framework see Creating projects or Managing information using frameworks
  2. Define objectives within the project or framework see Defining objectives

Workflow

Permissions

Only Professional Managers can bulk upload risks and controls.

Steps

Notes

  • Interface terms are customizable, and fields and tabs are configurable. In your instance of Diligent One, some terms, fields, and tabs may be different.
  • If a required field is left blank, you will see a warning message: This field is required. Some custom fields may have default values.

Download Excel templates

  1. Navigate to the appropriate project or framework.
  2. Click the Settings project management tab.
  3. Click the Bulk Upload subtab.

    The Bulk Upload page opens.

  4. Click Download .xlsx Template.

    The Excel template saves to your local machine as a zip file (templates.zip).

  5. Extract the Excel templates from the zip file.
    • If you downloaded the Excel templates from a project, the extracted files are Risk_template.xlsx, Control_template.xlsx, and Issue_template.xlsx.
    • If you downloaded the Excel template from a framework, the extracted files are Risk_template.xlsx and Control_template.xlsx.

      If you do not see the Risk and Control template in the zip file, you need to add objectives to the project. For frameworks, the Bulk Upload page is disabled until you add objectives.

Prepare data in the Risk and Control templates

  1. Open Risk_template.xlsx and Control_template.xlsx.

    In both the Risk and Control template, each objective is organized on a separate worksheet. Each worksheet tab is labeled with the:

    • objective reference code
    • System generated ID
  2. Copy and paste or enter your data into the Risk and Control templates.
    • Required fields are marked with an asterisk.
    • For COSO Principles, you can mark each field with a 'x' or 'X' for "true" or leave the field blank to indicate "false."

    For information on specific fields in the Risk and Control templates, see Defining risks and controls.

    Note

    You do not need to input the objective reference code in the Risk ID field. Doing this will cause duplicate entries to occur.

  3. Save the Risk and Control templates.

Upload data

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Drag and drop the Risk and Control templates individually into the browser window.
    • Click Choose files and select the Risk and Control templates individually from your computer.

      Only .xlsx files up to a maximum of 1MB in size are supported. Only one Excel template can be uploaded at a time (each file is validated separately).

  2. Optional. Skip duplicates Select this option to avoid uploading duplicate risks or controls.

    By default, this option is selected.

    Note

    You must specify values in the Risk ID and Control ID fields in the Risk and Control templates to avoid uploading duplicate risks and controls.

  3. Click Upload.

    An email notification is sent to confirm the bulk upload completion. The email notification contains a link to the Bulk Upload page, where you can view the number of successfully processed records, as well as any that may have failed.

    Once the Excel templates are uploaded, the Projects app retains the formatting for the rich text fields.

  4. If one or more risks or controls were not added to the project or framework, complete the following steps:
    1. On the Bulk Upload page, click Download Errors.
    2. Make corrections to the risks and controls in the Error file(s).
    3. Upload the Errors file(s) to the Bulk Upload page.

Troubleshooting

Understand common bulk upload errors and causes and learn how to fix errors.

Can I undo a bulk upload?

There is no undo option available. However, if you detect any risks or controls that were not uploaded correctly, you can perform the following steps:

  1. Remove the risks or controls in the Projects app that you found errors with.
  2. In the templates, update the risks or controls that you found errors with.

    Make sure to specify values in the Risk ID and Control ID fields in the templates to avoid uploading duplicate risks and controls.

  3. Upload each template again to the Projects app and select Skip duplicates.

Result The corrected risks and controls are appended below the existing risks and controls in the Projects app. To achieve a desired order of risks and controls, you may need to manually reorder them in the Projects app.

Error file

If there are errors in the Risk or Control templates, the Risk or Control templates are rejected and an error file is generated that contains:

  • a list of risks/controls that were successfully processed
  • a list of risks/controls that failed
  • the reason why each record failed (identified in the Error field)
  • the value in each field that caused the error to occur

The user that performed the bulk upload can download the error file (if applicable), make corrections to error file(s), and upload the error file(s) processing.

The corrected risks and controls are appended below the existing risks and controls in the Projects app. To achieve a desired order of risks and controls, you may need to manually reorder them in the Projects app.

Note

If any of the fields in a record are in error, no other fields in the record are processed.

Errors

The table below provides a list of possible errors that may occur when uploading the Risk and Control templates. If a record has multiple errors, the error messages are concatenated together and separated by a comma within the Error field.

Error Description Solution(s)
There are more than 1000 records in the uploaded file. Please reduce the number of records and try again.

Occurs when you attempt to upload a Risk template or Control template that contains over 1000 records.

Remove records from the Risk or Control template and re-upload the template to the Projects app.
Mandatory fields are missing in the Risk or Control template Occurs when you do not complete the mandatory fields in the Risk or Control template. Ensure that all mandatory fields (marked with an asterisk in the Risk and Control templates) are completed.
Note

If you do not provide data in the mandatory fields, the record is not processed.

Data format is incorrect Occurs when the data exceeds the maximum field length or uploads an invalid format of data.

Ensure that data in text fields does not exceed the maximum field length: 255 characters.

Rich text fields do not have a character limit.

Data values do not match dropdown values Occurs when you attempt to upload invalid values for dropdown fields.

Ensure that all values in the Risk and Control template correspond to the dropdown values in the specified field in the Projects app:

The values for Impact, Likelihood, Custom Risk Scoring Factors, Custom Risk attributes, and Custom Control attributes must be available from the dropdown lists, defined within the project type.

Objective is locked Occurs when an objective has been checked out using Diligent HighBond for iOS or Android or Offline Projects. Check in the objective to the Projects app using Diligent HighBond for iOS or Android or Offline Projects and re-upload the Risk and Control template to the Projects app.
Objective not found Occurs when you bulk upload risks and controls using a Risk or Control template that is not associated with the project or framework. Download, populate, and upload the Risk or Control template that is associated with the project or framework (Settings > Bulk Upload).
Objective no longer exists Occurs when an objective is deleted in the Projects app after downloading the Risk or Control template or if you add worksheet tabs within the Risk or Control template.
  • Re-add the objective in the Projects app.
  • Remove any additional worksheet tabs that have been added in the Risk or Control template.
Field does not exist Occurs when you add new fields to the Risk or Control template or rename fields.
  • Remove the field(s) from the Risk or Control template and re-upload the file.
  • Update the field name(s) back to the original values and re-upload the file.
Template is not in expected format Occurs when the project type has been altered after downloading the template or if the Risk or Control template has been changed to an unsupported format (i.e. .xls or .csv).
  • Update the project type to correspond with the data in the Risk or Control template.
  • Upload an .xlsx file.
Error in Excel template states Number stored as text for the Risk ID or Control ID field(s). Occurs when you specify a decimal integer in the Risk ID or Control ID field.

Do one of the following:

  • Ignore the error
  • Dismiss the error by clicking on the error, selecting Error Checking Options..., and deselecting Numbers formatted as text.