Creating Your Student Profiles CSV

The Profiles CSV contains your student roster for the housing term you are setting up in the sandbox. This file establishes the foundation for all other data imports since it defines which students exist in your system.

This guide walks you through building your Profiles CSV step by step, including where to find your data, which fields are required, and how to avoid common errors.

Who Goes in the Profiles CSV

Include all students who are eligible for housing during the selected term, not just students with current housing assignments. This includes:

• Students who have housing applications submitted

• Students currently assigned to rooms

• Students on waitlists

• Students who may apply for housing later in the term

If you are unsure whether to include a student, include them. It is easier to have extra profiles that go unused than to realize later you are missing students who need housing.

Understanding Required vs Optional Fields

Every row in your Profiles CSV must include three pieces of information:

• sisId — The unique student ID from your SIS

• name — The student's full name

• At least one email address — Either schoolEmail or personalEmail (or both)

Everything else is optional, but including more data helps you test features like roommate matching and communications during your sandbox training.

What Is sisId and Where Do I Find It

The sisId (Student Information System ID) is the unique identifier your school uses to track students in Banner, Colleague, Workday, or other student systems. This is the permanent ID that stays with a student throughout their enrollment.

In Banner, this is the PIDM (Person Identification Master). In Colleague, it may be called the Student ID or Person ID. In systems using Ethos Integration, it might be a GUID or CWID.

The sisId must be unique for every student. Housing.Cloud uses this ID to match records across different files and to sync with your SIS integrations later.

Exporting sisId from Banner

In Banner, you can export student IDs using the Banner Tools menu:

1. Navigate to Tools → Export to CSV

2. Select the student population for your housing term

3. Ensure the PIDM field is included in your export columns

4. Run the export and save the CSV file

The PIDM column in your Banner export becomes the sisId column in your Profiles CSV.

Exporting sisId from Colleague

In Colleague, student IDs are available through flat file exports or SFTP transfers configured by your IT department. Contact your Colleague administrator to request a student roster export that includes the Person ID field.

Preserving Leading Zeros

Some schools use student IDs with leading zeros (like 0012345 instead of 12345). Excel often drops these zeros when you open a CSV file, which creates mismatches later.

To preserve leading zeros in Excel:

1. Select the sisId column

2. Right-click and choose Format Cells

3. Select Text format

4. Re-enter any IDs that lost their leading zeros

Email Addresses: schoolEmail vs personalEmail

Every student must have at least one email address. You can provide either a school email, a personal email, or both.

schoolEmail is the institutional email address assigned by your school (like [email protected]). This becomes the primary login credential for Housing.Cloud and is the preferred contact method for official housing communications.

personalEmail is the student's personal email address (like [email protected]). This provides a backup contact method if the school email becomes inactive or inaccessible.

For best results, prioritize school emails since they integrate with your existing campus systems. Only use personal emails if school emails are not available.

Student Names and Preferred Names

The name field should contain the student's full legal name as it appears in your Student Information System. This is the name used for official records and billing.

The preferredName field is optional and allows students to specify how they want to be addressed in the housing portal (like "Alex" instead of "Alexander"). This name displays in the student-facing interface while the legal name is used for administrative records.

Adding Profile Tags for Roommate Matching

Profile tags are preferences and attributes used for roommate matching, like sleep schedules, study habits, or allergies. Tags help the Housing.Cloud matching algorithm suggest compatible roommates.

Tags must be formatted as a comma-separated list in the profileTags column. Each tag name must exactly match Tag Captions you have already set up in Housing.Cloud (or plan to set up before importing).

Example profileTags values:

• Early Riser,Quiet,Non-Smoker

• Night Owl,Social,Allergies:Pets

• Moderate,Clean,Music:Jazz

If you include a tag name that does not exist in Housing.Cloud, it will be silently skipped during import. Make sure your tag names match exactly (including capitalization and punctuation).

Date of Birth Formatting

The dob (date of birth) field is optional but useful for age verification and reporting. Dates must be formatted as yyyy-mm-dd (like 2004-08-15).

Excel often auto-formats dates when you open CSV files, changing them to formats like 8/15/2004 or 15-Aug-04. To prevent this:

1. Format the dob column as Text before entering dates

2. Enter dates in yyyy-mm-dd format

3. After saving the CSV, open it in a text editor (like Notepad) to verify dates still show as yyyy-mm-dd

Phone Numbers and Country Codes

The phone field is optional and should include the full phone number with country code prefix. For U.S. numbers, this means starting with +1.

Examples:

• +15551234567 (U.S.)

• +442071234567 (UK)

• +12045551234 (Canada)

Without the country code prefix, phone numbers may not validate correctly during import.

Address Information

Address fields are optional but useful if you need to track student home addresses for billing or communication purposes. If you include address information, you must provide:

• address1 — Street address or PO Box

• city — City name

Optional address fields include:

• address2 — Apartment or suite number

• state — State or province

• zipcode — Postal code

• country — Country name

If you start filling out address fields, make sure every row with any address data includes at least address1 and city. Partial addresses will cause import errors.

Emergency Contact Information

Emergency contact fields are optional. If you include emergency contact information, you must provide:

• emergencyName — Full name of the emergency contact

• emergencyRelationship — Relationship to student (Parent, Guardian, Spouse, etc.)

• Either emergencyPhone or emergencyEmail — At least one contact method

Like addresses, emergency contacts must be complete if included. Do not provide just a name without contact information or a relationship.

Custom Profile Fields

If you have created custom Profile Fields in Housing.Cloud (like "Graduation Year" or "Academic Program"), you can include those as additional columns in your CSV.

The column header must exactly match the Profile Field name you created in the system. The value you provide will be assigned to that field for each student.

Custom fields are matched by name during import, so make sure the spelling and capitalization match exactly.

Building Your CSV in Excel

Start with your SIS export and transform it into the Profiles CSV format:

1. Open your SIS export in Excel

2. Add a new column header row at the top with the exact Housing.Cloud column names (sisId, name, schoolEmail, etc.)

3. Map your SIS data to the appropriate columns (for example, PIDM → sisId, EMAIL → schoolEmail)

4. Remove any columns that do not match Housing.Cloud field names

5. Add any optional fields you want to include (profileTags, dob, phone, etc.)

6. Format dates as yyyy-mm-dd and sisId as Text

7. Save as CSV format

Column Header Reference

Your CSV must use these exact column headers (case-sensitive):

Required:

• sisId

• name

• schoolEmail or personalEmail (at least one)

Optional:

• preferredName

• dob

• phone

• profileTags

• address1, address2, city, state, zipcode, country

• emergencyName, emergencyRelationship, emergencyPhone, emergencyEmail

• privateAvatar (URL to profile photo)

• isSensitive (true/false flag for FERPA-protected profiles)

• Any custom Profile Field names you have created

Common Errors and How to Avoid Them

Duplicate sisId Values

Error message: "Existing Profiles found with an existing sisId"

This happens when the same sisId appears multiple times in your CSV or already exists in Housing.Cloud. Check for duplicate rows in your file and verify student IDs are unique.

Missing Required Fields

Error message: "Column headers: sisId and name are required"

Your CSV is missing one of the required column headers. Double-check that your header row includes sisId, name, and at least one email column with exact spelling.

Wrong Column Header Names

Error message: Columns not imported or data missing

Column headers are case-sensitive and must match exactly. Common mistakes include emergencyRelated instead of emergencyRelationship, or Email instead of schoolEmail.

Phone Numbers Missing Country Code

Error message: Phone validation failed

Phone numbers must include the country code prefix (like +1 for U.S.). Format as +15551234567, not 555-123-4567.

Email Addresses Reused Across Students

Result: Profiles merge or overwrite each other

Every email address must be unique. If two students share the same email, Housing.Cloud will treat them as the same person and merge the profiles. Check for duplicate emails before importing.

Leading Zeros Dropped from Student IDs

Result: sisId mismatches when importing other CSVs

Excel drops leading zeros when opening CSV files. Format the sisId column as Text to preserve zeros like 0012345.

Validating Your CSV Before Submission

Before you send your Profiles CSV to the Housing.Cloud implementation team:

1. Open the CSV in a text editor (Notepad, TextEdit, VS Code) to verify formatting

2. Check that dates show as yyyy-mm-dd

3. Verify sisId values have correct leading zeros

4. Confirm column headers match exactly (case-sensitive)

5. Look for duplicate sisId or email values

6. Make sure every row has sisId, name, and at least one email

Next Steps

• Creating Your Housing Inventory CSV — Define your buildings, rooms, and beds

• Creating Your Charge Codes CSV — Set up billing rates for housing and meal plans

• Common CSV Errors and How to Fix Them — Troubleshooting guide for import errors

For detailed field specifications and data types, reference the CSV Integration Schema - Profiles article.