Import departments via Excel | Woba.io Hjælpecenter

When should I import departments via Excel?

If you need to create many departments, we recommend using Woba’s Excel template instead of creating each department manually.

Departments should be created before employees and administrators, as employees need to be linked to the correct departments. The recommended order is therefore:

Departments → Employees → Administrators.

💡 Tip: If you already have an organizational structure in Woba, we recommend exporting the existing departments and editing the export file instead of starting with an empty template.

Download the Excel template

Log in to Woba Suite
Go to Organization and Employees
Select Organization
Go to Departments
Click Import Departments
Download Woba’s Excel template

You can now fill in the template with your department structure.

Important: Do not delete columns or change the column headers in the original Excel template. Doing so may cause the import to fail.

Fill in the department template

The Excel template contains a number of fields used to create and structure your departments.

Department ID*

A unique ID used to identify the department.

A Department ID can only belong to one department and cannot subsequently be changed via import.

We recommend using an ID that is easy to recognize and relate to the department name.

This field is mandatory.

Name*

The name of the department, for example Sales, Customer Service, or Finance.

This is the name that will be displayed in Woba, including in surveys and for managers with access to the department.

This field is mandatory.

Active (Yes/No)

Indicates whether the department should be active or inactive.

Yes = active
No = inactive

Only active departments can be invited and participate in surveys. An inactive department can be activated again later.

Parent Department ID

Used to build the hierarchy of your organization.

Enter the Department ID of the department that should be the parent of the relevant department. The parent department must either already exist in Woba or be included in the import sheet.

If the field is left blank, the department will not have a parent department.

Department Manager ID

Used to assign a department manager.

Enter the employee’s Employee ID. The employee must already exist in Woba before they can be added as a department manager.

Location

Here, you can specify the location of the department.

The field is a free-text field and can, for example, contain Copenhagen, CPH, Denmark, or another relevant location.

Language

Specifies the department’s default language.

Use an ISO 639-1 language code, for example:

da for Danish
en for English
no for Norwegian

The default language can also be specified individually at employee level.

Average Yearly Salary

Here, you can specify the department’s average annual salary.

The information is used for calculations in Financial Impact. The field must be entered as a number.

Benchmark ID

Used if a department should be benchmarked against another department.

Departments that should be benchmarked against each other must have the same Benchmark ID.

Validate the Excel file before importing

We recommend validating the file before completing the final import.

The validation checks the file and identifies any formatting errors so you can correct them before the data is imported into Woba.

Go to Organization → Departments
Click Import
Go to file selection
Select your completed Excel file
Enable Validation only
Click Validate

If Woba finds any errors, you can correct them in the Excel file and validate the file again.

Import the departments

Once the file has been completed and validated, you are ready to import the departments.

Go to Organization → Departments
Click Import
Go to file selection
Select your completed Excel file
Review your import settings
Click Upload

You can select Mark departments that are not included in the spreadsheet as inactive if all existing departments that are not included in the Excel file should be deactivated.

Important: Only enable this setting if you want departments that are not included in the import file to be made inactive.

If the import fails, Woba displays error codes that help you identify what needs to be corrected in the file.

What is the next step?

Once your department structure has been imported correctly, you can continue by importing your employees and linking them to the relevant departments.

👉 Import employees via Excel