BestNotes can import appointments from a tab-delimited CSV file into the BestNotes calendar. This article outlines the steps required to prepare a CSV file for import and the process for submitting it.

Permissions Required

No specific BestNotes permissions are required.

Importing Calendar Appointments

Preparations within BestNotes

  1. Create or import all contacts into BestNotes. During this process, please ensure that each contact has a unique ID, which should ideally be the same unique ID used in the system containing calendar appointments.
  2. Create all calendar appointment types that will be used in BestNotes. This is done by the System Administrator.
  3. Work with BestNotes to create Facilities, if applicable. The BestNotes implementation staff will know the questions to ask to see if this applies.
  4. Ask BestNotes to provide a list of the Appointment Types (with ID) and Facilities (with ID). These will be used when preparing the import.

Preparing the Import Document

The following table details the required and optional columns for your tab-delimited CSV import file:

Column Name/Type

BestNotes Import Name

Notes

Type of Appointment

APPTTYPE*

ID number provided by BestNotes

Start date and time

APPTSTART*

Must contain the date and time of the appointment start (e.g. 11/1/2014 not Nov 2014)

End date and time

APPTEND*

Must contain the date and time that the appointment ends or use duration below

Duration

DURATION*

Time in minutes of the appointment or must have end date and time above
Provider scheduled for PROVIDER* BestNotes User ID that the appointment should be displayed on. Use ‘global’ if this appointment should be on all calendars
Client Unique ID CID or ALTID* Use ALTID if the unique ID is from an external system. Use CID if using the BestNotes CID as the unique ID.

Subject

SUBJECT

Appointment subject (max 60 characters)

Notes

NOTES

Any carriage returns must be replaced with #BNCR#

Private

PRIVATE

Used to denote that the appointment contents should only be visible to the provider it is created for

Reminder

ALARM

Time in minutes prior to an appointment that BestNotes should remind the user

All day appointment

ALLDAY

Use Yes, Y or a 1 to denote an appointment lasting the whole day, otherwise leave blank

Locked

LOCKED

Use Yes, Y or a 1 to denote that an appointment should be locked and not editable. If it is to be unlocked please leave the field empty

Who created

CREATEDBY

BestNotes UserID who is to be attributed with creating the appointment. If column is left blank it will be assigned to the System Administrator.

Company Facility

FACILITY

Used to show what campus a particular appointment is to occur at. ID number provided by BestNotes

Blocked Time or Provider only event

APPTBLOCK

Use Yes, Y or a 1 to denote that an appointment should appear on a Provider’s calendar without a client attached.

The columns below can be left on the import but are only used for troubleshooting

First Name

FNAME

Client’s first name

Middle Name

MNAME

Client’s middle name

Last Name

LNAME

Client’s last name

Gender

GENDER

Client gender (M/F)

Birthday

DOB

Client’s date of birth

(*) in the BestNotes import name column denotes a required field.

Sample image of a prepped import (click on image to enlarge):

Sending the Import Document to BestNotes

As the information contained in any import may contain Personal Health Information (PHI), we strongly recommend that it be sent via encrypted email or other secure method. The most common methods of sending PHI to BestNotes are as follows:

  • Upload the file to the Company Files area in BestNotes, then send an email to the implementation staff letting them know the file name and location. This method is only applicable for files smaller than our upload limit.

    • Sample Calendar Appointment Import CSV

    1. Use a service to send an encrypted email to BestNotes. One such service is sendinc.com but there are many others available. BestNotes will need to create an account and retrieve the import file. These emails usually are only available for a few days before they are destroyed.
    2. Encrypt the file with a password or as part of an encrypted zip file and email it to BestNotes. This method requires some technical knowledge and is not as easy as the other two options.
    3. There are other mechanisms available but most of these require extra work or staff to facilitate.

BestNotes Import Process

Implementation will retrieve and review the import to ensure it is filled out correctly. If changes need to be made, these will be communicated to the client during a phone call meeting. If all is in order, then the import will be sent to the support department to process. Depending on the complexity of the import, this can take up to 5 business days to process.

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