Easily manage hosts with the same First and Last name (Video)

Easily detect all name duplicates in the host list in the Visitor Management Portal (Visitors) using the export function, and create differentiators on those hosts who have the same name.

Commonly in larger companies, employees can have the same First and Last name, and this can sometimes create confusion in the reception when you don't know which John Smith to choose in the host list. The same goes for the visitors checking in on the Visitors check-in kiosk.

It is possible to create a differentiator on those hosts who has the same First and Last name. This can be done manually by navigating to the specific host in the AskCody Portal and setting the differentiator. A differentiator is something that differentiates this host from another host, like; e-mail, initials, department, etc.

When setting a differentiator for a host, it will appear in the host list in both the Visitor Management Portal and on the Check-in kiosk. 

Detecting which host has the same First and Last name can be a cumbersome process for those companies that have thousands of hosts in their portal. But with the Export function in the host list, it is easy to detect name duplicates and set differentiators.

There might be different ways of detecting duplicates in a list, but the following are our recommendations. See the video or follow the steps below.

How to detect all duplicates in the list of hosts and set a differentiator?


There might be different ways of detecting duplicates in a list, but the following are our recommendations. See the video or follow the steps below.

  1. Navigate to the host list in the AskCody Portal.
  2. Click Download and export the host list.
  3. Open the file with hosts in Excel.
  4. Mark the "Name" row.
  5. Click on the function Conditional Formatting.
  6. Choose Highlight Cell Rules.
  7. Then click Duplicate values.
  8. Pick the formatting you want to apply to the duplicate values, and then click OK.

The duplicates in the row Name will now be highlighted, and you can easily add a differentiator to them, like e-mail, initials, department, etc.

When all relevant differentiators are created, you must import the list to the Visitor Management Portal for them to be visible when choosing a host.

  1. Save the list as a CSV file (CSV UTF-8).
  2. Open the AskCody Portal and navigate to the Visitor Management Portal (Visitors). 
  3. Click on Hosts and choose the option Import hosts.
  4. Select the button Choose file, and find you saved CSV host file. 
  5. Click the Import button when the file is showing in the CSV file field. 

The hosts will now be imported to your host list, and only add the information that wasn't there already. Only the things you changed in the CSV file will be added to the host list, and therefore, not duplicate. 

If you have synchronization of hosts set up between the AskCody Portal and Microsoft Azure AD, the AD will always overwrite the doubled information. But since the differentiator field in the CSV file is not something you can set in AD, this will not be overwritten. 

 

If you want to know how to import hosts, visitors, or groups in the Visitor Management Portal?