How to import your subject roster
The first real piece of work for any photo day is loading the subject roster — the organization\'s list of children/players/dancers paired with their parent contacts. Everything downstream (reference capture, AI face matching, parent magic-link delivery, yearbook exports) keys off it. This guide walks through the import.
1.Get the roster CSV from the organization
Ask the school, league, or studio for a CSV containing subject first name, last name, group (homeroom / team / class), and parent contact (email and/or phone). Most organizations can export this directly from their student information system or league management software.
2.Confirm the required columns
Pro Photo Systems expects at minimum: first_name, last_name, group, parent_email. Optional but recommended: parent_phone, grade, subject_id (your internal identifier). Column names are case-insensitive and the importer attempts fuzzy matching, but exact matches always work best.
3.Open the Roster page in your PPS dashboard
In the Pro Photo Systems dashboard, navigate to the event you're importing for, then click Roster → Import. You'll see a drag-and-drop area or a file picker.
4.Upload the CSV
Drop the CSV file onto the import area, or click to browse. PPS parses the file in the browser first to show you a preview before writing anything to the database.
5.Map columns and resolve errors
The importer shows each CSV column with its detected mapping. Adjust any mismappings, fix rows flagged for missing required fields, and de-duplicate rows that match existing subjects on (first_name, last_name, group). Errors must be cleared before the import can proceed.
6.Confirm and lock the roster
When the preview looks clean, click Confirm Import. PPS writes the subjects to the event's roster and they become available for reference capture and parent-link delivery. You can edit individual rows after import but a structural re-import means starting over.