Before you start, you will need...
- At least one InstantAwards™ program already configured on your platform
- At least one user with permissions to set up and manage a SFTP integration, as described in this article
NOTE: for general instructions on how to set up a SFTP integration, please refer to the guide to SFTP for Provisioning, and the guide on how to manage a live SFTP integration.
This article will only cover the specific columns that are required to manage InstantAwards™ pots through SFTP, and what to expect when uploading a file.
Through this integration, clients will be able to add a set of columns relevant to InstantAwards™ admin access, to the same data file they upload to manage the eligibility of employees on the platform.

Getting started
The option to set up a SFTP integration that includes InstantAwards™ will be available at the Initial Setup stage of a new integration, as per the screenshot below. The steps to reach this are introduced in the guide to SFTP for Provisioning.
The option to select in the Configuration Type dropdown menu is the one called InstantAwards Pots Update.

Mapping the required columns
The columns relevant to InstantAwards™ need to be added to the same data file that will manage employee eligibility and (e.g. payroll benefits, line management, nomination approvals, etc.). This article will only cover the columns that must be added in order to manage InstantAwards™ pots.
The three extra columns needed to manage InstantAwards™ pots are:
- Pot Owner?
- This column will identify the users who will be given access to InstantAwards™ pots.
- Mark Y in this column for every employee who should be a pot owner at the time of uploading the file
- Mark N in this column for every employee who should not be a pot owner at the time of uploading the file (even if they were a pot owner before)
- The remaining two columns can be blank for users who are not marked as pot owners
- Details of how the system will add and remove pot owners will be available later in this article.
- InstantAwards Programme ID
- If a user is marked as a pot owner, the pot they will be assigned to will belong to a specific InstantAwards™ program. The funds added to the user's pot will be taken from this program's budget (this is a separate process, as explained later in this article).
- Every InstantAwards™ program has a unique ID in the system. Contact your Client Success Manager for details of the ID or IDs of the program or programs you want to manage pots for.
- Pot
- This is the name of the InstantAwards™ pot the user will be assigned to. It can be an existing pot, or a new one that the file upload will create from scratch.
- It must belong to the program specified in the previous column.
- Because the employee eligibility data file only accepts one row per employee, each SFTP file upload will allow to assign each user to one pot at a time. Details of how to add a user to multiple pots will be available later in this article.
Here is an example of what an employee data file may look like, for a user who is a pot owner (first row), and one who is not (second row). This is only designed to show the InstantAwards™ pot management columns; other required fields will vary based on each client's configuration.

These columns can be mapped to the fields required by the system, at the Mapping stage of the setup. The steps to reach this are introduced in the guide to SFTP for Provisioning.
Completing the setup
Once a sample file is available to test with, testing the integration and completing the setup will follow the standard steps detailed in the guide to SFTP for Provisioning.

What to expect from the InstantAwards™ SFTP integration
When a file that includes InstantAwards™ columns is uploaded via SFTP, the system checks if each user needs to be a pot owner, based on the Pot Owner? column.
- If the column states N, and the user was not a pot owner before the upload, the user is not assigned to any pots.
- If the column states N, and the user was a pot owner before the upload, the user is removed from all pots they had access to. They lose their Instant Awards Owner access in Reward Manager.
- If the column states Y, and the user was a pot owner before the upload
- User continues to have Instant Awards Owner access in Reward Manager
- User continues to be linked to any existing pots they were already linked to (regardless of which one is stated in the Pot Name column in this file)
- If the pot stated in the Pot Name Column does not yet exist in the system, it is created through the file upload (with 0 budget), and the user is assigned to it.
- If the column states Y, and the user was not a pot owner before the upload:
- User is assigned Instant Awards Owner access in Reward Manager
- User is linked to the relevant pot (as per the Pot Name column), if this already exists in the system. This could be a pot they were already linked to, or a pot they are added to as a new owner.
- If the pot stated in the Pot Name Column does not yet exist in the system, it is created through the file upload (with 0 budget), and the user is assigned to it.
Other important notes
Combining employee eligibility data and InstantAwards™ pots data in the same file is only possible via a SFTP integration. Clients will not be able to map InstantAwards™ pot management columns when uploading eligibility data files manually through Reward Manager.
Users can only be assigned as pot owners if they are registered to the platform. The integration does not support assigning Pot Owner permissions to unregistered users.
This workflow is only suitable to add pot owners. This workflow does NOT:
- Remove users from some of the pots they are assigned to, and preserve their access to other pots
- Removing users from pots is only possible when their InstantAwards™ access is completely removed, by marking N in the Pot Owner? column (as explained earlier in this article)
- Delete any pots from the system
- Add, refresh or remove budgets from pots
The actions this workflow does not cover can be performed in Reward Manager, by the InstantAwards™ program's Main Pot Owner, or Reward Gateway's Client Support Team. Reward Manager allows clients to perform these actions both through a dedicated bulk file, and individually for each pot. Please speak with your Client Success Manager or the Client Support Team for more details.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.