Required columns
Only one column is required: the individual’s name. CoverProof uses case-insensitive header detection with substring matching for multi-word phrases.
| Field | Required | Accepted column headers |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Yes | name, full name, individual, employee, person |
| Job title / role | No | job title, role, position, title, designation |
| FCA reference / IRN | No | fca ref, fca reference, irn, fca irn, reg number, reg no |
| SM&CR function codes | No | smf, smf codes, smcr, functions, controlled functions, designated functions |
| Email address | No | email, e-mail, email address, work email |
Header matching is case-insensitive (NAME, Name, and name all work). Multi-word phrases use substring matching — a column called Employee Full Name will match full name.
File format
- Format: UTF-8 CSV (comma-separated). Excel CSV exports work including those with a UTF-8 BOM (the BOM is stripped automatically).
- Size: Maximum 10 MB. Larger files will be rejected.
- Columns: Maximum 100 columns. Files with more than 100 columns indicate a malformed or unsupported format.
- File extension: Must be
.csv. Excel workbook (.xlsx) and other formats are not accepted — use “Save As CSV” from your HR system or Excel first. - Quoted fields: Fields containing commas may be wrapped in double quotes — the parser handles this correctly.
Troubleshooting common errors
These are the exact error messages you may see, with the most likely cause and fix.
Cannot identify required 'name' column. Detected headers: […]. Expected one of: name, full name, individual, employee, person.
Cause: None of the column headers in your file match the accepted name-column headers.
Fix: Rename your name column to one of: name, full name, individual, employee, or person — then re-upload. The UI shows you the headers it detected so you can see what CoverProof found.
File too large (max 10MB, got X.XMB)
Cause: The CSV exceeds the 10 MB limit.
Fix: Export a smaller subset of your register, or remove large free-text notes columns before exporting.
CSV has too many columns (X detected, max 100). Please check the file format.
Cause: The file has more than 100 columns. This usually means the file is not a simple CSV export — it may be an Excel workbook saved with binary data.
Fix: Re-export from your HR system as a plain CSV and select only the relevant columns.
No valid rows found in CSV
Cause: The file was parsed but no rows contained a valid name value. All rows were filtered out by validation.
Fix: Ensure your name column contains actual text values. Rows where the name cell is empty are silently skipped.
Invalid file type. Please upload a CSV file.
Cause: The file extension or MIME type is not recognised as CSV.
Fix: Use your HR system's 'Export to CSV' option, or in Excel choose File → Save As → CSV UTF-8.
Upload failed. Please try again.
Cause: A network or server error occurred during upload.
Fix: Wait a moment and try again. If the error persists, check your network connection.
How rows are validated
- Rows with an empty or missing name are silently skipped (they do not cause an error — the import succeeds with the remaining valid rows).
- If an email column is present, values are validated for format. Rows with an invalid email format are also skipped.
- SM&CR function codes can be separated by commas or semicolons within the cell (e.g.
SMF3;SMF24orSMF3,SMF24). - Duplicate rows (same name, email, and FCA reference) are de-duplicated on insert — a re-upload does not create duplicate individuals.