Any amendments made to the SIF should be made in excel format. For this reason it is recommended that you keep a Masterfile in excel format for making amendments to employee and contribution data. The Masterfile should be saved as a new version every time any amendments have been made.

The SIF must be uploaded in CSV UTF-8 format. CSV UTF-8 is an excel file but saved in a different format. This is the only format that can be registered automatically by the portal when uploading.

The CSV UTF-8 file should be treated as a single use file. After you have saved your Masterfile in excel format, save the file again in CSV UTF-8 format. This creates a second file which you should use to upload to the portal.

The instructions in row 2 and the legend under the employee data should be deleted from this file before uploading. See diagram below for a screenshot of Row 2 and the legend. It is important that the instructions row and legend are deleted from the file that is being uploaded as the portal can mistake these rows as employee data .

Row 2

Legend

Once you have uploaded this file it should not be used again for making any future amendments. The reason for this is that information within the file can be amended when the file is reformatted from Excel to CSV UTF-8 formatting. If amendments are made to a CSV file, some of the formatting of cells can be changed and some data may be lost. As such it is recommended that you make any amendments in your Excel Masterfile and create a new CSV copy of this file each time you wish to upload a file.

The single-use CSV UTF-8 file can be uploaded to the portal using the following path from the home page:

Menu > Contributions and Payroll > Upload your Standard Interface File (SIF).

On this page you can upload the CSV UTF-8 file. If there are any errors with the file, the portal will list these for you. An explanation on each error can be found through the SIF troubleshooting guide here.