Migrating Accounts from ORSEE to Sona

A simple, easy-to-follow guide to transferring user accounts from ORSEE to Sona.

There are three parts to this guide. The first will introduce you to the basic export command you will need to use to download user information from ORSEE. Part two will cover the export process itself. Finally, the third and last part will walk you through using Sona’s Import Wizard to automatically create user accounts.

Please note that this process does not involve transferring prescreen responses or study sign-up data. If necessary, it is possible to create past studies in Sona and then add these studies to participant sign-up information using a batch sign-up process (for more information, please see the documentation and/or contact support).

Exporting Account Information from ORSEE for Easy Account Creation in Sona

Part 1: Introducing the Export Command

Before starting with the export process itself, we briefly introduce the command you will be using. This is both to prepare you for executing it in the following step, as well as familiarizing you with the possible fields you may include.

The command will save the following participant information: First Name, Last Name, User ID, Phone Number, and Email address. If your database does not include one or more of these fields, you can simply delete that section of the command. For example, if you do not have participant phone numbers, then you can delete the section phone_number AS 'Phone', in the next step.

mysql -u username -p orseedbname -e "SELECT fname AS 'First Name', lname AS 'Last Name', participant_id AS 'User ID', phone_number AS 'Phone', email AS 'Email' FROM or_participants" --batch --silent --skip-column-names | sed 's/\t/,/g' > orsee-to-sona-export.csv

Part 2: How to export ORSEE participant data

This part of the guide covers the actual use of the command introduced above. The final result will be a CSV file containing the downloaded user account information.

Step 1. Open your ORSEE Interface:
  • Access your terminal or command-line interface on the system where ORSEE is installed.
Step 2. Run the Command:
  • Replace username with your MySQL username.
  • Replace orseedbname with the name of your ORSEE database.
  • Execute the command. It will prompt you for your MySQL password.

Example:

(You can copy this code to your clipboard by moving your cursor over the code block and clicking on the “Copy Code to Clipboard” button that will appear in the top-left corner of the block)

Copy Code to Clipboard
Step 3. Enter MySQL Password:
  • When prompted, enter your MySQL password to proceed with the export.
Step 4. Check the Exported File:
  • The command generates a file named orsee-to-sona-export.csv in the current directory. This CSV file contains the exported
    participant data.

Part 3: Import ORSEE participant data

During the import process, you will be asked to select the course you wish to add your participants to. If you have not created a course yet, you should do this first. Select Course Listings from the Set Up dropdown menu. Then click the “Add New Course” button. Then enter a course name and click “Save Changes”. If your participants are not students, or will not enrolled in an actual course, you may create any group name you find convenient (e.g., “Paid Participants”, “Participant Pool”, etc.).

Step 1. Go to the User Import Wizard in Sona
  • Log in to the system as an Administrator.
  • From the Tasks dropdown menu, select the System Maintenance and Data Management option
  • Click the Data Import button (the topmost button on the System Maintenance and Data Management page).
  • If there is an existing incomplete import, you can choose to delete it or resume it.
Step 2. Import Wizard – Step 1 – Choose the User Type:
  • Select the “Participant” user type.
Step 3. Import Wizard – Step 2 – Define the Fields:

  • In Step 2 you must specify the fields that will be imported. These are the fields that must be checked for your ORSEE export:

    • First Name
    • Last Name
    • User ID
    • Phone Number
    • Email Address
Step 4. Import Wizard – Step 3 – Data Field Order:
  • Check the order numbers of the fields and compare these with the order as given in the list of fields above (i.e., starting with “First Name” and ending with “Email Address”).
  • If the order is the same (i.e., “First Name” is “1”, etc.), continue to the next step.
  • If the order differs, change the order numbers until they match (i.e., “1” corresponds to the first export field, “2” the second, and so on).
Step 5. Import Wizard – Step 4 – Upload or Paste the Data:
  • Open your orsee-to-sona-export.csv file in a text editor
  • Copy the contents of the CSV file
  • Paste the CSV content into the import text box in Sona
  • (Optional) To avoid formmating issues, you can first paste the CSV contents into a text editor like Notepad (make sure that there are no header lines). Then copy the contents from the text editor and paste them into the import text box in Sona.
Step 6. Processing and Validating the Data:
  • The system will process the import file and check for errors. If there are issues, the problematic records will be highlighted and identified in Step 5.
  • You can choose to import only the error-free records or attempt to fix and import all records.
Step 7. Finalizing the Import:
  • After resolving any errors, proceed with the import. You will receive a status report indicating the number of records imported.
  • (Optional) You can choose to email the newly added participants with their login information as part of the account creation process. Alternatively, you can choose to do this later using the Mass Email Notification feature (Select Mass Email Notification from the Tasks dropdown menu, then click on the Mass Email Notification button).

By following these steps, you can efficiently import a CSV file of users into the Sona system, automatically creating participant accounts in Sona from your ORSEE participant pool user information. For more detailed instructions or troubleshooting, refer to the Sona system documentation or contact technical support.