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What is eCourtDate?

eCourtDate is a cloud-native communications platform used by justice systems such as courts and prosecutors. Agencies can automatically send and receive two-way messages via texts (SMS), email, and voice calls.

SFTP Gateway allows system admins to integrate eCourtDate's scheduling and messaging capabilities into their own applications and workflows.

eCourtDate Agency Required

To use this guide, you must be an authorized user with at least one assigned agency. Sign up for a free trial here ecourtdate.com/sign-up.

Getting Started

SFTP Gateway is designed to automate flat file transfers to eCourtDate's Uploads feature.

Step 1 - Create a Server


Step 2 - Create an SFTP Profile

From the Console SFTPs page, click on Add SFTP and complete the form.

Create an SFTP Profile in eCourtDate Console

Configure the SFTP profile based on the desired target agency, upload template, and monitoring settings.


Step 3 - Enable Automatic Uploads

Turn on Auto-Upload Enabled when ready to transfer files automatically.

Enable Auto-Uploads in SFTP Profile

How to Connect to a Managed Server

Using SSH

Connect to the server using the provided username and IP address:

ssh -i {key.pem} {username}@{server_ip}

The first time connecting, you'll see the following response:

The authenticity of host {server_ip} can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is {server_fingerprint}.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

Enter yes



Troubleshooting

SFTP Client Limitations

  • For File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and FTPS, only Passive mode is supported.
  • File names must be in UTF-8 encoding. Using different encoding can lead to unexpected results.
Server Error Responses

Connection timed out or Connection refused:

Ensure that your client's IP address has been whitelisted on the server.

Permission denied or Authentication failed or Server refused our key:

Ensure that you are using the correct username.

If you are using an SSH private key, ensure that the password and passphrase are blank or disabled. The private key should have user read-only permissions.




Upload Templates

Use Upload Templates to process flat files based on configurable settings and mappable fields.

Processing Method
  • Update by Fields - each file should include only newly created or updated data since the last upload.
  • Load and Replace All Uploads - each file should include all data agency-wide.
  • Load and Replace All Uploads Using This Template - each file should include all data created using the Upload Template.



  • Processing Order

    Choose whether files process based on Ascending or Descending sort order.

    Exclude from Processing

    Use the Exclude Settings to exclude individual rows from processing.

    Configurable Reference Fields

    Reference fields are your internal IDs for a given data model.

    • Client Reference
    • Event Reference
    • Payment Reference
    • Case Number
    Unique Identifiers

    The following data models can combine fields to create a unique identifier.

    • Clients
    • Cases
    • Events

    The following data models are tracked based on their unique identifier:

    • Contacts - the Contact Phone or Contact Email
    • Payments - the Payment Reference and Payment Amount
    File Formats

    We support flat files such as TXT, CSV, and XLSX. We recommend TXT files for maximum compatibility.

    Files can be Pipe (|) or Comma (,) delimited.




    Date and Time Formats

    Dates and times formats can be parsed automatically or use a predefined format.




    Resource Linking

    The following data models can link to preexisting agency resources:

    • Locations - Location Name or Location Reference.
    • Flows - Flow Name or Flow Reference.
    • Portals - Portal Name or Portal Reference.
    • Agencies - Agency Name or Agency Reference.
    • Users - User Email.

    Example: Instead of including the full location address Municipal Court 123 Address, use the Location Name Municipal Court to link an agency location.




    Field Mapping

    Map fields based on the column header or numeric position.

    By Column Header

    Paste the value of your column header into each eCourtDate upload template field. You don't need to change your column header naming convention. Each field mapping should match the exact value of the column header in your file and is case-sensitive. You can map a single file field to multiple eCourtDate fields.




    Default Fields

    Use the Default Field value if you do not map the field or the field is empty / not found for a given row:

    • Client Status
    • Client Group
    • Event Status
    • Payment Status
    • Payment Amount
    • Location
    • Portal
    • Flow



    File Naming Convention

    Files that were previously uploaded to eCourtDate are skipped when syncing. To ensure that each file uses a unique name, we recommend the following naming convention:

    [Year]-[Month]-[Day]-[Hour]-[Min]_[Agency]_[UploadTemplate].[ext]

    Example {{ currentDate('YYYY') }}-{{ currentDate('MM') }}-{{ currentDate('DD') }}-{{ currentDate('HH')}}-{{ currentDate('MM') }}_AOC_EVENTS.txt




    Technical Support

    If you have any questions or issues while using eCourtDate's SFTP Gateway, please contact our support team at help@ecourtdate.com. We're here to help.

    We appreciate any feedback or suggestions to improve our SFTP Gateway and technical resources.