> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.senzohq.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Handling Structural Issues
> How Senzo resolves wide format, date variants, and other common file issues
# Handling Structural Issues
Senzo's AI upload analyzer detects and resolves common file structure problems automatically before any data is written. Each resolved issue is shown as an amber banner in the AI Analysis stage.
**What it is:** A file where periods (months) are columns instead of rows. Common in Excel-based workforce reports.
```
Unit | Provider Type | Jan 2026 | Feb 2026 | Mar 2026
ICU | RN | 45 | 47 | 46
ICU | LPN | 12 | 11 | 13
```
**What Senzo does:** Detects when 3 or more column headers appear to contain date values, then transposes the file from wide to long format automatically.
```
Date | Unit | Provider Type | Headcount
2026-01-01 | ICU | RN | 45
2026-02-01 | ICU | RN | 47
2026-03-01 | ICU | RN | 46
```
**Banner shown:** "Wide format detected — \[N] date columns transposed to long format (\[X] rows → \[Y] rows)"
***
Senzo recognizes and converts the following date formats to `YYYY-MM-01`:
| Source format | Example | Converted to |
| ------------- | --------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| `YYYYMM` | `202602` | `2026-02-01` |
| `MM/DD/YYYY` | `02/01/2026` | `2026-02-01` |
| `DD/MM/YYYY` | `01/02/2026` | `2026-02-01` |
| `YYYY-MM-DD` | `2026-02-15` | `2026-02-01` |
| `Month YYYY` | `February 2026` | `2026-02-01` |
| `Mon YYYY` | `Feb 2026` | `2026-02-01` |
| `YYYY-QN` | `2026-Q1` | `2026-01-01` (first month of quarter) |
**Banner shown:** "Date format '\[format]' detected — converted to standard format automatically"
For `DD/MM/YYYY` vs `MM/DD/YYYY`, Senzo uses context clues (values above 12 in either position) to determine which format is in use. Ambiguous dates (e.g. `02/03/2026`) are assumed to be `MM/DD/YYYY`. If your file uses `DD/MM/YYYY`, verify the conversion in the mapping table.
***
## Blank leading rows
**What it is:** Files that start with one or more empty rows before the header row — common in reports with a title or report metadata at the top.
**What Senzo does:** Removes blank rows from the start of the file and identifies the first non-empty row as the header.
**Banner shown:** "\[N] blank rows detected at the start of the file — removed automatically"
***
## Summary and total rows
**What it is:** Rows labeled "Total", "Grand Total", "Subtotal", or "Summary" mixed in with data rows.
**What Senzo does:** Detects rows where the first cell contains these labels (case-insensitive) and excludes them from import.
**Banner shown:** "Summary row detected on row \[N] ('\[label]') — excluded from import"
***
## Currency and percentage symbols
**What it is:** Numeric fields containing currency symbols (\$, £, €) or percentage signs (%) that prevent numeric parsing.
**What Senzo does:** Strips currency symbols and comma separators from fields mapped to numeric targets. Converts percentage values (e.g. `12.5%`) to decimals (e.g. `0.125`) for fields mapped to rate columns.
**Banner shown:** Shown as a transformation note in the mapping table row.
***
## Multi-row headers
**What it is:** Files where the column headers span two rows — common in Excel reports with merged header cells.
**What Senzo does:** Detects when the first row contains mostly non-data values and the second row contains the actual column names. Uses the second row as the header.
***
## What Senzo cannot fix automatically
Some issues require manual correction before re-uploading:
* **Completely malformed dates** — values like `0000-00-00`, `N/A`, or random text in the date column
* **Mixed date formats in the same column** — e.g. some rows with `MM/DD/YYYY` and others with `YYYY-MM-DD`
* **Duplicate rows** — same date/unit/provider type combination appearing more than once
* **Negative values** — in fields that should never be negative (headcount, hours)
These issues will be flagged as validation errors in the Review stage.