Difficulty: expert
Content
Learning Objectives
After reading this article, you’ll be able to:
Work through the general imports
Have you read: What are imports and exports in Workplace?? The article below repeats some of the information from that article and goes into further depth.
Basics
The import functionality allows for a quick upload of large datasets into Workplace. By using import connector with import mappings, it is possible to specify in which data table the various data should be stored.
Default imports are available to import masterdata when setting up an environment. This allows for quickly filling the environment with for example: contacts, properties, and areas. By default we use filed in csv-format for our imports.
Where to find imports
Some default imports are explained in detail in the articles that describe how to set up a new Workplace environment Solution Based Rollout || UNPUBLISHED. In general, imports can be accessed by:
Pressing the Import button on the startBoard. Imports can also be accessed via the navigation menu: Configuration>Import.
Open the import connector by clicking on the “reference”.
For this article we guide you through the properties import: FMB-F-021. After clicking the reference this page will open:
Warning: If this import is not yet available in the list click: Generate default imports at the bottom of the import list. This will provide you with some general imports.
Importing data
Generate an import template by clicking: Generate import template
A file will be provided in the include at the bottom called Template import xxx.
To download the file click the download icon.
In theory we send out this excel file to the client and ask them to fill it in. But more on this later.
After receiving the file back from the client we save the file as CSV UTF-8.
Import the file by clicking import file.
Select file by clicking Select files.
Importing the files will continue in the background. When we click: Ok, we return to the import page.
In the right top corner the importing icon will show up, when clicking on it we can see the import status.
After the import finishes we can see the results by clicking the document icon in the top right corner.
On the document page select Advanced Search.
In the field Dates: linked from/until fill in today’s date. (If we would search without filtering we would end up finding all documents that have been imported in this import connector)
Open the import messages by clicking the magnifying glass, here we can also consult the file that has been uploaded. The messages shown explain what happened when importing.
Import connectors
Connector mappings
The import we discussed in the previous steps seems to be a single Properties import. However, almost all imports that are generated by default consist out of multiple import mappings. In this case we import property objects as well as the address object. So, for every object that we want to import a separate mapping is needed. However, this is not the only reason we use different mappings, we could also use one specific mapping to only set the hierarchy of an object, so for properties this could be the hierarchy within the imported properties.
We can see this by navigating to the details tab
Scroll to the bottom include: Mappings. Here we can see what mappings are being used within this connector.
We are able to run mappings separately, this can be useful when we only need to import one of them, or when we want to see more easily where errors occur. To run a mapping separately:
Select a mapping by clicking on the magnifying glass next to the mapping name.
Click import
Select your file
The import will then run and show the results on the page.
Connector settings
Only partner users can change these settings. We will go over some important settings in the table below. Hover over a setting in Workplace to see the helptext.
Setting | Description |
|---|---|
Log | If set to yes, maintains a log of all actions |
Save documents | If set to yes, stores all import/export documents, these are generally removed after 30 days. |
Save warnings | If set to yes, stores warnings when there are no errors. Normally the warnings/errors are only stored when there was at least one error. |
The difference between an error and a warning in imports:
Error: data could not be imported because an error occurred
Warning: data has been imported but there could be columns missing/links might not been found.
Filling in import data
When filling in the import files there are a few things we need to keep in mind.
Every import mapping has different fields that have to be filled in.
Per mapping (object) we can open the mapping
We can then see what fields are being imported, in this example we will use FMB Property by clicking on the magnifying glass.
The fields where Key is set to: Yes are fields that are required for the import. Meaning that the import will not run when Key values are missing.
Aside from making fields mandatory Key values also allow for updating existing data in Workplace. Because Workplace will look for these values in already existing data and if this value is found rather than importing a new object, Workplace will update the fields. It will update all the fields except for the key values. We can use multiple key values per mapping, for importing addresses for example almost all fields are considered key values:
In this way we make sure we do not import a single address multiple times, but rather add the address as a separate object to properties.
Automating an import or export
It is also possible to set up imports to be executed periodically from an FTP server.
Automated export can be set up to export date to: FTP servers and email.
Summary
Search