Customer and Contact Import Overview |
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Customer and Contact Import Overview |
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Astra Schedule provides an Excel import utility for updating customer and contact data with data from an existing system, or for otherwise importing a number of customers and contacts at once. The customer and contact import feature utilizes the ATE to provide mapping and import functionality. In this system, an Excel file is the data source from which data will be imported. An xml configuration file provides instructions for mapping and querying the Excel file, and for any rules to be applied to the data. Finally, a transformation service interprets the incoming data and inserts it into the Astra Schedule database.
•Updates and Inserts
The import will make changes to existing matching customers and contacts and add new records, but will not delete any existing customers or contacts.
The Excel import file must include at least one worksheet that provides customer information. Each row in the worksheet represents one customer. Columns in the worksheet are provided for customer fields. All records must include a unique "SISKey", or ID number for each customer and/or contact.
An additional worksheet in the same workbook may be provided to supply information about customer contacts (linked via customer SISKey).
An Excel template (CustomerTemplate.xls) for the importing of customer and contact data can be found in the following Astra Schedule installation directory:
Program Files\Ad Astra\7.x.x\Instances\AstraScheduleInstanceName\Files\ATEConfiguration\Spokes\SIS\Excel\ExampleDataTemplates
The Excel template and import process support the following fields:
CUSTOMERS
NOTE: All cells must be in text format.
Column |
Comment |
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CustomerSISKey * |
This field must contain a unique ID for each customer record. |
Name * |
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Group * |
Semi-colon delimited list of Customer Groups to which the customer should belong |
Address1 |
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Address2 |
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City |
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State |
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Zip |
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Phone |
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Ext |
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Fax |
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Website |
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Notes |
* = Required field
CUSTOMER CONTACTS
NOTE: All cells must be in text format.
Column |
Comment |
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CustomerSISKey * |
This field must contain the customer SISKey of the customer with which the contact is to be associated. |
CustomerContactSISKey * |
This field must contain a unique ID for each contact record.
NOTE: A customer contact record can only have one customer association. If the contact is associated to multiple customers, you must provide a unique value here for each relationship and then merge the resulting contacts in the application after import. |
Prefix |
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FirstName * |
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MiddleName |
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LastName * |
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Suffix |
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Email * |
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IsPrimary * |
Field must include TRUE or FALSE |
Employer |
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Title |
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EmployeeID |
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Address1 |
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Address2 |
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City |
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State |
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Zip |
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Phone |
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Ext |
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Mobile |
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Fax |
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IMName |
* = Required field
An xml configuration file contains the mapping information from the Excel source file to the Astra Schedule database fields. The order in which the fields appear in the xml file must match the order of the fields in the Excel import file. By default, the xml file matches the provided Excel template. Additionally, optional settings and formatting can be specified by editing properties in this file.
The customer import xml file (CustomerExcelImport.xml) can be located in the following Astra Schedule installation directory:
Program Files\Ad Astra\7.x.x\Instances\AstraScheduleInstanceName\Files\ATEConfiguration\Spokes\SIS\Excel\ExampleDataTemplates
The following optional settings may be edited in the xml configuration file:
• By default, the option to include separate Excel worksheets for contact records is disabled. To enable this option, edit the following entry in the xml file:
usedForBatch="false" usedForRelationship="true"
change to:
usedForBatch="true" usedForRelationship="true"
