Imports

PCR-360 allows Users to Import information into the application as needed. The bottom of this page has a list of all the Import types that can be used. Individual pages handle the specific logic of any given Import. This page goes over the more general information related to Imports.

Creating a New Import

To create a new Import, see the Importing Data into the system wiki page.

Notes

The Import process CANNOT DELETE records.
In a Delimited file, the import treats the number of columns as one MORE than the number of commas separating values.
- For example, if there is a CSV line with three commas, there will be 4 values. The numbering of the fields is Zero-Based, so the indexes will be: 0,1,2,3 in the field mapping or Conditional Logic.
In a Fixed Width file, you will define the fields by Position and Length. The field positions are Zero-Based. So in a file where a field starts on the 1st character of a line, the Position is entered as 0. If the field starts on the 10th character, the Position is 9.
To create a GLA Path, the value stored in the configuration option GLA_CONCATENATOR should be used as a concatenator.
- The Default Value = " > ".
To create any Hierarchy Path, the value stored in the configuration option HIERARCHYPATH_CONCATENATOR should be used as a concatenator.
- The Default Value = " > ".

Column Mapping

The Map To field is Required and the list of values is displayed is linked to the type of data that you will be importing in this record type. For example, if you select the “Call” Map Type, the Map To fields are all related to Call data.
- Note: Your import file may not have all of the columns in the Map To field. This is OK.
Once the column is selected, you must enter the Start and Width information for Fixed Width files or the Delimited Index for Delimited files to define where this column of data is in the record. Certain types of data, like dates, can be in any number of formats in the import file such as MM-DD-YY or MM-DD-YYYY, etc. For these fields, we need to know the format. If the Format Mask field is enabled, please select the appropriate Format Mask from the values displayed.

Conditional Logic

If you assign a Date type field in the Conditional Logic, the format is assumed to be in one of these formats: m/d/y or d-m-y.
User-defined variables may be used within Conditional Logic, but they all must begin with: "$cl_". This requirement is in place so that User-defined variables do not conflict with internal system variables.

User Defined Fields

Several tables in PCR-360 allow User Defined Fields (UDFs) to be added to them. The Import process that creates records for these tables does support the assignment of the UDF values. These cannot be mapped. They must always be assigned in the Conditional Logic section of the respective Import.

To assign a UDF value, you must know the Identifier name for the UDF. This is the value in the first column of the User Defined Fields grid.

For example, to assign the Rollover GLA Date from input field 4 in the GLA import, the assignment would look like this:

[GLA.UDF_ROLLOVERGLA68] = [4];

Where GLA is the table with the UDF and ROLLOVERGLA68 is the UDF Identifier.

The Identifier and table associations are verified by the Conditional Logic validations. If you use an invalid Identifier in the Conditional Logic, the Validate button or Save button shows the error when clicked, and you are not able to Save until valid data is entered.

Errors

Errors in Test Mode

When you run the Import in Test mode, there are two kinds of errors that do not report.

If the Save to the database failed for an unexpected reason, the errors do not generate. The Import can’t detect these errors until the save is attempted, which does not happen in Test mode.
User Defined Field (UDF) Import Save logic is done after the Save and is only done for non-test Imports. For this reason, any errors processing the UDF values will not be reported in Test Mode.

Errors that cause the import to Abort

If one of the following errors happens, the import process will abort. Because each successful import line is always committed, if the import process aborts halfway through a file, the result is the first half of the file will still be processed and committed.

Database error
SQL error
Uploaded file is Empty

Handling Errors

When an Error status shows on the Imports grid the reprocess option should be used. For some imports (Calls, Usage, GLA Charges and Service Charges), this cleans-up any commits made during the previous attempts that would be problematic and reattempts the Import. It is not recommended to re-upload files, due to the risk of the creation of duplicate records. This is particularly important on all Charges Imports. If you need to make a change to the file and re-upload instead of reprocessing, make sure to remove previously imported lines.

The following Imports Formats do not update existing records and potentially could create duplicates:

The following Imports Formats are typically used to create new records but can be used to update as well:

Other Common Errors

There are certain common errors that do not cause the import to abort. These errors are common to all Import Formats.

Value not present in lists table
Error reading column using format mask
Column defined as a number contains non-numeric data
Column position not present in line
Column index not present in line

There are other errors that are specific to the import types, these are listed on the individual import pages.

Related Pages

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