Importing Item Codes

1. From IFP Home select Codes Maintenance > Import Item Codes
2. Select External File, click Next
3. On the Data Import Options screen set:
• If a conversion table is to be used
• If you wish to Overwrite Existing Records (update the existing records where item codes match)
• Whether or not to Auto-Create Code Validation Entries (see below) - for P&L databases only
• Click Next
4. Select the Source Data to import:
• Select the file you wish to import, e.g. MyExcelFile.xlsx
• Select the worksheet/Table Name you wish to import, e.g. Sheet1
• Click Next
5. Click Load Field Mappings
• Select the appropriate import mappings (refer to your database specific topic)
• Click Next
6. Ensure that the sample data looks reasonable (refer to your database specific topics for an example of this). Click Next
7. Click Run Item Codes Import to start the import. Ensure there were no Invalid or Rejected records by checking that all records were either Imported or Skipped (if previously imported). If required, Save Results (description, results summary and messages). Click Next
   
8. If required, save the item code import process as an Autotask
9. Click Finish

To see a demonstration of this process, see the first section of [video]: Importing Data into IFP.

Resolving Invalid or Rejected Records

If there are invalid/rejected records then the reason behind this needs to be investigated. Potential reasons for this could be:

1. Empty rows in the Source File leading to incomplete item codes
2. Records are missing a description
3. A mixture of text and numbers in a column could lead to incomplete imported data
4. Auto-Create Code Validation entries was not selected (P&L databases only)

Auto-Create Code Validation Entries

If a new P&L item code contains a classification variable code that does not currently exist in the description list for that variable, the item code will be rejected.

To avoid this, select Auto-Create Code Validation Entries. IFP will then add the classification variable code to the list and set the description to ***auto-created***, then import the item code.

Possible Warning Messages

'ABC01_AB_01' skipped - no overwrite of existing records - the code to be imported already exists in the database and as Overwrite Existing Values is not selected, this code has therefore has been skipped.

'Code' or ‘Description’ field cannot be empty - if shown at the end of a list this could be due to rows beneath the final line of data in your import file that have been formatted (there may not be any visible entries) and therefore exist. These errors can be ignored and can be removed using Delete/Clear Contents on the blank rows in the import file.

If these are shown in the middle of the data, you should check your import file to ensure there are no blank lines in the middle of the data.