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Contents of the Import Inventory Transactions Screen

Use the fields and options to configure the Import Inventory Transactions screen.

Identification

Use the fields in this block to create a new parameter ID or to retrieve a previously saved parameter ID. A parameter ID represents a set of screen selection parameters. After you have saved a parameter ID and its related parameters, you can retrieve them using Query.

You can use the retrieved parameters to produce reports and run processes more efficiently and with greater consistency. The saved parameters are also useful and necessary when you want to run the process as part of a batch job. Many users save a unique set of parameters for each different way they run a report or process. When you select a previously saved parameter ID or parameter description, the associated saved screen selection parameters automatically display as selection defaults. The page setup and print options, if there are any, are also included in the saved parameter ID. You can change any of the associated selection defaults as necessary.

Field Description
Parameter ID

Enter, or click to select, a parameter ID of up to 15 alphanumeric characters. Choose characters for your parameter ID that help identify the type of selections you made on the screen, such as PERIOD or QUARTERLY.

When you save your record, all the selections made on the screen are stored with the parameter ID. Later, you can retrieve the parameter using Query.

You can use the parameter to run the process more efficiently because you can select the parameter ID with its previously defined screen selections. After the default selections display on the screen, you can override the defaults.

Description

Enter, or click to select, a parameter description of up to 30 alphanumeric characters.

Options

As much as possible, the preprocessor employs default values from the settings screens in Costpoint, including (but not limited to) establishing default values on the Configure Inventory Settings and Configure Serial/Lot Settings screens, warehouse and location information in Inventory, and inventory abbreviation information on the Manage Inventory Projects screen.

The format of each record in the input file is based on the transaction type of the record being processed (I, W, L, or H). The first field/character determines the inventory transaction type, the format expected for that transaction, the validations performed, and the database updates to be made. When you have entered the input file, use the Options group box to choose the format in which the input file data will be processed and saved.

Note:

To ensure better performance, the input file should contain no more than 1,000 records. International users: The data can contain non-English characters, provided they are in the ASCII character set. We recommend using .TXT as a filename suffix for input record files.

Field Description
File Location

Enter the location of the input file you are importing. There are two ways to do this:

  • In the File Location field, enter, or click to select, the alternate file location where the input file is located. Alternate file locations are set up in the Manage Alternate File Locations screen.

    or

  • From the Global Menu, click Process » File Upload. On the File Upload Manager dialog box, click Browse and use the dialog box to select the file you want to import. If you select the Overwrite? check box, Costpoint will overwrite any file of the same name that already exists in the Costpoint database. Click Upload when you are finished. If you use this method, leave the File Location field blank. For more information about the File Upload Manager, see the File Upload Manager topic in the Getting Started Guide.
File Name

Enter, or click to select, the name of the file to use for the process.

Input File Format

Select the format of the input file from drop-down list. The available options available are:

  • Delimited - Select this option to process files with fields separated by a pre-defined delimiter (commas or another character). Selecting this option enables the use of the Comma and Other options in the File Delimiter field.
  • Fixed Length - Select this option to process the file with no field delimiters. For fixed-length, ASCII text input files, you must fill every position in the input file with the appropriate number of either characters or spaces for a given column before entering data for the next column. It is not necessary to zero-fill numbers; you can use spaces to maintain the proper format. Numeric fields should be right-justified; character fields should be left-justified. Once you have entered the last character of meaningful data for the input file, it is not necessary to fill the remaining column lines with spaces.

    For example, if the Issue to Project/Account/Organization Combinations input file's maximum line length (that is, the entire input file) is a total of 479 characters and the last character of meaningful data is in position 222, you do not need to add the remaining 257 spaces. However, if the Reservation ID (beginning at position 213 on the input file) is only seven characters long, you must include the Reservation ID plus three additional spaces before entering the Reservation Line Number in position 223.

    End every row with a carriage return and a line feed.

File Delimiter

If you select the Delimited option in the Input File Format field, select the type of delimiter from the drop-down list.

  • Comma - Select this option to use a comma as the file delimiter.
  • Other - Select this option to use another character as the file delimiter; enter the character in the field to the right.
Warning:

The character declared as the delimiter must not be embedded in any of the input fields, such as part number. When the program encounters the declared delimiter, it interprets it as the end of the input field.

Expand Segment IDs

Select this check box to insert zeros or spaces automatically as needed to expand project, account, organization, and reference ID segments in the input file that do not have enough characters. The preprocessor requires that all populated segments of these fields contain the maximum number of characters defined for that segment. Unpopulated segments do not have to be filled. Field segments are expanded as follows:

  • If the field contains only numeric characters, Costpoint adds zeros to the left of the number until the required field length is reached. For example, if the project structure is '4.3.2', then the expansion of '1003.1.1' results in a project ID of '1003.001.01'.  
  • If the field contains any non-numeric characters, Costpoint adds spaces to the right of the number until the required field length is reached. For example, if the organization structure is '1.5.5.6', then the expansion of 'F.G.1' results in an organization ID of 'F.G    .00001', where the G is followed by four spaces.

    Project ID segments cannot contain spaces. If a project ID segment contains any non-numeric characters, no expansion is possible.

Error Handling

If an error is detected, all rows that were not processed are moved to an ASCII error file in the same format in which they were originally saved. The error file is placed in the same directory as the input file with the name "INUSER_IDMMDDYY.ERR," where the "USER_ID" is the user ID of the person executing the preprocessor, and MMDDYY is the month/day/year that the process was run. If a file with the same name already exists, the new error(s) are appended to the existing file. Select an option to determine what happens if an error occurs during processing.

Field Description
Process Valid Inventory Transactions

If you select this option and an error occurs, only those input rows that share the same Inventory Transaction ID, Transaction Type, and Warehouse as the error row are suspended (not loaded to Costpoint) and moved to the error file.

Process No Records

If you select this option and an error occurs, all rows within that input file are suspended (not loaded to Costpoint) and moved to the error file.

Inventory Transactions IDs

There are two options for numbering the inventory transactions, depending on how the input file is loaded.

Field Description
Use Input File Values

Select this option to use the input file's transaction ID as the Costpoint inventory transaction ID on all saved transactions. You must provide transaction IDs for all input file rows. The warehouse last transaction ID is not changed.

Auto-Assign Transaction IDs

Select this option to have Costpoint assign IDs to the valid transactions based on the warehouse and transaction type. The application uses the warehouse and transaction type to look up the next system transaction ID. If transaction IDs are provided in the input file, the program uses them only to group transaction rows together. All input file rows with the same warehouse, transaction type, and transaction ID are given the same transaction header. If you have not set up that transaction type for auto-assigning in the selected warehouse in the Transaction IDs subtask of the Manage Warehouses screen, the system returns an error.