Overview

The production transaction import framework allows users to import inventory transactions and production batches using an Excel template. A template for each transaction type is provided and can be downloaded from the system.

Step 1. Downloading the Template

From NorthScope, expand the Company module on the navigation menu and select ‘Integration Inbound’. This will open the FileUpload list view. This view lists all integration inbound transactions and the default view includes all transactions with other than Complete and User Bypassed statuses. Clicking the ‘Inquiry Criteria’ opens a new dialog window, which allows to define the list view search criteria.

Click ‘File Import’ toolbar icon to download a template for transaction imports. This opens a new dialog window. Select the inventory transaction type from ‘Select Import Template’ menu. The menu lists the following transaction types:

Inventory Adjustment
Inventory Production
Inventory Receipt
Inventory Transfer
Production Batch

After selecting one of the template types, select if you want to import production batches alongside with the transactions. This can be done by expanding the ‘Choose Options’ menu and checking the checkbox next to Production Batch. Check also the checkbox next to the transaction type. Click on ‘Create Template File’ to generate the template.

The template is saved to your computer’s default location (e.g. Downloads folder). Depending on your browser and browser settings, the file download might be also displayed on the footer or header of the browser window. The file can be opened from the actual file location or from the browser header / footer.

Step 2. Entering Data

The template contains column headers and data can be entered under the column headers (starting from row 2).

Transactions

The following data is always required when you are importing inventory transactions:

Transaction Date
Site ID
Item ID
Line Item Units (if the item is Units or Units & Weight managed)
Line Item Weight (if the item is Weight or Units & Weight managed)

Transfer records also require the following:

To Site ID

One template can have several line items and the line items are grouped on transactions based on the following details:

Transaction Date
Site
Reference
To Site (transfer only)
Via Site (transfer only)
Deliver On Date (transfer only)

For example, in the following example table, the import would create 2 transactions, because even though the line items have the same transaction date and site, they have 2 different references.

TransactionDate	Site	Reference	ItemID	LineItemUnits	LineItemWeight
1/1/17	Site1	Ref1	100	100	Lbs
1/1/17	Site1	Ref1	101	100	Lbs
1/1/17	Site1	Ref2	102	100	Lbs
1/1/17	Site1	Ref2	103	100	Lbs

Users can define a transaction class for the imported inventory transactions, but this information is not required. The default transaction class configured for the transaction type is used, if the transaction class value is not provided. The transaction properties 'Auto-Create New Lots', 'Negative Available Balances', 'Auto-Create New Lots - Inputs' and 'Negative Available Balances - Inputs' are defaulting from the transaction class, but these properties can also be defined when the transactions are being imported. The transaction class configurations can be reviewed in the Transaction Class list view (Inventory > Transaction Class).

Production Batches

New production batches can be created by using the production batches template or the transaction templates when the choose options has been set to the transactions and production batches.

The following data is required to create new production batches:

Item ID
Production Batch
Production Batch Site
Batch Date (if the batch is not an outside purchase)

Due to the limitations of Excel, when users enter hyphens or forward slashes into a text field, Excel may interpret the value as a date. For example, the value “2-3” may be converted to the text representation date value, which displays as ”43864”. Similarly, when users enter leading zeros into a field, the leading zero may be removed. Users can now use the escape characters of “^^” to preface any values with hyphens, forward slashes or leading zeros. During the file import process, NorthScope will recognize the escape characters, automatically remove them and insert the value immediately following the escape characters.

Step 3. Saving the Template File

The file must be saved in a CSV format. By default, Excel creates the template in a TXT format and users must manually change the file format. This is very important, because the upload fails if the file type is not correct. To do this click ‘Save As’ in Excel and select 'CSV (Comma delimited)(*.csv)' as the file type before clicking Save.

Step 4. Uploading the Template

If you have closed the file import window, re-open it and select the correct template type and the import options. Click on ‘Select Files to Import’ and locate the file you saved on your computer. Select the file and click Open. Verify that a green dot is displayed in front of the file name. If the file is not in the correct format, a red dot is displayed:

Incorrect file type:

Correct file type:

After the file has been selected and the file type validation is green, click on ‘Upload to Northscope’. A pre-validation is performed before the file is added to the integration queue. This validation verifies that correct data has been entered. If all required data has been provided and the data is correct, the file is added to the integration queue. If some required data is missing or data is incorrect (e.g. incorrect Site or Item ID), an error message is displayed with error details. The error message displays all the line items that cannot be imported and also details the issue.

Successfully uploaded files are added to the Integration Inbound list view with the status New. When the integration has been processed successfully, the status is changed to completed and the transactions / production batches are created and displayed in the list views. Imported transactions are always in New status. If the integration job fails for the file, error details are displayed in the Error Text field.

Note: If any of the file’s line items have invalid data (e.g. invalid site ID or Item ID), none of the lines are imported from the file.