Import

The Import menu allows you to import the Vehicle, Fuel Log, Vendor, Personnel, and Parts data from a .csv file. Existing records will be updated (if the Update checkbox is checked on the Import tab), or if a matching record cannot be found, the record will be added as a new record.

•	Update Vehicle Record: If an existing Vehicle record has a matching VIN or Vehicle Number in the source file, and the fields have been mapped on the Field Mappings tab, the record will be updated with any changes.

•	Update Fuel Log Record: If an existing Fuel Log record has a matching Fill Up Date and End Odometer in the source file, and the fields have been mapped on the Field Mappings tab, the record will be updated with any changes.

•	Update Personnel Record: If an existing Personnel record has a matching Personnel Number or First and Last Name in the source file, and the fields have been mapped on the Field Mappings tab, the existing record will be updated with any changes.

•	Update Vendor Record: If an existing Vendor record has a matching Company Name in the source file, and the fields have been mapped on the Field Mappings tab, the existing record will be updated with any changes.

•	Update Part Record: If an existing Part record has a matching Part Number in the source file, and the fields have been mapped on the Field Mappings tab, the existing record will be updated with any changes.

•	New Vehicle, Fuel Log, Vendor, Personnel, or Parts Record: If a matching record is not found, a New record will be added to the database.

You may import a source file which contains all or only some of the data fields.

Important: Be sure to test out your import files on a test database and/or backup your production database prior to importing the data. It is a good idea to develop a repeatable and consistent process for creating your import file if you plan to perform the operation on a regular basis.

The Data Source tab is the first tab on the Import Wizard accessed using the menu option Tools --> Import. This tab allows you to select an import file and configure the settings to match the import file format.

The import file is the .csv file which contains the data to import. For example, if you have a list of personnel in an Excel spreadsheet, you can save the spreadsheet as a .csv file using the File Save As command in Excel, and then import the personnel records rather than entering them all manually.

MS Excel will sometimes leave out the ending comma if the last column in the file contains data in only some of the rows. For example, if you have a Notes column in the last column of your file, and only a few of the rows have any data in the Notes field, the file may not get saved in a proper .csv format with an ending comma for the empty columns. In this case, you may want to delete the last column and then resave the file for import, or ensure that each row contains data in that column in order for the import file to be saved in a valid .csv format.

You may need to remove any unused or empty columns in your source file to avoid creating a malformed .csv file.

Field Delimiter: For .csv files, the field delimiter will be a comma. This is the character which separates the fields in the file.

Text Qualifier: The Text Qualifier is used to surround the values for each field. For example, if you have a field with a comma in it, you will need to include the value in quotes so that it is recognized correctly.

First row contains column names: Check this box if the first row of your import file contains file names.

The Data preview section displays the first few rows of the import file so you can check to see if the settings are correct.

This tab provides options for mapping the data from the fields in your source file to the fields in the Vehicle Manager database. The Source Fields are listed in the column on the left side. For each field that you want to map to a Vehicle Manager field, click in the area to the right of the field and then select a destination Asset Manager field to map it to.

Vehicle Manager Field: The Vehicle Manager Field is the corresponding field in Vehicle Manager to map the source field to.

Click the "Import" button on this tab to import the data into the database. A summary of the import results will be provided in the Import Summary section after the import process is completed.

The "Save As file type" feature in Excel will sometimes create a malformed csv file which cannot be used in the import process; however, you can try exporting to a unicode text file instead. The Unicode text option produces an output similar to tab-delimited text, but it allows for the inclusion of non-ASCII characters such as Chinese, Arabic or Hebrew letters, which otherwise may appear as question marks.

1.	Choose "Unicode Text (txt)" instead of CSV when saving the Excel file.

2.	When using this option, be sure to select the .txt file instead of the .csv file when you select the import source in Training Manager.

3.	Also, change the field delimiter to a tab instead of a comma on the Data Source tab.