If you need to create multiple accounts and contacts in ChannelOnline and you already have this contact information in an existing file such as a spreadsheet, then you will want to take advantage of ChannelOnline’s ‘Account Import’ feature.

Important Terms

Generating a contacts file

This feature can be found in ChannelOnline by navigating to: Admin -> Import / Export -> Import / Export Wizard -> Account Import

1. Start by downloading a sample import file (see below). Name it something which makes easy to remember, like ‘Account Import – Date.xls’
2. Next, open the saved file with a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel. Notice that there are a large number of columns defining data which can be imported. All of these fields will not be needed (the fewer columns imported, the easier it will be to troubleshoot any issues which may arise later).
3. Know which data elements can be imported along with your customer contact information (keep it simple; if you don’t know what it is, you don’t need to import it). The only field which is required is ‘Customer Number’. Everything else is optional and can be removed from this file if there is no data available for it.
4. Using your spreadsheet application, remove the columns you do not need. Continue to delete all of the columns which you will not be importing data for. Keep in mind that you cannot remove the ‘Customer Number’ column, as this is required to populated with a unique customer ID for each company you are importing.
   Note: Customer ID is an internal ChannelOnline ID number which is normally only needed for advanced users.

Remember to save your work periodically.

Performing a First Time Account Import

• If this is a first time import, then [ New Profile ] will be selected by default for the profile. If you have performed a previous
  import and saved the profile, see the next section.

• If your import file has the header information or field names within the first row, you will be able to select the mapping based on the header names
  as shown in the previous figure. If your import file does not contain the header information or field names, you will need to determine the proper
  fields based on the first record.

The column called Import Fields represents the fields in your import file. The right column called ChannelOnline Fields represents the fields in ChannelOnline.

Note: If the field in the right column shows a field name only such as “Company Name” with nothing else, this means that the ChannelOnline field has NOT been mapped to a field in your import file.

Note: If it shows the following “Company Name < Field 1>Acme Medical Institute”, this means that the field in your import file has been properly mapped to ChannelOnline’s Company Name field.

To continue mapping more fields available in your file to ChannelOnline’s available fields, perform the following:

1. First, locate an unmapped field in the ChannelOnline Fields column. We will use the field “Company Name” as the example. Click on the field to select it.
2. Locate the appropriate field from your Import file under the Import Fields column. In this example, “<Field 1>Acme medical Institute” is the correct field. Select the field so that it is highlighted.
3. Click on Map to ChannelOnline > to tag the fields as being mapped as shown in the next figure.Now “Company Name” will update to “Company Name……< Field 1>Acme Medical Institute”.
4. Continue this process until all fields have been mapped to ChannelOnline fields. If you do not have data for some of the extra fields such as “Contact
   Phone Ext”, the import will simply not apply any data to that field and the import process will continue successfully. The following figure shows
   what the columns will look like when all fields have been mapped:
   
5. Once you have finished assigning the field name order for your import file, you have the option to save the mapping profile. If you expect to perform
   the same type of import using an import file with the same format, saving the mapping profile will save you time by not having the select the field
   mapping for the same type of import in the future.
6. Click on Start Import to begin the import process.

Sample Account Import File: Account Import Sample

Fields: Customer Number*, Account Type, Customer ID, Location Code, Action, Company Name [50 character max.], Parent Customer Number, Parent ID, Company Address Line 1 [50 character max.], Company Address Line 2 [50 character max.], Company City [50 character max.], Company State, Company Zip Code, Company Country, Company Phone, Company Fax,

CPAS Enabled, CPAS Admins Edit E-mail, CPAS Admins Create Contacts, Contact ID, Contact First Name [20 character max.], Contact Last Name[20 character max.], Contact Title, Account Manager First Name, Account Manager Last Name, Account Manager Email, Price Profile Name, Order Processing, Assigned To Store, Contact Company Name, Contact Address Line 1 [50 character max.], Contact Address Line 2 [50 character max.], Contact City [50 character max.], Contact State, Contact Zip Code, Contact Country, Contact Phone, Contact Phone Ext, Contact Fax, Contact Email (* if active Yes), Contact Password, Contact Active (y/n), Contact Time Zone, Assigned Contact Favorite Lists, Unassigned Contact Favorite Lists, Assigned Contact Payment Methods (separate with ~), Unassigned Contact Payment Methods (separate with ~), Default Contact (y/n), (Contact) CPAS Admin, View All Quotes (y/n), Edit Shipping Addresses (y/n),

Billing First Name [20 character max.], Billing Last Name [20 character max.], Billing Title, Billing Company Name, Billing Address Line 1 [50 character max.], Billing Address Line 2 [50 character max.], Billing City [50 character max.], Billing State, Billing Zip Code, Billing Country, Billing Phone, Billing Phone Ext, Billing Fax, Billing Email Billing Code, Billing Default (y/n), Shipping First Name [20 character max.], Shipping Last Name [20 character max.], Shipping Title, Shipping Company Name, Shipping Address Line 1 [50 character max.], Shipping Address Line 2 [50 character max.], Shipping City [50 character max.], Shipping State, Shipping Zip Code, Shipping Country, Shipping Phone, Shipping Phone Ext, Shipping Fax, Shipping Email, Shipping Code, Shipping Description, Shipping Default (y/n),

Internal Notes, Terms, Tax Exempt (y/n) (US), Tax ID (US), Tax Rate (US), Tax ID (GST), Tax Rate (GST), Tax ID (PST), Tax Rate (PST), Lead Source, Web Site URL, Catalog, Assigned Favorite Lists, Unassigned Favorites Lists, Assigned Payment Methods, Unassigned Payment Methods, Require Order Verification, Credit Limit, Available Credit Limit, Stage, Priority, Progress, Public Sector, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Notification Email, Contact Address Access (own/all), Account Active (empty/n).

Note: You can also access the sample tsv template from the Import / Export Wizard page in Admin.

TIPS:

• Action: Create or blank
• Importing Errors:
  • Cannot find Company Account.  If you are having an issue with creating accounts with multiple fields, try limiting the number of create fields by splitting your import.  Limit the create down to just company fields, or company and contact.  After that is successful, update the accounts with addresses and custom field information.
  • Address is too long….. (50 characters max.)
  • Email already in use on account XXX

Exporting Accounts & Contacts
The Account Export Wizard allows you to export customer data out of ChannelOnline Document Export Wizard.

Export Options
To begin exporting your customer data:

1. Click on the Customer Export Wizard link under the Export section to begin specifying the Customer Export Options.
2. Select the appropriate option to either export ALL customer records or to only export customer records that have Quotes & Orders created under their account.
3. Choose whether you want to export customer data based on the Creation Date or the Last Modified Date. Creation Date is based on when the customer account was initially created. Modified Data is based on the last time when the customer account was edited.
4. Choose a Start date by either entering a date using the MM/DD/YYYY or M/D/YYYY format. If you need a visual calendar, click on the Calendar icon.
5. The calendar will open in a new window. Today’s date will be in highlighted text.
6. To select a date, click on the number of the date that you wish to specify. Once the date is selected, it will populate the date into the date range field as shown below:
7. Perform the same for the End date.
8. Once the date range has been specified, click on Next.

Field Mapping / Export

The Field Mapping / Export screen will allow you to specify which customer detail fields

should be exported.

• If this is a first time export, then [ New Profile ] will be selected by default for the profile and you will need to manually specify the fields to export.
• If you chose an existing export profile name, it should automatically choose the fields that you have previously exported in the profile.

Once you have Export Fields specified, you have the ability to set the order in which the fields appear in the export file. In order to set the order of the fields, perform the following steps:

1. Click on the field name in the Export Fields column to highlight the field.
2. Click on the Up or Down Arrows to move the field to the preferred location or order .
   Note If this is a first time export, you can save your export preferences as a profile for use in the future.
3. Click Start Export to begin the export process.