Custom Items Import / Export

March 20, 2018

Overview

The Custom Items Import Wizard facilitates the import of custom products that are sourced from non-supported suppliers that do not yet exist in ChannelOnline or internal products, services and labor items. This process saves time over manually entering custom items individually through the user interface.

The custom items database accepts up to 100,000 unique parts (based on manufacturer number). So if you already have 20,000 unique mfr numbers entered as Custom Items, only the first 80,000 unique mfr part numbers in your file will be imported.

Note: It is HIGHLY recommended to first utilize the Custom Supplier Import prior to utilizing the Custom Items Import. This will assist you by mapping your Manufacturer parts to existing Supported products with detailed product specifications. If you use the Custom Item Import, ALL skus will be created as custom skus, possibly creating duplicate products.

Imported items that don’t match Supported products require the category field to be selected manually. If the category field is left empty on import the part automatically appears in the “Additional Products” category.

Custom Product Data Requirements

Before importing custom products, it is essential that the Custom Manufacturers, Suppliers, and Product Categories already exist in ChannelOnline. If the criterion is NOT met, the import will FAIL.

Records will be discarded if:

Category does not match existing category.
Sub-category does not match existing sub-category.
Item type does not match one of the three acceptable item types (Product, Service, Labor).
All required fields are not present.
The number of fields is any less or more than the indicated number.

Upload / Import File

To begin importing custom product data:

Click on the Custom Items Import link under the Wizard Import section.
Select the appropriate option to specify the import file type:
Click on Browse to locate the import file that is stored on a local computer.
Click on Next to continue to the next section, Field Mapping / Import.

Field Mapping / Import

The Field Mapping / Import screen will allows the mapping of fields that are present in the import file, to the existing fields in ChannelOnline.

If this is a first time import, then [ New Profile ] will be selected by default for the profile. Otherwise choose a previously saved profile that contains previous mapping information.
Choose whether the import should clear out all existing custom products, or if the import should update and only add new products to the database.
Choosing an existing import profile name will recall the previously mapped fields names and automatically populate the importing file’s field names. If this is a new import, field mappings will need to be performed manually.
To continue mapping fields available in your import file to ChannelOnline’s available fields, perform the following:
First, locate an unmapped field in the ChannelOnline Fields column.
Locate the appropriate field from the Import file under the Import Fields column.
Click on Map to ChannelOnline > to tag the fields. For example, “Product Type” in the ChannelOnline Fields column would update to “Product Type * < Field 1> Product Type” in the Import Fields column.
Continue this process until all fields have been mapped to ChannelOnline fields.
Verify that the field mappings are correctly assigned.
If this is a new import, the field mappings can be saved for future use by selecting “Yes” with a profile name when prompted with the “Would you like to save this profile for use in the future?” dialog box.
When all fields are mapped, click on Start Import to begin the import process.

The Import Status screen will display a status bar and refresh the page every 1-2 seconds to provide the progress. If the Import fails, it will display an Error Log.
To view the errors:

Click on Show Error Log.
The Error Log will provide an explanation as to why certain records were rejected. For example “Invalid Manufacturer”.
Make corrections to the import file if needed or add a custom category, manufacturer, or supplier from either Products Admin or Custom Suppliers Admin screens.

Sample Import File: Please refer to the Custom Item Import Sample located on Admin > Import / Export Wizard page for current list.

Fields: Product Type, Manufacturer Part Number, Manufacturer Name, Category, Sub-Category, Visibility (Public or Private), Description Line 1, Description Line 2, Item Detail, MSRP, Weight, Length, Width, Height, Service Type, Service Frequency (Unit), Billing Frequency, Service Term, Labor Role, Labor Period (Interval), Service / Labor Billing Code, Supplier Name, Supplier Part Number, Supplier Description, Supplier Inventory, Supplier Cost, Supplier Order Unit, UPC

NOTE: When using 3 tier categorization it is important to use the Full Category column and separate the category tiers using a tilde (~) between the categories. For example enter “Networking~Network Cabling~Network Cabling Accessories”.

Custom Item Export

The Custom Items Export Wizard allows you to export custom product data out of ChannelOnline. The export of custom products creates a zip file containing 2 files: a Product file and a Linked Supplier Info file. These 2 files are linked via the Manufacturer Part Number therefore the Manufacturer Part Number is a required field in both files.

Export Options
To begin exporting your custom product data:

Click on the Custom Items Export link under the Wizard Export section.
On Step 1 page, Export Options, select either All items, items from a created date range, or items from a last modified date range.
Step 2, Product Filter, select All if you want to export all custom products or individually select the custom products.
Note: Press Shift + Ctrl to select multiple custom products. Press Ctrl + A to select all custom products or simply click the All option.
Select Next to proceed to the Field Mapping / Export screen.
The Field Mapping / Export screen will allow you to specify which custom product 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.

File One: Product
The Product file is intended to provide the general information about the Custom Product itself. This includes custom product information that such as Mfr Name, Mfr Part #, Line Description, Line 2 Description, Item Detail, etc. No custom supplier information is included in this file.

Select the ChannelOnline Fields to export for the Custom Product by highlighting each field and clicking on Add Fields > button to move them to the Export Fields column.
Note: Manufacturer Name and Manufacturer Part Number are required Export Fields.
Set the order of the Export Fields as needed.

File Two: Linked Supplier Info
The Linked Supplier Info file is intended to provide the supplier product information that is linked to the custom product.

Select the ChannelOnline Fields to export for the Linked Supplier Info file by highlighting each field and clicking on Add Fields > button to move them to the Export Fields column.
Note: Manufacturer Name and Manufacturer Part Number are required Export Fields.
After Export Fields are specified, set the order in which the fields appear in the export file as described in the previous section
Set the order of the Export Fields as needed.
If this is a first time export, you can save your export preferences as a profile for use in the future.

Click Start Export to begin the export process.

Export Status

The Export Status screen will display a status bar and refresh the page every 1-2 seconds to provide the progress.
When complete, the number of records exported will be displayed.
On successful export, a download window will open, prompting users to save the export zip file that contains the supplier information file, product file, and copyright file, to an external storage location.

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