1. Administering Planning Modules
  2. Importing Data

B Importing Data

Before importing data, configure the application as described in this help system and import the dimensional metadata.

You can download data import templates from within the application. The templates are generated based on the features you’ve enabled and the custom dimensions that were added.

To download the data import templates:

  1. From the Home page, click Application and then click Configure.
  2. From the Configure list, select the module for which you want to download templates, and then from the Actions menu, select Download Data Load Templates.
  3. Save the ZIP file locally, and then extract the CSV files.

Perform these tasks to import data:

  1. Specify the appropriate data import settings. See Administering Data Load Settings.

  2. Optional: Make a backup copy of the data import templates to which you can revert, if necessary.

  3. Optional: Back up the application.

  4. If you created custom Smart Lists, import them before the associated data (available only for some modules.)

    To identify the Smart List to import and their entry names:

    1. Click Navigator navigator, and then from Create and Manage, click Smart Lists.

    2. Select the Smart List, click Edit, and then Entries.

    3. Note the associated names.

  5. Open the templates in Microsoft Excel and customize them to specify your business data.

    Tip:

    For 13-period applications, you can customize the templates to include a row for the 13th period.

  6. Optional: To ensure that your data will import and calculate correctly, import it into a test application first.

  7. Import the data into your production application.

  8. For the first data import, run the rules required to process and calculate the data.

When customizing the templates:

  • Don’t enter zeros.

  • To import data, you must have at least one member from all dimensions in the file to import.

  • Remove columns for which you have no data. For example, if your periodocity is monthly, you can delete columns for Qtrly 1 - 4.

  • If member names start with zeros (0), change numeric columns to text.