1. Administering and Working with Enterprise Profitability and Cost Management
  2. Creating and Managing Applications
  3. Managing Applications
  4. Managing Dimensions
  5. Importing and Exporting Dimension Metadata
  6. Importing Metadata
  7. About the Metadata Import File

About the Metadata Import File

Before you begin loading metadata, you must create an import file for each artifact that you want to import (dimensions, smart lists, and exchange rate tables).

The import file must contain a header record. The header record:

  • Is the first line in the file

  • Lists the dimension and any member properties used by subsequent metadata records. The header record and subsequent records do not need to include all properties. Properties that are not included are inherited from the corresponding parent's default property value. If the header record does not contain a property column like Data Storage, the data storage for a member will be inherited from that member’s parent member.

  • Is case sensitive

  • Can list properties in any order, as long as the subsequent metadata records are in the same order

  • Can use comma or tab delimiters. Other delimiter characters can be used if they are supported and the same delimiter character is used throughout the file. For a list of supported delimiter characters and exceptions, see Other Supported Delimiter Characters.

The header record should be followed by a list of metadata records to import or update.

  • Each metadata record must contain a delimited list (comma, tab, or other) of property values that matches the order designated in the header record.

  • A metadata record can skip a property that is specified in the header record; in this case, the default property is assumed.

  • The file format can be .csv (comma-delimited) or .txt (tab-delimited or other delimiter characters).

For an example import file, see Example Entity Dimension Import File.

Note:

Only characters that are included in the UTF-8 character set are supported in import or export files. Characters that aren't included in the UTF-8 character set are considered invalid. For dimension name restrictions, see Naming Restrictions.