Getting Started with Integration Manager

Integration Manager is a licensed add-on service. You must hold a valid license to use Integration Manager. OpenAir Professional Services configures Integration Manager to suit your business requirements as part of your initial OpenAir account setup if you purchase a license for this add-on service. You can maintain and add to the Integration Manager setup as new features, product enhancements, and software fixes become available. Appropriate training is required before you can use Integration Manager and change its settings.

Important:

You should not use Integration Manager unless you have received the relevant training. You must have a good understanding of the OpenAir application and how its database is structured, as well as knowledge of the Integration Manager application.

Step 1: Get Access to Integration Manager

OpenAir account administrators grant access to Integration Manager at the individual user level. To do so:

1. Go to Administration > Global Settings > Users > Employees > [Select the employee] > Access Control

2. Click Exchange Access.

3. Add OpenAir Integration Manager to the selected list.

Step 2: Download and Install Integration Manager

OpenAir Professional Services provide you with a download link for Integration Manager. A wizard guides you through the installation process. See Installing Integration Manager.

Step 3: Grant Full User Access Privileges in Windows for the Integration Manager User

In Windows 8 and 10, access to files and folders is restricted unless you have Administrator privileges. An error can occur when a user does not have full permissions. Make sure Integration Manager users can create, modify, and delete files in the Integration Manager installation folder. The default installation location is C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenAir\IntegrationManager but you can choose a different location during the installation – see Installing Integration Manager.

Important:

Integration Manager does not support a multiple user setup. The same Windows user account should be used to run Integration Manager, and to create or run Integration Manager shortcuts. Running Integration Manager from different Windows user accounts may lead to inconsistent application behavior.

Step 4: Read the Relevant Documentation

This guide provides a reference for using Integration Manager. The guide is organized around the following conceptual topics for ease of reference:

• Integration Manager General Settings and Menu Options — Explore the menu options, review how to connect Integration Manager to your OpenAir account, choose a character encoding scheme, backup your application settings and shortcuts, and restore them from back up, and review the logs.

• Exporting OpenAir Data to a CSV File — Follow the steps to export OpenAir records to a CSV file using Integration Manager.

  Includes steps to add header information to the exported CSV file. See Adding Header Information to Exported CSV Files.

• Importing Data from a CSV File into OpenAir — Follow the steps to import information from a source CSV file into OpenAir using Integration Manager.

  Includes information about rules determining if a record already exists in OpenAir and if the record should be created or updated on import. See Record Creation or Update Rules on Import

  Includes steps to import user settings, including user preferences and user privileges when importing user records from a CSV file. See Making User Settings Available for Mapping (User Imports Only).

• Mapping OpenAir Fields to CSV Columns — Follow the steps to map the OpenAir fields to columns in the CSV file you export information to or import information from.

• Making OpenAir Custom Fields Available for Mapping — Follow the steps to make custom fields you create in OpenAir available for mapping.

• Making Additional Information Available for Mapping (Calculated Fields) — Follow the steps to make additional information that is not in your source data available for mapping.

• Combining and Splitting Information — Follow the steps to split a source field into two or more destination fields (Import only), combine source fields into a single destination field (Import and Export), or combine separate date and time fields in the source CSV file into a datetime field in OpenAir (Import only).

• OpenAir Field Value Lookup (Export) and Record Lookup (Import) — Follow the steps to look up OpenAir field values for record types directly or indirectly related to the record type you selected for export, or to look up OpenAir records associated with the records you import by name or external ID.

• Filtering OpenAir Records for Export — Follow the steps to export only the OpenAir records that meet specific criteria to the CSV file.

• Formatting Information for Export and Import — Review the formatting options in Integration Manager. These options includes, the ability to:

  • Specify the format of values containing both date and time parts in your CSV file. See Setting the Date and Time Format Used in the CSV File.

  • (Export only) Add length and range validation for field values in your CSV file. See Validating Field Value Length and Range on Export.

  • Using conditional overrides to compare numeric or text field values to a fixed value or pattern, and replace the value if the condition is met. See Setting Up Conditional Overrides.

• Accounting Settings — Perform account balancing and secondary balancing on the Receipt, Revenue recognition transaction, TimeBill (charge, slip, or bill), Timesheet entry, or Slip projection records you export, and summarize grouped record data for export, with subtotals for selected fields.

• Working with Export and Import Shortcuts — Follow the steps to create shortcuts to run specific imports and exports manually without launching the Integration Manager application, or to schedule imports and exports to run automatically.

• Records and Fields Reference — Review the OpenAir record types and fields available for export and import, and refer to other reference material about the OpenAir database.

• Important:

  Integration Manager does not support all tables and fields included in the OpenAir Data Dictionary. See OpenAir Data Dictionary.

• Troubleshooting — Review common export and import errors and how to resolve them, follow steps to get additional help or report issues.

Step 5: Set Up Example Export or Import on a Sandbox Environment

Integration Manager lets you export data from your OpenAir account to text CSV files or import from text CSV files to your OpenAir account. Decide which fields to export or import, in what order, and which fields they will map to in the resulting file or account record. You can limit the data that exports to a subset of all the records in your account. You can also specify the date and time formats and the method used to delimit the fields. See Exporting OpenAir Data to a CSV File and Importing Data from a CSV File into OpenAir.

Step 6: Create Export and Import Shortcuts

After you have set up your field mapping settings and other options, you can create and edit shortcuts. See Working with Export and Import Shortcuts.