Unsubscribe Data Order and File Format

Unsubscribe data files are processed in a particular order and file format.

Data Order

The Oracle Utilities Opower platform processes files according to the order received, then dated. If we receive multiple files on the SFTP server in the same time frame (as could be done for full historical data files), they will be automatically queued by their filename date stamps.

For example, if a file is received on the SFTP server named opwr_util_full_20140520.txt and then receive one named opwr_util_full_20140519.txt an hour later, opwr_util_full_20140520.txt will be processed first despite the fact that its date stamp is later than the opwr_util_full_20140519.txt. However, if these files are received at the same time, the file name data stamp will take precedence and opwr_util_full_20140519.txt will be processed before opwr_util_full_20140520.txt.

To ensure that all files are queued in the correct order, files should be named so that the date stamps are consistent with the intended load order of the files. This ensures that they will be processed in the right order. See Unsubscribe Data File Name Conventions for more information.

File Format

ll files generated by your extract program need to meet the following standards to load successfully into the Oracle Utilities Opower platform:

  • The fields in these files must be comma-delimited and in CSV format.
  • No null fields may be included, as all of the fields are required.
  • Files must use UTF-8 encoding so that both Latin and non-Latin characters can be supported.
  • Some fields must have specific values. For example, email_address_event_type must always contain UNSUBSCRIBE.
  • All files must include a header row containing column names from the tables specified in this document. Header column names must exactly match the names specified in this data specification.
  • It is strongly recommended that files be compressed for transfer. Zip and gzip compression are supported, but gzip is strongly preferred. Files can be sent uncompressed, but compressing the files will greatly decrease the transfer time. Zip files must contain only one file each. There should be no directories in the zip file. Compressed gzip or zip files must contain only one text file each.