Vendor Importing Guide

The item import tool allows you to import existing vendors from another database.

How to get to the tool

Menu> Vendor import tool.

1. Go to the Vendor import page

2. Download the item import template template.

3. Add your vendors to the template, or adopt the spreadsheet column titles in your existing spreadsheet

4. Upload your spreadsheet in the space provided

5. Map the columns to CostCertified field equivalents.

• NOTE: If you have any columns that are only used for internal purposes (like color), you can tell the import tool to ignore these columns by clicking the dropdown and then clicking to remove the pre-selected field.
  

6.Choose a key column (this is how we match the uploads to already existing items in the database. You can choose Vendor email, or vendor ID (for existing clients). The import function will attempt to update first by searching for items based on the key field, and if not found, will create a new item instead.

7. Click Done mapping columns..

8. Now you will see a table full of the items, staged and ready to go, you can make some last minute changes if you like.

9. Then click Import

FAQ

1. Can you use the item import tool to update clients too, or just create new ones?

   1. It can be used to update items in bulk as well as create new items.

2. How does it know which items to update or create?

   1. It uses the key field you provide in the mapping step (step 2) to match the items you import with items already found in the database (vendor email, vendor ID). It only works by scope, for example if you are in a particular company it will only match items up in your spreadsheet with items from that company. Any items where the key field is not found in the database will be created, and any items where the key field value is found in the database already will be merged, then updated.

3. Do I need to add column titles to the top of each column in the excel spreadsheet?

   1. Yes

4. Do I need to have the column names something specific?

   1. No, the system will make a best guess as to each column to map them to in the second step, you should change the ones that are incorrect and make sure all the columns are mapped correctly before continuing.

5. Does the spreadsheet need to have all possible fields for an item as columns?

   1. No, for example if you only need to change the address and not the phone number then you can remove the columns that you don’t need and import the ones that you would like to update (just make sure you include the vendor email or ID).