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Organizational unit import

Imports should only be carried out by users with very good SmartProcess knowledge! In addition, each import should first be tested with a small number of data records ! This article describes the spe…

Dennis Reichle
Updated by Dennis Reichle
Imports should only be carried out by users with very good SmartProcess knowledge!

In addition, each import should first be tested with a small number of data records!
This article describes the specifics and points of attention for importing organizational units.

For a general description of how to configure a data import, see the article Import of data.

Multilingual content

The name and description of an organizational unit can be imported in multiple languages. If the content should be available in all languages after the import, a separate column must exist and be filled for each language in the import file.

Required columns

In order to create a new organizational unit via import, at least the column Name-login language must exist and be filled.

So, if the user performing the import is logged on in German, the column Name-German is required.

It is recommended to specify additional columns, e. g. to assign the new organizational unit to the desired path and to provide it with the desired type (see example below).

In order to change the data of an existing organizational unit via import, at least one column is required, which SmartProcess can use to detect a duplicate (see the following section).

Identifier for duplicates

In the import mask, the area Import strategy can be used to control how SmartProcess should act when it detects duplicates during the data import.

For organizational units, a series of values is used in order to detect an existing duplicate in the organization chart.

  • First, it is checked if there is an organizational unit with the ID specified in the import file.
  • Next, it is checked if there is an organizational unit with the Abbreviation specified in the import file.
  • Finally, it is checked if there is an organizational unit with the Name specified in the import file in the importer's logon language.
If possible, use the ID to identify duplicates, as this information is always unique.

It is also recommended to always assign unique names for organizational units.

If a duplicate is detected via one of these criteria, the data of this organizational unit will be updated or remain unchanged depending on the selected import strategy - otherwise an attempt will be made to create a new organizational unit.

Example of an import

The starting point for the example is an organization chart in which there is only the organizational unit 'Managing director' with the ID 1234.

Then the following file is used to perform an import.

  • By line 2 the existing organizational unit is recognized as a duplicate by its ID in column A. If the option <Replace duplicates> has been activated, the organizational unit will be renamed from 'Managing director' to 'Management'.
  • By lines 3 and 4, a new organizational unit of type Location with the names 'Bremen' and 'Stuttgart' is created below the Management respectively. The parent organizational unit is recognized by the ID in column B.
  • By line 5, a new organizational unit of type Group with the name 'Production Bremen' is created below the Bremen location. The parent organizational unit is recognized by its name in column C.

The result in the organization chart would look like this.

It is not possible to change the assignment of existing organisational units in the organisation chart as part of an import, i.e. the elements cannot be moved.

How did we do?

User import

Case import

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