Introducing automated imports

Rather than manually importing trading partners, dimension items, or transactions through Enable's user interface, you can configure this data to be automatically imported on a regular schedule.

This article will guide you through:

1. How to configure automated imports
2. SFTP FAQs

Looking for something else?

• Looking for file format guidance for trading program channel SFTP files? Click here to learn more about automatically importing data for trading programs.
• Looking for file format guidance for special pricing agreements (SPAs) channel SFTP files? Click here to learn more about importing data for SPAs.
• Alternatively, see our Help Center for more on managing data for trading programs.

To initiate the automated imports process, have your IT department reach out to our support team.

You will be given credentials for an SFTP server where you can upload files with data to be imported to your channel. Enable will provide you with templates as part of the onboarding process, to ensure that data is exported from your system in the correct format for the type of import you wish to run.

In order for an automatic import to work properly, please ensure that the file to upload adheres to the strict formatting requirements specified. Failure to follow these requirements can result in undesirable outcomes such as rejected uploads or the overwriting of large amounts of data.

We recommend that you implement an internal process to check the SFTP folders regularly, to ensure your data in Enable is as expected.

How do I send files to the SFTP location?

• An FTP client will be required to send data to, and view, the SFTP location. Within Enable we use FileZilla, but this is not a requirement and any alternative FTP clients are suitable.

When should I send my file?

• We recommend that files are sent overnight.
• Importing large data files can be intensive, and to limit the impact on performance, files should be uploaded at a time where there is a low user load on Enable.

Which files should I upload first?

• We recommend that trading partners are uploaded first, then your dimensions (as dimensions can be listed against a specific trading partner), and finally the transactions.
• This ensures that the dimension data uploaded can be matched to trading partners, since if they are not the file will be rejected, and so the transaction lines can be matched to a supplier or dimension.
• The file won't be rejected if a transaction line isn't matched, however the transactions will appear as unreconciled and won't appear in reporting until they have been matched to a trading partner and all required dimensions. Learn more about the reconciliation process here.

How can we see if a file has been received?

• In the SFTP location, you are able to see the files that Enable have received.
• If a file is in the Succeeded folder, this indicates that the data is now in Enable.
• If a file is in the Failed folder, a corresponding Error.txt file will detail the cause of failure. Learn more about SFTP errors here.

Why hasn’t my file processed?

• If your file has not processed and is still in the Imports folder, consider whether you have uploaded the corresponding .OK file, and check that the file is correctly named.
• The name of the .OK file should be identical to the .ZIP file, but instead of ending merely with .ZIP, it should end with .ZIP.OK.

What’s next?

Importing data for rebate agreements? Click here to learn more about automatically importing data for trading programs.

Importing data for special pricing agreements (SPAs)? Click here to learn more about importing data for SPAs.

Experiencing issues with Excel such as losing leading zeros, dates changing format unexpectedly, or character delimitation? Learn how to load CSVs into Excel here.