The Import Products feature can be used to add new products to your SI catalog and also update the existing products.
The spreadsheet containing the products for import must be in comma-separated values (CSV) format, also called comma-delimited.
To add products from a CSV file, go to Product Explorer and click Import under the Tools tab.
This opens a Browse window so you can navigate to the CSV file.
Map CSV File
Once a CSV file has been selected, the Map CSV File interface will open. The interface will show the steps and let you navigate through the workflow by clicking the Next button and the Back button.
Step 1
In step 1, you will need to map the columns in your CSV file to the database fields in the SI catalog.
Here are some notes about the mapping.
By default, only the Model field is required to be mapped to complete the import successfully.
The CSV column names and SI database fields that are an exact match or are determined to be a close match by SI will be auto-mapped.
Any unmapped fields will not be imported.
Here are some notes about the manufacturer and category assignment to products.
You can choose to have a manufacturer for each product in the CSV file, or you can do this later with the Mass Update feature after you have imported the product to the SI catalog.
You can choose to have a category for each product in the CSV file. Otherwise, once imported into SI, the first time you open the product for editing, you will be required to assign a category before you can save the product.
Step 2
The second step of the wizard will list all manufacturers that do not exist in your SI catalog.
They will be defaulted to "Add as New," but you can click the Map link if you wish to map them manually to existing manufacturers, e.g., your spreadsheet has "Cisco Systems," but you know that in your catalog, you have them listed as "Cisco."
When you map a manufacturer, you will be prompted to add the CSV manufacturer as an alias to the manufacturer, so you won't have to map this again.
Step 3
The third step of the wizard will list all categories that do not exist in your SI catalog.
They will be defaulted to "Add as New," but you can click the Map link if you wish to map them manually to existing categories, e.g., your spreadsheet has "Speaker," but in your catalog, you have it pluralized as "Speakers."
Step 4
The last step will show a summary of the previous steps.
You have the following options to choose from to match the products in the CSV file with those in the SI catalog.
Option | Description |
Use 'Catalog ID' to match (allow manufacturer and model edits) | Select this if you want SI to use the catalog ID as the matching criterion to label products as "Matched" products.
Using this option, you can update the manufacturer and/or model fields of the products if the catalog ID in the CSV file matches the catalog ID in the SI catalog.
The catalog ID is a unique ID assigned to a product in the SI catalog. The catalog ID can be fetched by exporting the product via the Export feature in SI.
Check out this article for more details. |
Use 'Part Number' to determine exact matches | Select this if you want SI to use the part number of the product as the matching criterion to label products as "Matched" products.
The part number for every product is unique and assigned by the manufacturer. The part number can be fetched by exporting the product via the Export feature in SI if you or the manufacturer has assigned the part number to the product. |
Automatically match close matches to the best close match | Select this if you want to allow SI to automatically decide the best close match if there are multiple close matches for a product. The best close match indicates the least deviation from the manufacturer and/or model values in the CSV file.
Selecting this can also reduce your mapping efforts in the Import Editor that you will be directed to once the CSV file is imported. |
If you are importing only new products, you don't need to select any of the matching options.
If you are importing both new products and products with updates, or only products with updates, select the Catalog ID or Part Number match option for an exact match.
Once you click Finish, the Import Editor will open.
Import Editor
The Import Editor will open after the Map CSV File process is complete and will display a preview of the data to be imported.
Import
You can import New and/or Matched products. You can import the entire file or just the selected records.
Filter
The filter section of the ribbon allows you to examine each classification for completeness.
All - All of the records in the file.
New - Filters to items not currently in your SI catalog.
Matched - Filters to items that currently exist in your SI catalog.
Close - Filters to items considered close matches to items in your SI catalog.
Duplicate - Filters to records in the CSV file that are duplicates of each other based on manufacturer and model.
Inadequate - Filters to records in the CSV file that are missing either the Manufacturer, Model, or Category fields. These three fields are required.
Error - Filters to records that are considered errors; this could occur if there are headings in the body of the CSV file.
Map
The map section of the filter allows you to remap the columns from the CSV file if needed, or you can map the Manufacturer and/or Category fields if you did not do so earlier.
Duplicates
For duplicate items in the spreadsheet, select the one you want to import and click the Pick One From Duplicates button.
This will mark the selected item as New and remove the other item from the Import Editor.
Match
When you have a record selected that is a close match, all three functions in the Map section of the ribbon become active.
Mark as New
This will mark the close match as New and allow the product to be imported.
Match
This will open the Match CSV Products interface, showing the close match in your SI catalog.
Check for Matches
This will recheck the SI catalog to look for exact matches.
Manage
The following are the options to manage the items in the Import Editor.
Mass Update - The Mass Update function will allow you to update multiple items in the Import Editor simultaneously. A common use for this would be if your CSV file did not have a Category column. You need to update all items with an appropriate category to import, as category is a required field.
Export - You can export selected items in the CSV file to a new CSV file. Do this for all items that fail to import so you can correct them and then import them.
Delete - This will delete an item from the Import Editor.