Creating and Running Imports

Begin by navigating to the Import task group. Use the Import task group to create and manage imports.

Click the New Import () button.

Use the import wizard to define the source, style, columns, filters, and target for the import. You begin on the Source tab.

Perform the following actions on the Source tab:

• In the Device field, leave the Client File option selected to specify that the import file is a client file.
• For the File Location field, click the Browse button, navigate to a local folder that contains the import file (for example, C:\DRM\ImportMA.txt), and select the import file.
  In this example, the import file has four sections: [hierarchy], [node], [relation], and [hiernode].

  

• In the Delimited fields, leave the (Other) option selected and enter a single pipe "|" as the delimiter.
• Use the Prefix Delimiter and Suffix Delimiter fields to enter characters to be displayed at the beginning and end of a section heading; for example, /, /**, or [. The suffix delimiter is optional. In this example, you leave the fields as is.
• Clear the Version option to indicate that the import file does not have a Version section.
• In the Hierarchy field, enter hierarchy to match the name of the Hierarchy section in the import file.

Click the Style tab.

Use the Style tab to define relationship sorting, determine leaf nodes, enforce invalid node name characters, and specify duplicate handling options.

Perform the following actions on the Style tab:

• Select the Determine Leaf Nodes at the end of Import Process option to indicate that leaf nodes are not explicitly identified in the import file (which is often). Data Relationship Management automatically flags a node as a leaf if it is imported into a hierarchy without any children.
• Leave the Enforce Invalid Node Name Characters field cleared to allow nodes with invalid characters. You can use this field to stop nodes from being imported if their names include invalid characters, which are defined in the InvName system preference for the application.
  For example, suppose your application does not permit commas in node names; however, you want to import nodes that do include commas (for example, "Smith, John"). You can select this field to override the system preference and allow the nodes to be imported.
• In the Duplicate Handling section, leave the defaults. You can use this section to specify how to uniquely name duplicate instances of a node in a hierarchy. The default is to append the suffix :Shared- and an incrementing number; for example, P0005:Shared-001. You can relate duplicate nodes by selecting an associated nodes property. You can also specify a duplicate error mode to determine whether a duplicate node is included in the Max Errors count for the import profile.

Click the Columns tab.

Use the Columns tab to map properties to columns in the import file and map columns to hierarchies. In the Selected list, columns that are marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory.

In the Section drop-down list, select Hierarchy.

In this example, the Hierarchy section in the import file has two properties: hierarchy name and top node; therefore, you need to remove the Hier Desc property from the Selected list. In the Selected list, click 3 - Hier Descr.

Click the Remove () button.

The Hier Descr property is removed from the Selected list.

In the Section drop-down list, select Node.

In this example, the Node section in the import file has two properties: node name and node description; therefore, you need to remove the Leaf property from the Selected list. In the Selected list, click 3 - Leaf.

Click the Remove () button.

The Leaf property is removed from the Selected list.

In the Section drop-down list, select Relation.

In this example, the Relation section in the import file has two properties: parent node and child node; therefore, you need to remove the Description and Leaf properties from the Selected list. In the Selected list, click 3 - Description.

Press the [Ctrl] key and click 4 - Leaf.

Click the Remove () button.

The Description and Leaf properties are removed from the Selected list.

In the Section drop-down list, select Hierarchy Node.

In this example, the Hierarchy Node section in the import file has four columns: hierarchy name, node name, alias, and a column that should not be imported; therefore, you need to add two columns to the Available list. In the Category drop-down list, select Essbase.

In the Available list, click Alias.

Click the Select () button.

The Alias property is displayed in the Selected list.

In the Available list, click [Ignore Column].

Click the Select () button.

The [Ignore Column] property is displayed in the Selected list.

Click the Filters tab.

Use the Filters tab to skip blank values and default values for defined, inheriting, and derived properties during the import process. In this example, you accept the default selections.

Click the Target tab.

Use the Target tab to specify a name and description for the new version and to specify the maximum number of errors that can occur during the processing before the import stops.

Note: You specify a version name and description only if your import file does not have a Version section to define those values.

In the Version Name field, enter ImportMA.

Click the Save () button.

Use the Save Import dialog box to specify a name and description for the import, and select an object access level.

In the Save Import dialog box, perform the following actions:

• In the Name field, enter ImportMA.
• Optional. In the Description field, enter a meaningful description of the new import.
• In the Object Access Level drop-down list, select Standard. The Object Access Level field assigns one of the following access levels:
  • User—Enables only you to run and edit the import.
  • Standard—Enables all users to run the import, but only users with the Data Manager role can edit it.

Click OK.

The tab name is displayed as ImportMA.

Close the ImportMA tab.

Your import is listed in the Import task group under Standard Imports.

Click the standard import named ImportMA.

Point to the Imports drop-down list.

In the Imports drop-down list, select Open.

Use the import wizard to modify the source, style, columns, filters, and target of the import named ImportMA.

Click the Browse... button to select an import file for the source file.

Note: You must select an import file each time you run an import.

Use the Choose File to Upload dialog box to browse to and select an import file.

Click the ImportMA.txt file.

Click Open.

Click the Run () button to process the import.

The processing results are displayed. They indicate the completion status of the process; the statistics for errors; the statistics for hierarchies, nodes, and orphans that were created; and warning and error messages. In this example, the import was completed successfully and you have no warnings or error messages. The statistics show that 5 hierarchies, 123 nodes, and 2 orphan nodes were added. No duplicate nodes were found.

Close the import.

Click Browse to navigate to the Browse task group.

The ImportMA version is listed in the version list in the Browse task group. It is created in a detached state (not saved).

Click the Orphans tab.

The import added two orphan nodes (CC05 and None).

Click the Hierarchies tab.

Click the BalanceSheet tab to open a hierarchy that was created by the import.

Use the BalanceSheet - ImportMA hierarchy tab to view and manage nodes in the BalanceSheet hierarchy.

Click the Home tab.

You determined that the import created what you expected. Now you can save the version.

Right-click the ImportMA version.

Click Save.

The ImportMA version is saved to the repository database.