Import Sales Orders with Line Items
The ability to import Sales Orders with Line Items, which can be converted to Invoices at the click of a button in Big Business, would enable several useful facilities.
You could potentially generate transactions in a Single-User copy of Big Business on your portable (laptop) and then upload the Sales Orders to your working copy of Big Business when you returned to the office.
You might also directly import sales from another database or application that you use. Many Big Business Users have custom solutions for generating complex quotes. Others have web based storefronts. These Big Business Users now enter these Sales manually. (3019)
Big Business lets you import Sales Orders with Line Items. The clearest example is importing orders exported from a copy of your data file--for a tradeshow or similar--then imported into your 'live' data file on return. Or, you might import orders from a custom database, web store, or shopping cart.
To Import Sales Orders with Line Items:
1. Create a Customer Card whose name begins with "Default".
2. Create an Item Card whose Code begins with "Default".
3. Create a tab-delimited text file to import. For example, use the Sales Order QuickSearch to find a group of orders and Save To Disk, Including Line Item Detail.
4. From the Maintenance toolbar, select the Import tool.
5. Open your import file and choose to import as, "Sales Order Line Items."
6. At the minimum, you need to import the following fields:
- Customer Name, will find a Customer (or Default) and automatically enter the Customer's addresses, Terms, Sales Tax, Ship Method and so on.
- Item Code, will find an Item (or Default) and enter Descriptions, Price, Cost, and so on.
- Quantity
Any additional fields overwrite automatic entries. Importing a price, for example, will overwrite the price loaded from an Item Card.
7. Click Do Not Import Header if your import file includes a header record.
8. Click the OK button to proceed with the import.
The Sales Order QuickSearch will open and display any orders that were successfully created. Double-click to review each order, check for Default entries (no match found), and convert it from On Hold to Placed. Or, click Batch Delete to delete imported orders.
Import Failed
Big Business will cancel an Import if it fails to meet needed criteria, such as:
• finding a Customer or Default Customer to assign to a Quote, Order, or Invoice
• finding an Item or Default Item to assign on a Line Item transaction
This Solution provides suggestion for avoiding fatal errors when importing. (6300)
For Imports with Customers or Items, you can create Default entries to be used when no match is found:
• create a new Customer Card that begins with "Default" for its name
• create a new Item Card that begins with Default for its Item Code
Import Changed
Big Business provides an Alert if a Memorized Import is different than the current list of Fields availalable on the Import.
(6301)
Import NULL Support
Imports now handle NULL values. In database-speak, NULL is a value that is not an value. For comparison, blank is a value that can replace an existing entry and make it blank. Importing NULL does not replace an existing or default entry. This is handy if you want one import mapping that sometimes replaces a default address, or price, and sometimes does not.
This feature automatically handles NULL values coming from external data sources, such as Cloud Services or using the Web API.
This Solution describes its use. (6565)
Imports now handle NULL values. To import a NULL value simply include the text "NULL" in the data being imported. If the value being imported is "NULL" it will not be imported and will not replace any exisitng or default entry.
This feature automatically handles NULL values coming from external data sources, such as Cloud Services or using the Web API.
To create an import file use "NULL" where you do not want a value imported. In the pictured example, Custom Date and Employee fields are being updated. For Customer Code "6146" we still want "Sean" assigned but do not want to replace the current Follow-Up Date, so we enter "NULL".