There are several reasons why you may wish to import a list of assets into Business Administrator. The ability to import such a list of assets simplifies the process of bringing bulk products onto the system and marking them all as new assets, whether they are new or second-hand.
Overview
Business Administrator will ask you to describe the procured assets in the global sense. It will want to know how you got them, how much you paid for them, who you got them from, etc. It will also ask you for the list, which it expects to be in a file on your computers disk.
When you describe the price, you must state the price that you actually paid for all of the assets, and not what you think they are worth.
The layout of the file to be imported is very important and must contain certain elements. It may contain additional elements that can be either ignored or can be assigned later in the process. The elements it must contain are…
Group: Generally, in Business Administrator, all products must be members of a product group; groups combine all products that are similar or have something in common. When importing lots of assets it is wise to attribute a group at the outset, else you’ll have to do it individually later.
Name: A name or key description is required for each item. This name should be unique, lest Business Administrator choose to append numerals to the name.
Quantity: The quantity of the asset being imported. If you have a bought a number of identical items then they can be grouped together under one name. Business Administrator will append their names with a number starting with 1, assuming that such a name doesn’t already exist on the system, in which case it will choose the next appropriate number.
Price each, or group price: This is the amount you paid for the asset. If you supply a group price, then Business Administrator will divide the price equally between all the items in the group to get the price for each asset.
You could include other items, such as Make and Model, and, if such characteristics exist, you would be wise to do so. You should provide as much information as you can: you may come to rely on it later.
Specific Q&A
Divide price out: If all of the assets have the same price, then Business Administrator will be happy to divide the price equally among them. If the assets have different prices, or the assets are different, then you should decline the facility.
Excel sheet: If you are importing from an Excel sheet and the file has multiple sheets, then Business Administrator will ask which sheet you wish to import from.
Headers provided: If the file list you intend to import has column headers, then state that this is so. Business Administrator will try to match them with the data.
Defining the data
Having established the environment for the import, it will be time to move on. Click ‘Define the Data’ from the Function Bar, and Business Administrator will ask you to clarify the data that was in your import file
This is where you can relate your column headers to the data that Business Administrator is seeking. . Simply select from the dropdown boxes the information that best describes the data.
Starting the import
Once the data has been clearly defined, you can select the command Start Importing to begin the import. Business Administrator will present its interpretation of the first item for you to check. If Business Administrator has understood correctly, then click Update and Show Next Item to show the next item. Check that and move on similarly.
If the items are consistently correct, then choose Use AutoPilot to ask Business Administrator to import the remaining items.
Business Administrator will display its progress, and will display its estimated time of completion for long lists.
When the import is complete, Business Administrator will ask you to visit Asset Management, where detailed information about each asset will have to be provided. Learn more about Asset Management at ________________________________________