Many organisations have some degree of product data contained in an existing file or business database.
Producty™ makes it easy to import this existing data to create not only product records, but detailed product category structure and detailed product attributes.
Table of Contents
Is my existing data file suitable?
Most well-maintained spreadsheets or exports from other databases can easily be imported into Producty™. We’ve engineered the Producty™ importer to quickly import thousands of records, so we need the data to following these basic rules:
- All columns should be named with a unique name (preferably with no special characters)
- All data rows should be contiguous (i.e. no gaps between rows, and no sub-headings or other text included within the data rows).
- Cells should not be merged. (If a product attribute is common to multiple products it should be listed multiple times.)
- Spreadsheets should not include any formulas – no sums, no percentage markups, and no concatenations. (Omitting formulas allows our importer to work at warp speed, instead of a snail’s pace!)
Starting the importer
The Producty™ importer is accessed from the main menu – select the “Import” link. The import process is divided into 5 separate tabs:
- Select File
- Initial Checks
- Map Fields
- Confirm Setup
- Result
Once you have completed each step, click the next grey tab to proceed to the next step.
Select file
Choose an existing XLSX, XLS or CSV file. For XLSX and XLS files also select the desired sheet and named cell range.
Initial checks
Producty™ will quickly check the file and return a list of field names.
Select the field you’d like to establish as your unique product identifier (e.g. SKU, ProductCode or other similar field).
Map Fields
For each field within your data you have the choice of importing as:
- Product attribute
- Category structure (e.g. Level 1, Level 2, Level 3)
- Category text
Or omitting the field.
Confirm setup
Producty™ will display the proposed import structure for a final check before importing.
Result
Once the import is complete, Producty™ will display the count of records imported.
Depending on the type of data imported, your products should now appear in the product category tree as a series of categories and sub categories.
As you navigate through the product categories you will notice three different icons. The top level category is represented by a book icon. Each category and sub-category below is represented by a folder icon , while a collection is represented by a grid icon .
In simple terms, categories represent your product structure, while collections contain your products.
Setting up attributes
When you first navigate to a collection you will probably notice there are no product attributes displayed in the product collection.
Select the top level of your category structure and go to Category Setup > Product Attribute Setup.
Using the “Add Attribute” dropdown menu, select desired attributes such as Product Code/SKU, Product Name, Product Description, RRP etc.
When you return to a product collection, your products will now display attributes values as appropriate.