Intermediate

Import your existing data

Load your facility lists, people, and reference data from CSV files — in the order where every reference already exists by the time a file needs it.

Published

Outcome

You load your existing operational data from files instead of typing it in. That data covers sites, resource types, criteria, stations, assets, reference lists, and templates.

You load it in an order where everything that a file references already exists.

Before you begin

  • The Editor or Admin role. Sites need Admin.
  • Your data in spreadsheets, or in systems you can export from.
  • The mechanics reference: Import and export.

One rule from that page shapes everything below. An import creates, it never updates. A second import of the same file duplicates its rows. Get each file right before you load it.

Step 0 — Learn each format by exporting first

For every page you plan to import into, run an Export first. Do this even from a nearly empty workspace.

The export format is the import format: the exact columns, and the exact value shapes. Build your files against those samples, and you do not have to guess.

Step 1 — Import in dependency order

Data references data, so load the referenced things first:

  1. Resource types (Configuration → Type catalog). Activate the kinds you run first. Nothing below can be imported into a workspace with no types.
  2. Sites (open Administration → Sites, then Import — CSV/JSON). Everything below lives in a site.
  3. Lists (Configuration → List definitions). Load the reference data that other records point at, such as departments and job titles.
  4. Criteria (Settings → Criteria — CSV/JSON). This is the vocabulary that resources and requests reference.
  5. Stations and assets (open the type, then Import — CSV/JSON). Capability references resolve against the criteria you just loaded.
  6. Request Templates (Settings → Templates — CSV/JSON), if you keep standard patterns.
  7. Users (Administration → Users — CSV/JSON) for bulk onboarding. You can also invite people one at a time.
  8. Requests (Requests page — CSV) last. They reference everything above.

At each step, select the Format, select Browse to find the file, and select Import. Read the result message before you continue.

Step 2 — Spot-check, do not proof-read

After each import, open the target page. Check a few rows deeply, such as the capabilities of a station or the enum values of a criterion. Do not skim everything.

A failed create surfaces a structural problem. Only a spot-check finds a semantic one, because the wrong capacity is still valid data.

Step 3 — Correct before, not after

An import only creates, so the cheap moment to fix the data is in the file, before you load it. A second import of a corrected file does not update the earlier rows. It duplicates them.

If bad rows do get in, correct them in the app. You can also delete the created items and import the corrected file again.

What does not come in by file

  • Floorplan images and drawn geometry are visual work. Model your facility covers them.
  • Person skills and absences live on the Assets page.
  • To transfer a whole configuration between workspaces — criteria, groups, and templates as one validated file — use Presets. Presets beat per-page files when the source is another Orkyo workspace.