Custom Import

Owned by Mark Holland (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 29, 2024 by Lukasz.Dziwiszewski
7 min read

Description

The custom import function allows you to build an import to your requirements. For example, if you have a format from third party software, you can build the import to match the format. This helps protect your data as it minimises the need to manipulate the file before importing it into InPay. 

Formats are available to all companies on your customer code.

Contents

Usage

Creating an Import Format

  1. Click New
  2. Enter a name for the format in Import Format 
  3. Click Save

The following options may be set:

  1. Ignore Blanks - This is checked by default. If unchecked, blank fields will no longer be ignored. E.G. a blank Address 1 field will update the value to be blank.
  2. Ignore Employee Validation - This is an additional validation check for a file with a surname and NI number fields before importing files to the system using the custom importer.
  3. Ignore Headers - Column headers are checked by default. Uncheck this to ignore. The correct number of columns is still required.
  4. Locked - This currently stops a format from being deleted. This may be updated to fully lock the format.
  5. Header rows - If your file has multiple headers, enter the number of headers in here.
  6. New Starter Validation - This will only allow new employees to be inserted or updated. An error will be displayed if the import attempts to update a current employee.


Once saved, columns may be added to the format.

  1. Click the required Page
  2. Drag the Field(s) to the required position or double click to add to the end.
  3. Click Save


Once saved, fields may be edited by clicking the pencil icon.


Available options will depend on the field. 

  1. Display Name - The name that will show on the file
  2. Format - Currently only for date fields. You may select an option or enter a format using the rules shown in Custom Import#Date Formats.
  3. Invisible - This is explained in Custom Import#Invisible Fields.

Save changes by clicking the Save button, click the Close button to cancel.

Delete the field by clicking the Delete button.

Selected fields may be reordered by dragging and dropping. Be sure to click the Save button immediately after.

Reviewing an Import Format

Click the Download Detail button to download a CSV showing all field settings for the current format.

Downloading a Template

Click the download button to download a template for the current format. 

Importing

Importing is a two stage process. First the file data is imported. Then the data is validated and imported. Optionally, a What If report may be run before importing.

  1. Select the format in the Import section by selecting from the list or entering part of the name to search
  2. Click the Select File button and select the CSV file.
  3. Click the Import  button


Once the file has imported, it will show as Pending in the list of Imports. Click the import button to validate and import the file.

Progress will be shown when importing the file

If the file passes validation and is imported, the Import Status will show as Imported


If there are any errors, none of the data will be imported.

What If Report

Click the purple What If report button to generate a CSV report of what would be changed if the file were imported.

When the report is ready to be downloaded, the button will turn green click the button to download.

If there are any errors, these will be shown in the same way as when importing and the report will not be generated.

Once the report has been downloaded, it will be removed.

Viewing errors

If there are any errors when validating the file during importing or generating the what if report, the import will show the Error status as above.

Click the Error status to view the error messages

Error messages may be reviewed on the page or exported to CSV.

Date Formats

Formats can be set on date columns to import different date formats. Select an example from the list or enter a format using the rules below. These are case sensitive.

  1. d - The day of the month, from 1 to 31
  2. dd - the day of the month from 01 to 31
  3. M - the month from 1 to 12
  4. MM - the month from 01 to 12
  5. MMM - the abbreviated name of the month (Jan, Feb...)
  6. MMMM - the full name of the month
  7. yy - the year from 00 to 99
  8. yyyy - the year as four digits
  9. yyyyy - the year as five digits. E.G. 02021
  10. / - the date separator
  11. Any string not in the following list may be used as a date separator
    1.  d,dd,ddd,dddd,f,ff,fff,ffff,fffff,ffffff,fffffff,F,FF,FFF,FFFF,FFFFF,FFFFFF,FFFFFFF,g,gg,h,hh,H,HH,K,m,mm,M,MM,MMM,MMMM,s,ss,t,tt,y,yy,yyy,yyyy,yyyyy,z,zz,zzz,:,/,%

Invisible Fields

Invisible fields allow fields to be set on the format that are not present in the import file. 

Using the image above as an example, the import CSV file will not contain a Workgroup column. When the file is imported, a Workgroup column will be added, all rows will be set to the Invisible Value (PAY001)

Find and Replace

Find and Replace allows us to substitute specified values found in the given column with something else. In the example above, the - sign will be blanked out upon importing the contents of the Address 5 column.

If you'd like the value specified in the Find field to be matched and substituted even if it's part of a longer word, it's necessary to untick the Match Entire Find Value checkbox.

For example, when importing files that contain monetary values, it's possible to blank out the £ sign preceding an amount by inserting it into the Find field, leaving the Replace field empty, and unticking the Match Entire Find Value checkbox.


Defined Columns

Employee Adjustment, Employee Pay and Employee Pay Element Rate pages only.

Defined columns allow us to have one column for a defined pay element instead of needing to have a pay element column. They also allow us to have multiple payments, adjustments and employee pay element rates per row.

To create two defined Employee Pay columns:

  1. Select the Employee Pay Page
  2. Drag on a Pay Element field (or double click to add to the end of the list)
  3. Select the Employee Pay Page again
  4. Drag on a Pay Element field (or double click to add to the end of the list) again
  5. Click the Save button
  6. Edit the first Pay Element field
  7. Select the Basic (or any other) pay element in Field Value 
  8. Set the Display Name to Basic Period Pay
  9. Select Period Pay as the Imported Value Field
  10. Click the Save button
  11. Edit the second Pay Element field
  12. Select the Bonus (or any other) pay element in Field Value 
  13. Set the Display Name to Annual Bonus
  14. Select Annual Pay as the Imported Value Field
  15. Click the Save button

The added columns show at the end of the image above. The period and annual values go into Employee Pay - Pay Element defined columns.

You'll notice there are no dates for the payments, these will be defaulted if not provided, see Custom Import#Default Dates 

To add dates for each column:

  1. Select the Employee Pay page
  2. Drag on a Date of Change field
  3. Select the Employee Pay page again
  4. Drag on another Date of Change field
  5. Click the Save button
  6. Edit the first Date of Change field
  7. Set the Field Value to Basic. This will link it to the Basic Pay Element field we created earlier
  8. Set the Display Name to Basic Period Pay Start Date
  9. Set the Imported Value Field to Date of Change
  10. Click the Save button
  11. Edit the second Date of Change field
  12. Set the Field Value to Bonus. This will link it to the Bonus Pay Element field we created earlier
  13. Set the Display Name to Bonus Annual Pay Start Date
  14. Set the Imported Value Field to Date of Change
  15. Click the Save button

This can also be set for the End of Payment and Rate fields.

Default Dates

Dates will be defaulted if not provided for the following pages:

  1. Employee Job
  2. Employee Location
  3. Employee NI
  4. Employee Pay
  5. Employee Pension
  6. Employee Tax

For all pages apart from Employee Pay and Employee Pension, the date will be the date of joining if the employee is a starter, otherwise it'll be the current periods start date

For Employee Pay and Employee Pension, it'll always be the current period start date.

Reference Only

The Reference Only page has one field, Reference Only, this can be used when import formats contain columns that won't be imported into InPay.

Import Amount as Units for Rated Pay Elements

Employee Adjustment - Amount only.

To import amount or units based on the pay element, check the Import As Units for Rated Pay Elements check box. If the pay element being imported has a rate type, the value in the amount column will be imported as units. 

If a rate is not provided, the employee will need to have a rate in Employee Job or Pay Element Rates.

FAQ

Employee not found when creating a starter

If an employee starter fails validation, subsequent pages will also fail validation due to the employee not yet existing. Fix the errors with the employee page first and attempt a What If report or Import again.

The import failed, I've fixed the issues with the file but when I click the green import button again it fails with the same error

Import the CSV file again using Select File and Import. Click the green import button on the new import.

Strange error messages

There may be an issue with the format. Click the Download Detail button to download a CSV showing all field settings. This is usually a Defined Column not having a Field Value or Imported Value Field set correctly.

Cannot Update Left Employees

To prevent accidental updating of employees who have left, the following error will show "Left employees cannot be updated through the importer.". To allow left employees to be updated, Reinstate Employees for Payments After Leaving may be checked on Company – General.