General Information

To perform any inventory import from external sources, the file containing the inventory to be imported must be normalized according to these specifications:

• The file must be in .csv format.
• A header row containing the names of the columns MUST be included.
• All column headers specified below must exist, but the order doesn't matter.
• Columns with no data should be left blank.
• Each row must contain data for one item.
• Items can be added, but not updated or deleted.

Simply export the data from the external source, then copy and paste the data into the appropriate columns of the attached template. Alternatively, you can change the column headers in your existing CSV file to match those specified below.

Column Information

Each of the columns in the template is explained in more detail here. The string format allows any combination of letters, numbers, and special characters. The int format must be a number. The money format must be a number with two decimal places. The date format expects a standard US/English date in the format mm/dd/yyyy. The “bool” format requires true/false values.

Additional Notes

Resolving Invalid Data

Simple validation of the data will occur prior to the import. However, this step only ensures the data meets the requirements as laid out in this document. Misspelled vendor names, incorrect barcode formats, or even data accidentally placed in the wrong column will not be corrected, but will be imported as-is. If errors occur validating the data, they will be supplied to you in writing and must be corrected before the import can be completed. CenterEdge cannot take responsibility for normalizing your data.

Vendors

This import will optionally create/assign a vendor to an imported item. A case-insensitive match will be attempted against existing Vendors, so correct spelling is important! If the name already exists, the item will be assigned to that vendor. Otherwise, the Vendor will be created with the first Vendor Class and Credit Terms setting available.

Taxable Status

This option allows you to designate how the item will be taxed, but not how much. For “Yes”, the item is taxed normally, with the tax amount added to the price. For “No”, the item is not taxed. For “Included”, the item is taxed such that the total amount (including taxes) is equal to the Price column. Actual tax amounts are configured by the Category/Sub-Category assignment, and not a part of this import.

Retail versus Non-Retail

This option allows you to designate items for import that are not directly sold. For restaurant/bar scenarios, as an example, you would typically set all of your menu items as Retail but set the ingredients that make up those items as Non-Retail. Similarly, items at a redemption counter are often non-retail. Due to the complexity of setup, other item types are not available during the import. You may include those items, but they must be converted to the appropriate item type and further configured after the import.

Item Barcodes

If an item comes with a barcode that you’d like to scan to ring up the item in the POS or Redemption, you can enter the barcode number in the Barcode column. Barcodes must be unique--they cannot be shared between multiple items. More information about our support for inventory barcodes can be found…

Category and Sub-Category

While assigning a Category and Sub-Category is a requirement, they are not included here for several reasons. Primarily, their association to Tax amounts and usage in many other parts of the software makes them a critical component that deserves extra attention within the software itself. Therefore, imported items will be assigned the default Category and Sub-Categories (more precisely, the first in the list). You will need to address these for every item before selling them.