In Aico, you can export master data as an Excel spreadsheet. You can then quickly and easily edit the data before importing it back into Aico. This article will show you how.

From the Automation manager main menu, select:

1. Manage

2. Task Templates

3. Export/Import

1. Set the chosen filters to narrow down the tasks you want to export. If the filters are empty, you will get every task.

2. Start typing in the box adjacent to the template's filters and choose the option from the drop-down.

3. Select Only Active Tasks to limit the exported data only to companies where the tasks are active.

4. Add in any Export parameter categories you want, in order to limit the area of master data. For example, if you only want to update preparer names then you only need to export that area of the master data.

5. Select Validate to check if there are any errors in the export Excel. Any errors will be highlighted in the Excel spreadsheet.

6. Press Export.

The completed template will look something like this:

The downloaded Excel file can then be edited before re-importing back into Automation manager. 

1. For example, you can make tasks active or inactive by adding or removing the x.

2. It's important to note that certain values appear as numeric whereas the user would be more familiar with their descriptions. For example, Priority appears as 1 and 2 which represent High and Medium, respectively. The export requires the numeric values to be set. 

Once the spreadsheet is ready, you can add new tasks using an upload file.

Uploading brand new tasks via the import function

The easiest way to achieve this is to copy the complete lines of an existing task by selecting the row numbers. . In the image above, lines 35-42 are one single task template, together with the company settings. Paste these rows to the bottom of the spreadsheet. 

Next, change the Code manually and make sure it is unique, for example, SAPCLOSING2012. Update the name, description and other parameters and then Save the spreadsheet.  

Warning: If you have only exported part of the master data then it is not necessarily the next number in the sequence. If you use an existing code, you will overwrite an existing task. 
 

1. Browse to the updated file and import to update the tasks

Validation Errors 

Validation works best on Export as the data is better presented within the Excel spreadsheet. It is recommended to always import without validation set, and then re-export with validation on.

Setting Validate forces Automation Manager to validate and highlight any data in the export.

1. The named individual highlighted in red does not have the right preparer role assigned in the upload.

2. In the example below, the definitions in the value set have been changed, so uploading a spreadsheet with the old definition causes a validation error. If you hover over the highlighted area, you will get information on the error.

Notes:

• You cannot mass import attachments for copy or import. These must be uploaded directly into the task.
• It is very difficult to maintain program parameters through the export/import. The live connection to the ERP is almost essential in order to get the set-up of multiple complex parameters correct.