New features added, version 7.5.2, 7.5.3, 8.1
Program VUTM, Vendor Upload, is used to import items and their pricing by vendor from a csv file. When the file is imported, the imported records can be modified in this program and then the appropriate item, item price, and vendor quote records can be created from the imported records for defined plants.
* Item planning updates through this program will only update one record. If the Upload File Tab has a plant entered, the item planning record on the Plant Tab in program ICPM, Inventory Planning Data Maintenance, will be updated. If there is no record for the plant, the item planning record on the Default ME Tab in program ICPM, Inventory Planning Data Maintenance, for the logged in enterprise will be updated.
There are five tabs in this program and some setup must be completed before the csv files can be imported.
* See the Vendor Upload Parameter Setup section for information on setting up the default start in directory for vendor upload files in program MURM, Initialization Parameter Maintenance.
The tab allows the user to set up the Column Name pop-list for the Maintain Template Tab. All columns included in the vendor upload table are included here and cannot be deleted. However, the displayed description can be changed, and the description is displayed in the Column Name pop-list.
Use the Sort By pop-list to determine the order in which the columns are displayed. Choices are Column Name and Description.
1. In the Column Name field, the column names for vendor upload table are displayed. You cannot delete or change column names.
* You can enter non-existing column names if information to be imported is filler information that does not need to be stored in the database.
* The column name must match the database name of a column in the vendor upload table if the vendor data is to be used to update program ICMM, Inventory Master Maintenance, program ICSM, Inventory Sales Data Maintenance, or program VEQM, Vendor Quote Maintenance.
* You can enter the same column name multiple times as long as the description is different. You might want to do this to satisfy differences in terminology among the vendors.
2. In the Description field, a user-friendly description is displayed for each column. You can change the description to match any user-defined descriptions for the vendor upload columns.
* You can enter the same column name multiple times as long as the description is different. You might want to do this to satisfy differences in terminology among the vendors.
3. Set the Case pop-list to the desired setting. The setting of this pop-list determines the case for the values being imported. Values will be forced to the case selected here.
4. Set the Include in Dropdown List flag to the desired setting.
* When this flag is set to on, the description will be displayed in the Column Name pop-list on the Maintain Template Tab.
* When this flag is set to off, the description will not be displayed in the Column Name pop-list.
5 When all desired changes have been made, press [Commit].
The tab is used to define an import template for a specific vendor's csv files. You must set up a template for a vendor before the csv files can be imported.
The [Help] 
buttons on this tab will display hint help to assist you in entering templates.
1. In the Template ID field, the template's ID will be generated when the template is saved.
2. In the Vendor No field, enter the vendor number for the existing vendor for which you are creating an import template. The vendor's name will be displayed below.
3. Set the Update Preferred Vendor flag to the desired setting. When this flag is set to on, the preferred vendor in program ICPM, Inventory Planning Data Maintenance, will be updated to match the vendor in the vendor upload file.
4. Set the Active flag to the desired setting. When this flag is set to on, the template can be used to import vendor csv files.
5. Set the Delimited Format field to the desired setting. When this flag is set to on, it indicates that the file to be imported is comma-delimited. When this flag is set to off, it indicates that the file to be imported is a fixed position file.
6. Set the Auto Create/Update Item flag to the desired setting. When this flag is set to on, items that do not exist in the database will be created when they are imported and items that do exist in the database will be updated. When this flag is set to off, items will not be created or updated automatically. Items are automatically created from the following settings:
* An item record in program ICMM, Inventory Master Maintenance, with the item number TEMPLATE_vendor where vendor is the vendor number on the import template.
* An item record in program ICMM, Inventory Master Maintenance, with the item number TEMPLATE.
* System defaults for item creation.
7. In the Item Prefix field, if you wish to add a prefix to the newly created items, enter the desired prefix here.
8. Set the Auto Create/Update Pricing flag to the desired setting. When this flag is set to on, pricing records will be created and updated for the imported items in program ICSM, Inventory Sales Data Maintenance, for the plant specified during import.
9. The Created By field defaults to the employee number for the logged in user.
10. The Date Created field displays the date on which the template was created.
11. The Last Upload field displays the date on which an upload was last performed for this template.
12. In the Date Mask field, enter the default date mask for the dates in the csv file. The default is MM/DD/YYYY.
13. Press [Commit] when the header information has been entered.
14. In the lower part of this tab, the definition for the csv file for this vendor is defined. Each column to be imported from the vendor's csv file should have its existence and location mapped out in the lower block.
15. In the Seq No field, the sequence number indicates the physical order in which these columns appear in the csv file.
* You can leave this field blank as you are entering the columns, and the sequence number will be calculated automatically.
* The sequence numbers default to increments of 10 to facilitate inserting a column between already mapped columns, but you can change them.
* Press the [Re-Sequence] button to re-sequence the numbers in these fields in increments of 10.
16. In the Column Name pop-list, for each sequence number, select the column into which data will be imported from the vendor's csv file.
* These column descriptions are defined on the Column Definitions Tab and are associated with columns in the vendor upload table, into which the files will be imported.
17. In the Length field, if you are importing a fixed position csv file, you must define the length of the column in the csv file. Otherwise, this field does not need to be entered.
* When the Delimited Format flag is set to off, it indicates that the file being imported will be fixed position.
* This prevents the data from overlapping or being skipped when the file is imported.
* If you know the lengths of the columns in the file, but not the positions, you can enter the lengths here and press the [Calc Positions] button, allowing the program to determine the positions.
* If you know the positions of the columns in the file, but not the lengths, you can enter the positions in the Position field and press the [Calc Lengths] button, allowing the program to determine the lengths.
18. In the Position field, enter the position of the column in the file. The definition of this number is dependent on whether you are importing fixed position or comma delimited files.
* For fixed position files, this is the starting column of the field referenced by the Column Name pop-list. The position refers to the total length of the record. For example, column A starts at position 45 of an 80 character record.
* For comma delimited files, this is the relative position of the field in reference to the total number of comma separated fields in the file. If there were 10 fields in the record, the first field would be in position 1 and the last would be in position 10. Delimited files should have their positions incremented by 1.
* The same field in the vendor file can be imported into multiple columns in the vendor upload table. For example, the vendor might send a price that is both the list price in program ICSM, Inventory Sales Data Maintenance, and the base price for the vendor quote in program VEQM, Vendor Quote Maintenance.
If this is the case, you can define both columns in the template using the same data length and position for fixed position files, or the same position for comma delimited files. When the template is validated, you will receive a warning that you have done this, but you will be able to continue.
Do not press the [Calc Positions] button if you do this, or the information will be lost.
* If you know the lengths of the columns in the file, but not the positions, you can enter the lengths in the Length field and press the [Calc Positions] button, allowing the program to determine the positions.
* If you know the positions of the columns in the file, but not the lengths, you can enter the positions here and press the [Calc Lengths] button, allowing the program to determine the lengths.
19. In the Default Value field, you can enter a default value for the column that will be used when that column is null for an imported record.
* If you want all records to default to the value then point the column to an empty column in the csv worksheet.
* The field only allows entry of up to thirty characters.
* Dates entered in this field must be in the format DD-MON-YY. For example if you want the ICSM Effective Date to default to November 18th, 2005, you would entered 18-NOV-05 in the default value field for that column. No quotes are necessary.
20. Press [Commit] when all columns have been defined.
21. Press the [Validate] button to change the status in the header to Valid. The template must be valid before it can be used to import a vendor file.
22. To copy a template, press the [New Record] button. In the Template field in the middle block, enter the template of which you wish to make a copy. Press the [Copy Template] button.
This tab is used to import / upload the vendor file once the file template has been created.
1. The tab opens in query mode. In the Template field, enter the template for which you are importing a vendor file and press [Execute Query].
2. In the File Location pop-list, select Database if you are running NDS Applications in web mode. Select Client Server if you are running NDS Applications in client server mode.
* The setting of this pop-list determines whether the file will be uploaded from a directory on the web server or from a directory accessible from the local computer.
3. In the Directory Name field, if the File Location pop-list is set to Database, enter the Oracle named directory from which you are importing the file.
* A list of values is provided. If the list of values is blank, contact your database administrator as some set up is required. See the Set up for Delimited Files in Web NDS section for more information about Oracle named directories.
* If no Directory Name is provided when the File Location is set to Database, the default directory is determined by the VUTM_UTL_DIR parameter in program MURM, Initialization Parameter Maintenance.
* If the File Location pop-list is set to Client Server, leave this field blank.
4. In the File Name field, the entry depends on whether you are importing from the Client Machine or the Database Server. Any data file type can be imported.
* If the File Location pop-list is set to Client Machine, enter the directory and file name into the field.
You can type the desired directory and file name into the field, such as C:\ndslocalfiles\import.csv
The directory from which you are importing the file cannot have spaces in the directory name.
You can use the [...] to find the data file on your computer or network. Press the button, find the desired file, and press [Open]. The program will enter the directory and file in the field.
The default start in directory for the vendor file upload for Client Server is defined in program MURM, Initialization Parameter Maintenance. See the Vendor Upload Parameter Setup section for more information.
* If the File Location pop-list is set to Database, enter only the file name and its extension into the field. The Directory Name field is used to determine from which Oracle named directory the file will be imported.
5. In the Plant field, enter the plant for which you are importing the vendor file.
6. Set the Import Single Record for Viewing flag to the desired setting.
* When this flag is set to on, the first time the [Import] button is pressed for a template and file, a single record from the file will be imported so that you can verify that the template mapping is correct. When the [Import] button is pressed a second time, the remaining records will be imported as long as the template mapping has not been changed. If the template mapping has been changed, then only one record will be imported the second time, until the mapping does not change.
See the Upload Results Tab and Upload Zoom Tab to verify the mapping. The first record will be imported with the Process pop-list set to Error, even if the record does not have an error.
* When this flag is set to off, all records will be imported when the [Import] button is pressed.
7. In the Commit Interval field, enter the Commit Interval for imports. This is the number of records that will be imported between commits.
* The default is 1000 records. This is the recommended number for optimum performance during imports. Reducing this number will adversely affect performance, and increasing the number may require more rollback space than you have available.
8. Press the [Import] button to begin importing the vendor file.
9. Set the Clear Table Before Loading flag to the desired setting.
* If this flag is set to on, then all records in the vendor upload table will be deleted before the new records are loaded from the vendor file.
* If this flag is set to off, then the records in the vendor file will be added to the existing records in the table.
10. Set the Retain Custom Entries to the desired setting, for target tables that contain a CUSTOM_FLG column.
* If this flag is set to on, records with the custom flag set to on will not be deleted from the vendor upload table when the vendor file is imported.
* If this flag is set to off, records with the custom flag set to on will be deleted from the vendor upload table when the vendor file is imported.
11. Set the Skip # Remarks flag to the desired setting.
* If this flag is set to on, and there are records in the vendor file that begin with a #, they will not be imported.
* If this flag is set to off, and there are records in the vendor file that begin with a #, they will be imported.
12. Set the Ignore Duplicate Records flag to the desired setting. When this flag is set to on, no update will be attempted if a duplicate key is detected.
13. Press the [Import] button.
14. You can re-import the file for a new plant by changing the plant in the Plant field and pressing the [Reprocess with New Plant] button.
This tab is used to view a list of the records uploaded from the vendor file.
1. The tab will initially only display records with errors. You can change the Show pop-list in the header to display other records from the file. Choices are:
* Errors Only: display only records that have errors.
* Unprocessed Only: display only records that have not yet been processed.
* Processed Only: display only records that have been processed.
* All: display all records in the vendor upload table for this template.
2. Press the [Delete Upload] button to delete the records from the vendor upload table.
3. Press the [Re-Process Records] button to reprocess the unprocessed records and records with errors displayed on this tab.
4. Press the [Zoom] button to view more detail about an uploaded record. The [Zoom] button takes you to the Upload Zoom Tab for the selected record.
* To select a record, put your cursor in one of the fields for the desired record.
5. You can maintain the fields on this tab.
* To make a change, modify the item number or description.
* Set the Process pop-list to Error and press [Commit].
* Press the [Re-Process Records] button to reprocess the record to which you made changes.
This tab is used to view a specific record uploaded from the vendor file. All information on this tab can be maintained.
1. The tab will display the record for that was selected last on the Upload Results Tab.
* You can query other records on this tab manually, if desired.
2. Item master information that will be entered in program ICMM, Inventory Master Maintenance, can be maintained.
* Entries in the item comment section will be available from the [Comments] 
button in any of the item maintenance screens.
3. Item Manufacturer information that will be entered in program ICMX, Mfgr Item / NDS Item Cross Reference.
4. Vendor quote information that will be entered in program VEQM, Vendor Quote Maintenance, for the vendor and item can be maintained.
5. Item pricing information that will be entered in program ICSM, Inventory Sales Data Maintenance, can be maintained.
6. If changes have been made, return to the Upload Results Tab for the record.
* Set the Process pop-list to Error and press [Commit].
* Press the [Re-Process Records] button to reprocess the record to which you made changes.
This tab is used to view a specific record uploaded from the vendor file. All information on this tab can be maintained. Multiple records can exist for the same minimum quantity, as long as they have different effective dates
1. The tab will display the record for that was selected last on the Upload Results Tab.
2. The quantity breaks for this vendor and item are displayed here. Changes can be made to existing records.
3. If changes have been made, return to the Upload Results Tab for the record.
* Set the Process pop-list to Error and press [Commit].
* Press the [Re-Process Records] button to reprocess the record to which you made changes.
Allows the maintenance of parameters controlling the functionality of this program. These parameters are normally set up in program MURM, Initialization Parameter Maintenance, but can be maintained here, if desired. Documentation for the parameters is located in the Vendor Upload Parameter Setup section. New records cannot be entered here.
1. In the MURM field, the parameter name is displayed.
2. In the Value field, enter the desired value for the parameter.
3. In the Usage field, a description of the functionality that the parameter controls is displayed.
4. When the desired values have been entered, press [Commit].
Press this button to calculate the lengths of the columns according to positions entered for fixed position files.
Press this button to calculate the positions of the columns according to lengths entered for fixed position files, and according to the sequence numbers for comma delimited files.
Press this button to create a new template by copying the template entered in the Template field.
Press this button to delete the uploaded records.
Press this button to import the vendor file using the defined template.
Press this button to reprocess the unprocessed records and records with errors displayed below.
Press this button to re-import the vendor file for the new plant code entered in the Plant field.
Press this button to re-sequence the numbers in the Seq No field using increments of 10.
Press this button to validate the template. The template status must be Valid before the template can be used to import vendor files.
Press this button to open the selected record on the Upload Zoom Tab.