Requal import (audit system)

Use the 'Requal Iimport' program to import controlled requalifications from a file into your database. dBASE, comma-delimited and tab-delimited files are supported.

If you need to also make changes to the customer's address then you should import the file twice: once with the 'Requal Import' then a second time with the 'Customer data import'. Note that the 'Customer data import' requires a customer number in the input file in order to identify the customer record that will be changed. If you don't have the customer number and must make address changes then the only solution is to use the optional 'Transaction import' which can accept two customer addresses in the input file: the first to identify the existing customer record and the second to provide the replacement address data.

Even if you do have customer numbers in your data file, please be aware that the 'Customer data import' program is not completely equivalent to the address change transaction. It does not record the changes in the subscription history and it does not cause a removal and addition to be reported when the name or title of the subscriber changes. Again, if you need those features than you should use the 'Transaction import' program.

Input file

Enter the name of the input file or click on "Browse" to locate and select it. If the file is already in the QuickFill database directory, enter the filename and extension (i.e., "myfile.dbf"). If the file is not in the database directory, enter the drive and directory that the file is in as well as the filename and extension (i.e., "c:\mydata\myfile.dbf"). dBASE files, comma-delimited and tab-delimited text files are acceptable. dBASE files must have a "dbf" file extension. Delimited text files can have any file extension except "dbf", however the usual convention is that comma-delimited files have a "csv" extension and tab-delimited files have a "txt" extension.

Reject file

Enter the name of the output file in which you would like the rejected records to be placed. If you wish to overwrite an existing reject file, you can click on "Browse" to locate and then select the file.

Begin at record

Enter the record number in the input file at which you would like to start importing records. The value in this field should normally be "1," as in most cases you will want to start importing transactions from the beginning of the file.

The remaining fields on the filter may be used to supply default values for fields (the publication, request type, classification, requal source, expire issue, service, or channel fields) that are blank or missing in the input file.

Requalification import file layout

For comma-delimited and text-delimited files the first row of the file must contain the names of the fields in the file. The names must conform to the list of names shown below but do not need to be in the order shown—fields can appear in the file in any order.

The following list includes all of the fields that may be in an input file.  Fields may be omitted, in which case they are treated as if they are blank. If a default value is available on the import filter it is used, otherwise the program attempts to supply a default based on the publication definitions.

In general, fields may be defined with any length, but if the contents of a field exceed the maximum length supported by QuickFill an error will be issued and the record will be rejected.

Each record in your input file should contain either an order number or a publication code and customer number or customer address. The address fields in the input file cannot be used to make changes to the customer's address. They are only used as a fall back to locate the order record when the order number and customer number are unavailable.

Qualification data fields

The qualification data fields apply to the qualification form. The field names should match your qualification form questions on the publication definition 'Audit' tab. For example, the response(s) for question 1 should be in a field named Q1, the response(s) for question 1A should be in a field named Q1A, etc. A question can have up to three alphanumeric characters.

The number of qualification data fields and their lengths will vary depending on the number of questions in your qualification form(s) and the number of responses allowed for each question. For questions that allow multiple responses, all responses should be put into the field that matches the question number and should be separated by commas. For example, lets say that the possible responses for question 1 are the numbers 1 through 10, you allow multiple responses, and one of your customers responded with 1, 3, 4, and 5. Your import file should have a field named Q1 that contains 1,3,4,5 for that customer.

The qualification data fields should be defined as character fields if the allowed responses are letters or numbers or as numeric fields if the allowed responses are numbers and the corresponding Code field on the publication definition 'Audit' tab in QuickFill contains "#". The response(s) to questions can have up to three alphanumeric characters for character fields and up to nine digits for numeric fields.

When importing requalifications that are for multiple publications with different qualification forms, the import file should contain a separate field for each question that is unique. For example, if the qualification form for publication A has questions 1, 2, an 3 and the qualification form for publication B has questions 1, 1A, and 1B, the import file should have qualification fields named 1, 1A, 1B, 2, and 3.

The number of qualification data fields that your import file can have is limited according to the maximum number of fields allowed for dBASE files. The field limit is 255 fields.

Click here for more information about Filter screens and Options for running the 'Requal import'.