Frequently Asked Questions - Import/Export

Maximum Debtor File Number

Q - "You have reached the maximum debtor file number limit." What does this mean?

A - - The import module prohibits you from entering an invalid
debtor file number. You may have a very large number due to a typographical error in one of your accounts. There is a file number digit length ceiling of 9 digits maximum.

If you are just starting to import, you may notice that the Starting File Number has gone to 10 digits. If you are in the middle of an import, the sequential file numbers may have crossed the threshold into 10 digits. Any file number which reaches 10 digits will be deemed invalid by the system.

The Application Log will show you debtor name, account, and file number as to aid in troubleshooting.

You will need to visit your accounts and decide how you want to proceed to renumber them. Contact Technical Services for assistance if you can find no error which allows you to redo your process using file numbers below the max allowed 9 digits.

Empty Field Data During Import

Q - During an import, is there any way to delete data that is already in a field?

A - Yes. To do this, you would go to the import map via the menu path "File\ Import/Export\Customized Import/Export\ Edit File Format" and select your import map to be edited. Open the map and click into the Record type which contains the field you want to modify.

Enter into the Record Type that contains the field you want to blank out. Insert a new field at the between your last field that reads the target data file and before your switch settings and other prefill fields. You blank out a field by putting a symbol @ in the Default Value of the field you want to clear. Noting in the Note field or Fill Value field in the Import Specification window.

Overwriting When A Match Is Found

Q - Why does my import overwrite data when it finds a match?

A - If you have the 'Use as key' turned On for a field, this switch will cause overwriting if a match is found.

Importing Debtor Names

Q - What does Collect! do with Debtor Names when they are imported?

A - Debtor Names can be stored in data files in three ways:

1. Last Name, First Name Middle Name(s) in the same column
   .

   When building this import map, this data style is easy and no more than a straight mapping of the name column to the Name field in a Debtor type record. The Contact Name will automatically set itself in the expected sentence English reverse order.



2. First Name Middle Name(s)/Initial Last Name in the same column
   

   When building this import map, this data style is just as easy as in (a) above. The name in the data file is mapped to the Contact Name field and the system will automatically fill the Name field and automatically format it as Last Name, First Name Middle Name(s)/Initial.



3. Each piece of the name - First - Middle - Last - all stored in separate columns.
   

   When building this map, constructing the Name becomes more challenging but is still readily done without great difficulty. When you have the building blocks in place, you will have three separate Name import records in your Debtor portion of the import. Each piece brings in a portion of the name. The order of operations is important.
   

   The FIRST PART of the Name construction is to load the column with the Last Name. No special Options or check boxes are set for the Last Name.
   

   The SECOND PART of the Name construction is to load the column with the First Name. This time you need to use some of the special Options in the Import Field Specification window to correctly format your name in this construction process. Check the following switches On:
   

   - Preserve existing data
   
   - Append to existing data
   
   - Prepend comma
   
   - Add space before appending
   
   

   As Collect! brings in the data, we have now built "Last Name, First Name" to be written to the Name field on the main debtor screen.



4. More typical for middle names is the credit grantor has them as part of of the First Name column. If this is true, you are done: only two Name records to build a complete debtor name in Collect! from a split name in a data file. If your client houses the middle name and/or initial in a third column, then there is one more Name record to be created. It must appear immediately below the record that loaded the First Name. In the Import Field Specifications window, check the following options:
   

   - Preserve existing data
   
   - Append to existing data
   
   - Add space before appending
   
   

   Note that the prepended comma is NOT checked if you are building in a middle name/initial. That is only used when you need the comma to follow the Last Name you imported first, to start the Name construction process. Since there is no option to add a comma to the end of a Name field, it will ALWAYS be part of the loading of the first name to "prepend a comma" plus the three switches above.

WARNING: You will NEVER want a second comma after the First Name has loaded, placing it before the middle name/initial. This will impair the debtor name lookups and automatic function of the Contact Name.

If your data file has the Generation column, i.e. John David Smith III, where III is in a separate column, you have 2 choices. Store this in the field that Collect! has for exactly this information, OR, build it into the Name with the same criteria you used to build in the middle name.

Unless you have the Generation field in Collect! outputting on your letters (@de.ge<), that field will not be expressed with the debtor name on letters that are received with shipping default formats. You can add the field where you wish, as needed.