Importing data for templates and knowledge articles in bulk from Excel sheets

As an administrator, you can import data for templates and knowledge articles in bulk to BMC Helix Business Workflows from Excel sheets. The Data Management Console application enables you to import Excel sheets. You can import data for case templates, task templates, notification templates, email templates, and knowledge articles. Data Management Console provides predefined sheets that you can use to import data. The predefined sheets provide the format required to import data and examples. 

The following figure shows the process of importing data from Excel sheets to BMC Helix Business Workflows:

Predefined Excel sheets for importing data

You can use the following spreadsheets in Data Management Console to import data to BMC Helix Business Workflows:

• Case_Templates.xlsx
  You can use this sheet to import case templates that do not consist of tasks.
• Task_Templates.xlsx
  You can use this sheet to import task templates for manual tasks.
• Email_Templates.xlsx
• Notification_Templates.xlsx

• Knowledge_Articles.xlsx
  This sheet provides information to create Knowledge Centered Support (KCS) articles. You can use this sheet for importing data for KCS articles.
  

  If you want to import data for reference, how to, or HR FAQ knowledge articles, you must update the sheet with corresponding Rich Text Format (RTF) fields. The following table provides the RTF fields and RTF field IDs for the knowledge article templates:

  Template name	RTF field	RTF field ID
  Knowledge Centered Support	Problem	302311201
  	Environment	302311202
  	Resolution	302311203
  	Cause	302311204
  Reference	Reference	302311201
  How to	Question	302311201
  	Answer	302311202
  	Technical notes	302311203
  HR FAQ	Question	302311201
  	Answer	302311202

In a predefined sheet, the first and second columns provide information about action for importing the data and the status of the data load operation. The first, second, and third rows provide information about record definition to which the data is associated and instructions for entering the data. The fourth row provides the example values of data. You must enter the data to import from the fifth row onward. Make sure that you fill in all mandatory fields. You can skip the optional fields that are denoted in the sheet.

To import data

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
2. Select Workspace >Data Management Console.

3. To launch Data Management Console, on the top-right corner of the page, click Visit Deployed Application.

4. In the Data Management Console application, click Templates.
5. On the Templates tab, in the Download Template section, download any of the following out-of-the-box sheets based on the data that you want to import: 
   • Case_Templates.xlsx
     
   • Task_Templates.xlsx
   • Email_Templates.xlsx
   • Notification_Templates.xlsx
   • Knowledge_Articles.xlsx
   For example, if you want to import data for case templates, you must download the Case_Template.xlsx sheet.
6. Update the sheet with the data that you want to import.
7. In the Data Management Console application, navigate to the Import tab, and click New Import.

8. On the Update Data file pane, fill the fields as described in the following table, and click Quick Data Import.

   Field	Description
   Attachment Name	Enter the sheet name that you want to import such as Case_Template.
   File Description	Enter the description about the sheet that you want to import.
   Attachment Type	Select the attachment type as xlsx Attachment. If you want to upload attachments along with a sheet, you select the attachment type as Zip Attachment. The ZIP folder must consist of the sheet from which you want to import data and the attachments.
   Attachment in	Click Choose file and upload the sheet from which you want to import data.

9. To import the file to BMC Helix Business Workflows, select the file and click Data Load.

The Status column on the Import tab, displays the status of the imported data. You can view the status by clicking the  icon from the Status Message column.

After the data import process is complete, the status of the data import is displayed for each sheet on the Status column. The status can be either of the following:

• Processed—Data is imported successfully.
• Errored—Data is not imported due to errors in the sheet.
• Processed with Errors—Data is imported with some errors.
• Skipped—Data for already exiting or duplicate entries is skipped.


To download the imported data, from the Data Load Result column, click the icon.

Example: Importing data for case templates

Allen is an administrator in Calbro Services. He wants to import data for case templates from their legacy system so that he can create case templates in BMC Helix Business Workflows. Allen wants to import data for the Apply PTO case template by using an Excel sheet. He uses the Data Management Console to import data.

To import data from the Excel sheet, Allen performs the following steps:

1. Downloads the predefined Excel sheet Case_Templates.xlsx that is available for importing case template data in the Data Management Console.
   The following figure shows the elements in the Case_Templates.xlsx sheet:
   
   

   The elements in the Case_Templates.xlsx sheet are described in the following table: 

   Element	Description
   First row	Indicates the name of the record definition to which the data is associated. This information is prepopulated and BMC Helix Business Workflows creates the data for the record that is specified in this row. You must not edit this field.
   Second and third rows	Indicates the instructions for entering the data. The data from these rows is not imported to BMC Helix Business Workflows. You must not add any data in this row.
   Fourth row	Indicates the example values of data. The mandatory columns are highlighted in green. The data from this row is not processed or loaded to BMC Helix Business Workflows.
   Fifth row onwards	Indicates the data that must be imported to BMC Helix Business Workflows. You must enter the relevant data from the 5th row onwards.

2. Updates the sheet with the required data and renames it to Case_Template_for_Apply_PTO.

    Click to view the sheet details

   Case_Template_for_Apply_PTO.xlsx

3. Uploads the sheet to Data Management Console and imports the sheet to BMC Helix Business Workflows.

    Click to view the option to import data

   

4. Verifies that the Apply PTO case template is created in BMC Helix Business Workflows with data specified in the sheet.

    Click to view the case template details

   

   
   

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