Importing ticket data

You can import ticket data from another system into a FootPrints workspace. Detailed instructions are provided in this topic for importing ticket data.

For more information about importing other data and scheduling the related tasks, see Importing.

Prerequisites

• Make sure that your data files include the following required fields: Short Description (Title), Description, and Status.
• Before importing ticket data that you want to relate to specific contacts, make sure that your contact data has been imported. For more information about importing contacts, see Importing contact data into address books.
• Date-time data must include a "T" between the date and the time as follows 2013-02-05T13:49:56.000.
• When importing Multi-Select fields, ensure that you use a semicolon at the start and end of the listed options. Also, the entire field value must be included between double quotes.
  For example, you want to import a Multi-Select field named Select Services that has Phone, Computer, and Printer as options. In this case, the format of the values must be ";Phone;Computer;Printer;".

• In FootPrints, you have two options to import Boolean fields:

  • Yes—the check box is selected
  • No—the check box is cleared

  However, to import Boolean fields using a CSV file, you must specify the values in the following format:

  • TRUE for Yes value of the field
  • FALSE for No value of the field.

To import ticket data

1. Click the Administration tab.
2. In the System Management section, then click Import.
   The Task Scheduler page appears, showing a list of scheduled tasks and their status. Tasks with a Status of “Completed” were performed successfully; tasks with a Status of “Completed with Errors” failed.
3. Click New Task and select Import Task > Tickets.
   The Import Tickets page appears, showing the Source Configuration pane.
4. In the left pane, click Source Configuration.
   The Source Configuration pane appears.
5. Complete the fields:
   1. In the File Location field, select the location.
      Options are Local Directory, Network Server, and Web.
   2. In the Data Encoding field, select the encoding method.
      Options are Server default and UTF-8.
   3. Identify the source file:
      • If you selected Local Directory in the File Location field, in the Upload Source File field, click Browse to select the location of the source file. Click Open. A progress message appears, followed by a confirmation message. Click OK.
      • If you selected Network Server in the File Location field, in the URI for Source File field, enter the URI and click Search Network to verify it. If there is no drive mapped to a location on another server, enter the UNC path as \\<Server Name>\<Location on Server of csv file>\<File name>.
      • If you selected Web in the File Location field, in the URL for Source File field, enter the URL and click Search Web to verify it.
6. In the left pane, click Data Destination.
   The Data Destination pane appears.
7. Complete the fields:
   1. In the Import into Workspace field, select the workspace where you want to import the tickets.
   2. In the Map To Workspace Item field, select the item definition that matches the data being uploaded.
   3. (Optional) To search existing contacts for matches and link the imported tickets to them:
      1. Select Link imported tickets to matching entries in Address Book.
      2. In the Address Book field, select from the address books associated with the selected workspace.
      3. In the Address Book Item field, select the appropriate Contact item.
   4. (Optional) In the Select Default Assignees section, select users one at a time or select them from teams in the Available Assignees list and move them to the Selected Assignees list.
8. In the left pane, click Map Fields.
   The Map Fields pane appears.
9. Complete the fields:
   1. (Optional) If this import task is being performed for another person, in the Ticket Submitter field, enter that user's ID.
      If you do not select a submitter and none is defined in the source data, the current user's ID will be used as the submitter for the imported records.
   2. (Optional) If the data file has a header row, select My data file has a header row.
   3. Do one of the following:
      • If you did not select to link the imported tickets to an address book, proceed to step d.

      • If you selected to link the imported tickets to an address book, the Link to Address Book section appears. Complete the fields:

        1. In the Map Data Source File field, select the source field that you want to map.
        2. In the To field in Address Book field, select the target field in the Address Book.
   4. In the Map Import File Fields section:
      
      1. (Optional) In the Field Mappings field, select from mappings defined previously.
         If you do not select a mapping, the mapping that you create in the next step is used. Use Selected is the default.
      2. In the Import File Fields column (at the far right), click the cells to select fields from the source file that match the fields listed in the first column of the table.
         

         The required fields are shown in red and are followed by an asterisk.

      3. (Optional) If you want to save this mapping for later use, click Use Selected and select Save New Mapping.
         For more information about saved mappings, see Working with mappings.
10. In the left pane, click Outcome Notification.
    The Outcome Notification pane appears.
11. Complete the following fields:
    
    1. (Optional) In the Users field, enter an agent's user name to send a notification to the agent's primary email address.
    2. (Optional) In the Email Addresses field, enter the email addresses of anyone who should be notified when this task runs.
       Separate multiple user names and email addresses with semicolons. A notification is sent about the import outcome and includes result, task name, date, and so on. The notification also includes the number of records that were rejected, created, updated, and unchanged.
12. In the left pane, click Schedule Task.
    The Schedule Task pane appears.

13. Complete the fields:

    1. In the Task Name field, enter a specific name for this task.

    2. (Optional) In the Notes field, enter any useful information about this task.

    3. (Optional) Select whether to run this task immediately or at a specific time and whether and when to run it again.
       If you do not select any scheduling options, the task will only run manually. For more information, see Scheduling tasks.
14. Click Schedule Task.
    Your selections are validated by the system. If no errors are found, the Task Scheduler page appears. Status will vary depending on whether the associated files are local or remote and when the task is scheduled to run. Next Run Time is the next or first time a task will be run. For more information, see Scheduling tasks.

Related topics

Viewing task logs

Configuring workspaces