Move Your Data from Another Estimating System
You can bring your item database and your assemblies from another estimating system. Export them from that system as Excel or CSV files, then import them with two ready-made data pipelines:
| Pipeline | What it imports | One row per |
|---|---|---|
| Import items and labor from another estimating system | Items, prices and labor units | Item |
| Import assemblies from another estimating system | Assemblies and their components | Component of an assembly |
| Menu | Tools > Recipes to add the pipelines; Tools > Data Pipelines to run them |
| Permission | Manage recipes; Manage data pipelines; Manage catalog items, Manage prices and price files, Manage labor units and Manage assemblies |
| Feature | Estimator Catalog, Data Pipelines and Media |
What you see depends on your role. If the menu, a button or a setting on this page is missing, ask your administrator to give you the permission listed above or to turn on the feature. Only administrators can turn features on and change site settings.
Add the pipelines
- Go to Tools > Recipes.
- Find Estimator migration templates and click Run, then Yes.
The recipe adds the two pipelines as drafts, and two small sample files to the media library, in the estimator-migration folder: items.csv and assemblies.csv. Open the sample files to see the layout of each export.
Prepare the exports
Items. Use one row per item, with the column names in the first row. The same column names as for a price file are matched for you, such as Item number, Description, UOM, Price, Per and Labor hours. See Price updates.
Assemblies. Use one row per component. Each row names the assembly it belongs to; the rows of one assembly code make one assembly, in the order of the rows. Common column names are matched for you:
| Assembly field | Column names that match it |
|---|---|
| Assembly code (required) | Assembly, Assembly number, Parent, Parent item, Kit |
| Assembly name | Assembly name, Assembly description, Kit description |
| Unit | Unit, Assembly unit, UOM |
| Component kind | Component type, Item type, Type. A value of Assembly, Sub or Kit makes the component an assembly; any other value makes it an item |
| Component code (required) | Component, Child, Item, Item number, Part number |
| Quantity per unit | Quantity, Qty, Qty per |
| Quantity formula | Formula, instead of a quantity |
| Waste (%) | Waste |
| Own labor, normal, difficult and very difficult | Labor hours, Difficult, Very difficult. A row with labor gives the assembly its own labor, in place of the labor of its components |
| Labor basis | Labor per: E, C or M |
A row with an assembly code but no component sets the name, the unit or the labor of the assembly only.
Import
- Upload your exports to the media library, or replace the sample files. The site must allow CSV files in the media library; ask your administrator if the upload is refused.
- Go to Tools > Data Pipelines and click Edit on the items pipeline.
- Click the Read the item export step and choose your file.
- Click the Save the catalog items step and check the field of each catalog field. Automatic shows the column it matched. Pick another column, or Leave out.
- Look at the Issues tab, then click Publish and Run.
- Do the same with the assemblies pipeline. Run it after the items, so the components are in the catalog.
The Run History shows what each run did: the items and assemblies added, changed or refused, with the reason for the first refused rows.
What the assembly import does
- An assembly with a row that cannot be read, such as a quantity of one, is refused as a whole. No assembly is saved with only part of its components.
- An assembly that is already in the catalog is replaced as a new version. To leave such assemblies as they are, clear Replace the assemblies that are in the catalog in the Save the assemblies step.
- The pipelines keep your field mapping. The next export of the same system imports the same way.