Using Central Repository > Administration > Import Companies/Offices you can import company and office information, or apply mass updates to existing companies. The import uses a CSV file format, and you can choose which columns to include. You can import both companies and offices from the same file.

Header line

The first line in the CSV file (referred to as header) defines the company or office fields that are going to be imported or updated. The remaining lines contain the upload data, one company or office per line.

Each column in the CSV header should define a specific field from either the [ci_company] or [ci_office] table, for example, cim_name (company name), cim_typelist (company types list), cio_knownas (office name) or cio_MainAdd__1 (office address, 1st line). Columns could be set to just a field name (for example, cim_name) or a table + field name (for example ci_company.cim_name).

You can refer to the Database Enquiry (using the links provided in the page header of Import Companies/Offices) or COINSInfo mode (see Technical Help) on company/office pages for field names.

The non-updatable cim_intref (company internal reference) and cio_intref (office internal reference) columns are used to position records for the update, as follows:

To update a company, you must provide cim_intref.
To update an office, you must provide cim_intref and cio_intref. If cio_intref is not specified, the import will try to find an existing office in the relevant company using the office name (cio_knownas) if provided.
To add a new office to an existing company, you must provide cim_intref only.

If no cim_intref is specified for an office record, the import will try to add the office to the company that was created previously from the same file.

Examples

Importing companies

Each line contains a new company; head office record is created automatically.

y	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
1	cim_name	cim_legalname__1	cim_short	cim_typelist	cim_MainOffName	cim_MainOffType	cim_MainOffAdd__1	cim_MainOffPCode
2	First Import Limited	First Import Limited	1st Import Ltd	SUPPLIER	Head Office	HEAD	85 Greyfriars Road	HS4 2QF
3	Second Import Limited	Second Import Limited	2nd Import Ltd	SUBCON	Head Office	HEAD	86 Blackfriars Road	HS3 2QF
4

Importing companies and offices in a single file

Company 1: line 2 adds a company and a temporary head office, line 3 updates the head office record, lines 4-5 add branch offices.

Company 2: line 6 adds a company + head office, line 7 adds a branch office.

The table column is optional, the routine tries to work out the record type automatically depending on the fields set.

table

cim_name

cim_legalname__1

cim_short

cim_typelist

cim_MainOffName

cim_MainOffType

cim_MainOffAdd__1

cim_MainOffPCode

cot_code

cio_knownas

cio_MainAdd__1

cio_MainPCode

cio_placcno

cio_placcname

cio_poreq

ci_company

First Import Limited

1st Import Ltd

SUPPLIER

Head Office

HEAD

TMP

ci_office

HEAD

Head Office

85 Greyfriars Road

HS3 2QF

IMP001

First Import Limited

ci_office

BRANCH

Branch Office

86 Greyfriars Road

HS4 2QF

IMP002

First Import Limited

ci_office

BRANCH

Offshore Office

87 Greyfriars Road

HS5 2QF

IMP003

First Import Limited

Second Import Limited

2nd Import Ltd

SUBCON

Head Office

HEAD

86 Blackfriars Road

HS3 2QF

BRANCH

Branch Office

88 Blackfriars Road

HS6 2QF

IMP004

Second Import Limited

Updating companies or offices

Lines 2 and 4 update the company name (cim_intref is provided).

Lines 3 and 5 update the office name (cim_intref and cio_intref provided).

Line 6 tries to add a new office (only cim_intref provided).

y	A	B	C	D
1	cim_intref	cio_intref	cim_name	cio_knownas
2	10967		UK Import GmbH
3	10967	10859		Renamed Branch Office
4	10968		Second Import GmbH
5	10968	10862		Renamed Branch Office
6	10968			New Branch Office
7