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Function documentationFile Export and Import

 

You can export files for external validation and import the results. The contents of the file are determined automatically based the underlying structure CRMT_BUPA_DQA_COMPLEX_STRUC, and can consist of any of the fields contained within this structure. These are the central business partner fields, addresses, and communication data.

Prerequisites

You make the settings required for files in Customizing for Customer Relationship Management under Start of the navigation path Master Data Next navigation step Business Partner Next navigation step Data Quality Administration End of the navigation path:

  • Define File Formats

  • Define Steps and Assign KPIs

Features

File Location

Files are exported to the file location specified in the step details, and imported subsequently from this location. For external data quality administration tasks, the recipient of the file is the provider given in the step details.

The file name is constructed as follows:

<Prefix>_<Task ID>_<Job Count>[_<Package Number>].<Extension>

a) The file prefix, as entered at runtime on the UI, for example, DUNSExp21012.

b) The job count distinguishes files resulting from different job runs in the case of periodic jobs.

c) The package number is added if parallel processing is used.

d) The extension as specified in Customizing for the file format variant.

File Formats

A file can be exported with either a CSV or XML format:

CSV

This file contains the values in a table as a series of ASCII text lines organized so that each column value is separated by a comma (or a different delimiter, as specified in Customizing) from the next column's value and each row starts a new line:

  1. Column headings are built based on field names.

  2. The content of the complex structure is multiplied into the list.

  3. If a subordinate node, such as address, has 1:n relations, a row is generated for each subordinate entity.

    The header information is multiplied. For example, if business partner x has two addresses A and B:

    -> Line 1: X + A information

    -> Line 2: X + B information

  4. The structure is transformed into a string with separators as defined in Customizing. The relevant elements of the export file are derived from the node assignments and node fields in the step Customizing.

XML

The XML format used represents the elements of the complex structure in a canonical XML representation (asXML). The version is 1.0 .

A different representation can be achieved subsequently by using an additional XSLT transformation. This means, however, that you have to redefine the step implementation class.

For information about how to make enhancements or add other attributes, see SAP Note 1140790.

Peforming Imports and Exports

This process consists of two stages:

  • The selected validation group is exported in the defined format and structure to the specified location. To do this, you can use a normal SAP background job with the parameters provided. You can therefore maintain a periodical job, such as every week, to export the data. This job does the following:

    • Selects the data

    • Exports the data to the file

  • The data provided is imported into the system and the postprocessing steps started for each record provided in the results. To do this, a standard background job is used to pick up the incoming data in the form of stored files at regular intervals. This job does the following:

    • Waits for incoming files

    • Imports the result data into the system

    • Triggers the follow-up steps

For more information about working with standard background jobs, see Job Scheduling Explained.

Importing and Updating Data in the System

When data is imported back into the system, it has to be identified with the same fields as when it was exported. These are as follows:

  • General data

    • Business Partner GUID (BP_GUID)

    • Business Partner ID (BP_NUMBER)

    • Business partner category (BP_CATEGORY)

  • Address data

    • GUID of a Business Partner Address (ADDRESSGUID)

    • Data Quality Key Performance Indicator (ADDRESS_KPI)

  • Communication data

    • Telephone (ADTEL)

    • Fax (ADFAX)

    • SMTP (ADSMTP)

    • URI (ADURI)

    • Address usage (ADDRESSUSAGE)

  • Identification

    • Identification Type (IDENTIFICATIONTYPE)

    • Identification Number (IDENTIFICATIONNUMBER)

Action Codes

If the service provider delivers action codes to indicate the data fields that have been changed, all changed fields are updated without any further checks.

An action code is provided for each row:

Action Code Value

Description

01

Create

02

Change

03

Delete
Validation Groups

The status has to be set for all validation group members (VG_MEMBER_STATUS). See statuses below.

If the step is based on a link ID, such as in the external duplicate check, the link ID has to be provided (VG_MEMBER_LINK_ID). This can be any number.

Example Example

The file with the results of the external duplicate check contains "E0003" in the column VG_MEMBER_STATUS and a number in the column VG_MEMBER_LINK_ID, indicating that these records belong together.

VG_MEMBER_STATUS

VG_MEMBER_LINK_ID

E0003

1

E0003

1

E0003

2

E0003

2
End of the example.
Status

Only certain statuses can be set. These are those defined for the status profiles DQA_IMP and DQA_DUPL:

DQA_IMP

User Status

Status

Description

E0001

INIT

Initial

E0002

UPDA

Updated

E0003

UPDE

Update Error

E0004

ARCH

Archived

E0005

OK

Validation OK

DQA_DUPL

Status Number

Status

Description

E0001

INIT

Initial

E0002

CHCK

Checked, No Duplicates

E0003

DUPL

Duplicate

E0004

ARCH

Archived

E0005

INCO

Duplicate Outside VG
Address KPIs

Address KPIs can only have certain values, as defined for the step involved:

KPI

Description

A01

Number of addresses corrected

A02

Number of addresses validated

A03

No. of addresses not validated

A04

Number of invalid addresses