Bulk Imports

This article is a guide to using the Bulk Import feature

This guide contains the following:

• What is a Bulk import?
• How to request a Bulk Import
• Best Practice
• Limitations

What is a Bulk Import?

There may be a requirement to create and individually communicate a batch of items either due to a migration from other software or due to having a process to issue notices in bulk on an annual basis. In order for this to be facilitated, Bulk imports have been created. Other workflows will be added in time and this article will be updated accordingly.

How to request a Bulk Import?

From the relevant workflow, if Bulk imports are enabled, then there will be a new button on the register

Clicking on Edit Batch will then bring up the Bulk Import screen.

• Click on Download Template. This will download an excel spreadsheet that is structured to capture, on each row, all of the necessary and optional information to create and communicate, for example, a Task Order. The template will also include any custom fields and tags that have been configured for the workflow and for the project company. 
• Save the spreadsheet. You can continue to work on it - or choose to now Import from Excel. Validation is then applied across the spreadsheet. If any errors are encountered the process is halted and the first reason for error is displayed.  Eg.

• No notices are uploaded until all the errors within the spreadsheet have been resolved. Either go back into the spreadsheet and correct any errors, or click Disable Editing to leave the Import process to come back to it later.
• Once the spreadsheet has been uploaded to FastDraft, the register will show: 
  • They have all been uploaded in draft, so can still be edited individually. 
  • The ID's follow sequentially from the previously created notice. 

Note:  If you are planning to upload Task Orders please read this support article

Once you are happy with the upload, you can then bulk communicate the draft notices or communicate them manually as and when. Select which notices to communicate and then click  

You can also communicate the notices from the standard workflow register in the usual way.  

To leave the Bulk Import Register, click on

Best Practice

In order to make the process run smoothly, we suggest the following;

• To keep your uploads in sequential order,  we suggest no other users create any notices until you have completed the imports. 
• Think about what you are uploading, and whether some default template settings may need amending before drafting and/or communicating. An example of this would be if raising an RFQ, when this is communicated, the Quote required by date is calculated from settings within your contract. If you are bulk uploading these and the date needs to be different, please contact our support team who can advise. 
• Initially upload a couple of notices to check you are comfortable with how the import looks or perhaps to check for potential errors, which you can then correct in the main spreadsheet before importing.
• There is an option to Delete Drafts.  Please note - If you have uploaded 500 notices, 1-500, for example, and then delete random selections eg; 5,100,350  these will be deleted permanently and the ID numbers will not be recycled.  It would be better to edit these notices and change the subject to DO NOT USE or similar.  Deleting the later draft notices  eg 450 - 500, if you then uploaded another import - or added one manually, the ID numbers would be recycled and would start from 450. 

Limitations

• Currently this feature is only available on the following workflows:
  • RFQ's 
  • ITQ's
  • Task Orders
• If there are dropdowns in any of the fields in the downloaded template that exceed 250 characters, unfortunately there is a Microsoft restriction that they do not appear as validation options.
• Maximum records to upload at one time is 1000
• Maximum notices that can be bulk communicated = 200