Importing from Excel and Access Job Registers

Ideally, your address data should be split into separate columns such as:

• Unit number
• Property/Estate name
• Street number (can include Street number low and Street number high, but prefer in separate fields)
• Lot number - if the lot number is used in place of the street number, this needs to be identified, either through the inclusion of "Lot " in the street number field or by placing lot numbers in a separate column
• Street name (can include Street type, but prefer separated)
• Suburb
• State
• Postcode

If your addresses are not recorded like this but are in one field, then inaccuracies are likely. We do have some parsing routines that can split up addresses, but these work best when you've been consistent in entering addresses in a fixed manner.

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Ideally, against each job record, you will have recorded the client for whom the job was done. If a unique numeric key is provided that ties back to a separate table of clients, then this is ideal to ensure a clean import.

If your job register just contains the names of clients in text, then several issues could occur:

• If there are multiple spellings of the same client's names (eg. "ANZ", "Australia and New Zealand", etc...), then ValuePRO will import these as multiple clients. You will then need to clean up and consolidate the multiple records into one. If possible, clean these up and get them all consistent before sending your file to be imported by ValuePRO.
• If a client has changed names several times during the period recorded by the job register, ie via mergers and acquisitions, then you will get multiple client cards instead of a single client card. If this is the case, add a new column that says current client name and we will be able to accurately create the client list and still record the client's name at the time against the job card.

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Missing data or inconsistently entered data is a common factor on imports of MS Excel and MS Access based job registers. Make sure each field of your register for each record contains appropriate data and is consistently entered. Eg. Job Type might be marked as "Res", "Residential", "Full", etc... If all these jobs are of the same type, then replace all variations with a single consistent value prior to import.

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Missing dates for job in and out are major problems when attempting to accurately import jobs into ValuePRO. If you provide records without a date, we will apply a date automatically. We do this by looking at the record immediately before a records without a date and copy it's date into the next record. For this reason, it's important that the job register be at least provided in sequence if there are gaps in dates.

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As per client references above, ValuePRO import process will be affected by inconsistent references to the valuer assigned to a job. Make sure as much as possible that you have provided a consistent naming convention. Missing valuer names will affect the accuracy of reports in ValuePRO that make reference to your historical data.

If a valuer has changed names at some point during the register (eg through change of marital status) this should be referenced by adding a new column called "Current Valuer Name" and placing the appropriate current name there. In this manner, the imported job cards will accurately associate all jobs to the same valuer.

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ValuePRO stores up to 15 different key status steps and the dates that each status step was completed. It is unlikely that your existing job register will map perfectly to these same detailed status steps - so we will need to get your definition, if possible, of how to tell if a job is:

• Completed
• Cancelled
• Approved
• Assigned
• Delayed
• Archived
• Billed
• Paid

By default, if determining the status is too inconsistent from the data provided, we will import all jobs as completed, bill and paid.

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