The Import data page brings your records over from your old system or from a spreadsheet. Each file is checked first, every problem is listed with its row number, and nothing is added until you choose Import. For 7 days after an import you can undo it.
Before you start #
- You need the owner or manager role. Import data is in Settings, in the section bar.
- Get your files out of the old system first. The articles for each product say what to ask for: Importing from Towbook, Importing from PRZM, Importing from Mitchell 1, Importing from Tekmetric, Importing from Shopmonkey, Importing from TaxiCaller and Importing from a spreadsheet.
- Keep your old system available and read-only for a while after you switch. Running both side by side for about a month is a safe way to cut over.
What can come over #
| Kind of data | What Pop Dispatch makes | Matched on |
|---|---|---|
| Customers | Customer records | Customer number, phone, then email |
| Vehicles | Customer vehicles with VIN, plate, year, make, model | VIN, or plate plus customer |
| Accounts and contacts | Fleet, insurer, garage, police and motor club accounts, with their contacts | Account number, then account name |
| Tow rates | Rate lines for an account and truck type, or your standard rates | Account plus truck type |
| Service history | Past repair orders, invoices and tow calls, kept as read-only history with their original number, date and total | Source, kind and number |
| Open invoices | An open invoice for the balance still owed, with the old invoice number and due date | Invoice number |
| Yard and impound | Vehicles on your lot, with the original date in and when storage started | VIN or plate |
| Drivers | Drivers | Phone, then name |
| Trucks | Tow trucks with their truck type | Unit number, then VIN |
| Parts | Parts with cost, price, stock and bin, and the vendors they name | SKU |
Steps #
- Open Settings, then Import data. The setup wizard has the same steps in its optional Import your data step.
- Choose where your data comes from and what you are bringing over. The page shows the steps for getting the file out of that product.
- Choose your file. It can be CSV or Excel (.xlsx), up to 5 MB and 20,000 rows. Split a larger history into several files, for example one per year.
- Check the columns. Pop Dispatch picks a column for each field from the header names. Change any choice from its list, and leave a field on Not in my file when the file has no column for it.
- Choose what happens to a record that is already on file, and whether a date such as 3/4/2024 means March 4 or April 3.
- Select Check the file. The page shows how many rows will be added, filled in, left alone and left out, the first rows with what happens to each, and every problem with its row number.
- Optionally select Run a test. It runs the whole import and keeps nothing.
- Select Import. Rows with problems are left out and every other row is imported.
- Select Undo this import if you want it removed again. You have 7 days.
Import customers first. Vehicles, history and open invoices find their customer by customer number, phone, email or name. Import accounts before tow rates.
Technical details
- A dry run and a real import run the same code in one database transaction. A dry run is rolled back, so it cannot differ from the real result.
- Every import is one transaction: if the server stops part way, nothing is kept.
- Each import writes an audit entry with who ran it, when, the file name, the file's SHA-256 hash and the counts. The file itself is held for 24 hours and then removed; the hash stays.
- Undo removes everything the import created, newest first, and puts blank fields back when the import filled them in. It refuses, and changes nothing, when something the import made is now used: for example an imported customer has a job, or an imported invoice has a payment.
- Text that a spreadsheet could run as a formula, such as one starting with an equals sign, gets an apostrophe in front when it is stored.
- A VIN must have 17 characters and no I, O or Q. A VIN that fails the check-digit test is kept as typed and flagged for a look, because VINs from outside North America often skip the check digit.
If something goes wrong #
Read Fixing import problems. It lists each message and what to do.