Import points history
Note
The process described here is only for the initial import of your points history.
To get your points data into Engage, you will need to migrate it. This migration is done by importing the points history, row by row, in a CSV or XML file.
If you want to keep track of the entire points history for each of your contacts, this import allows you to do that. You can also choose to just import the current balance for a contact as a single row, without the history. Both negative and positive points values can be migrated in this way.
For a successful import:
Do not exceed 20,000 rows in your CSV file (or pointtransaction nodes in your XML) - split into several files if needed
Be sure to include all the mandatory fields listed on the table below
If using a CSV make sure it's UTF-8 encoded and with semicolon separated values
As the transactionType value, use only "purchase", "return", "adjustment" or "rewardvoucher"
As the keyType value, use only "memberNumber", "externalId" or "contactId"
Only set a value in one of the fields “expireAfterMonthsInactive“ and “validTo“
If the point transaction is already expired, set date value of the expiration in the field “validTo“, DO NOT set “expireAfterMonthsInactive“
Advice: If the settings for expiration are correctly set up AND the value of validTo or expireAfterMonthsInactive matches that expiration setting, these fields can both be set to blank and values will be added based on what is set up in these expiration settings
Warning
Do not mix different keyType values in the same file as the importer takes the first one it finds and then uses that keyType for all the subsequent rows in the import file.
Warning
For a points import to work, contacts of type "Member" must have one of following keys: memberNumber, externalId or contactId. If the contact does not have any of these keys, the import will fail and give an error.
Warning
When importing a CSV, single and double quote -- the characters " and ' -- are so-called reserved characters and will be interpreted as the start and end of a string field. They can't be used for anything else, or the import will fail. For example " is sometimes used as the symbol for "inch" in product names. Having this in just one field in your CSV could break the import.
If a contact in your import doesn't exist
When importing points transactions from a file, it can happen that the contact connected to the transaction might not exist in the database.
If this happens, and keyType in your import has one of the values "memberNumber" or "externalId", then a new contact will be created.
If this happens when keyType has the value "contactId" then a new contact will not be created. Engage is not able to create a new contact from a specified contactId. So, in this case, the whole file will be skipped and not imported.
Any contact created in this way will be approved and their firstname and lastname will be “PointTransactionImport”.
Structure of the import file
This is what each row in your CSV or each pointtransaction node in your XML should contain.
Name | Description |
|---|---|
*key | The contact identification string (this can’t be empty). |
*keyType | What key represents, which can be either "memberNumber", "externalId", or "contactId". |
*transactionType | This must be either "purchase", "return", "adjustment" or "rewardvoucher". |
*transactionDate | The timestamp of the points transaction. Replaces the older "createdOn". Example: 2019-06-13T12:00:25+1:00 |
*pointDefinitionId | A positive value in the PointDefinition database table. The default (and currently only) value is 1. A value that doesn't exist in the PointDefinition table will cause a validation error. |
*amount | The number of points added (positive) or removed (negative). |
description | Optional string |
validTo | Optional string |
createdBy | Optional string |
source | We recommend leaving the source blank. |
expireAfterMonthsInactive | Optional integer |
Mandatory fields are marked with *. The other fields are optional but recommended.
Note
The names in the column "Name" can start with a lower-case or upper-case letter.
Caution
The fields validto and expireAfterMonthsInactive can not be added in the same row
Example of values
key | keyType | pointDefinitionId | transactionType | amount | transactionDate | description |
1567 | memberNumber | 1 | purchase | 100 | 2021-08-21T08:16:59+02:00 | Trousers |
1839 | memberNumber | 1 | purchase | 100 | 2022-10-17T20:36:26+02:00 | Hat |
1544 | memberNumber | 1 | return | -100 | 2021-12-23T14:05:25+01:00 | Gloves |
1356 | memberNumber | 1 | purchase | 100 | 2022-03-02T00:47:20+01:00 | Pauldrons |
1644 | memberNumber | 1 | rewardvoucher | -100 | 2021-05-21T11:17:54+02:00 | Converted to voucher |
1567 | memberNumber | 1 | rewardvoucher | -100 | 2021-11-24T01:04:38+01:00 | Converted to voucher |
2135 | memberNumber | 1 | purchase | 4210 | 2021-10-24T01:04:38+01:00 | Accumulated points |
Note that for the contact with key of 2135, all their points are imported as one entry, without history.
Caution
Currently, Engage supports only one point definition, with a value of 1. Support for using several point definitions will be added in the future.
You can download an example CSV and XML file on the example files page.
Caution
Keep your CSV to 20,000 rows or less, and your XML to 20,000 pointtransaction nodes or less.
Importing the file
Your CSV or XML file / files must now be placed on your FTP inside a folder named Integration/PointTransactionImport
The actual processing of your files must be manually triggered by your Voyado Engage team.
The result of the integration, including the validation check, will be shown in the integration log as type Data migration.
File validation
Each file is validated before it is processed. If any error is found during the validation of a file, it will be logged in the integration log and the whole file will be skipped. This is a safety feature since unique IDs are not used for the rows inside the files. Validation will then continue with the next file.
The following validations are applied to all mandatory fields in your files:
All returns must have a negative value
All purchases must have a positive value
The amount value must be a number, either integer or decimal
The PointDefinitionId value has to be a positive integer value and must exist in the "PointDefinitionId" database table
The transactionDate value must be in the format
2019-06-13T12:00:25+1:00The transactionType value must be either "purchase", "return", "adjustment" or "rewardvoucher"
The expireAfterMonthsInactive must be a positive number higher than 0
The fields validto and expireAfterMonthsInactive can not be added in the same row
Performing the import
After your files pass the validation, they will be imported to a blob storage and remain there until all files in the batch are imported.
The system will then read the files from blob storage and start importing all rows to the database.
When that is done the system will update PointAmountLeft for all your contacts so that the value matches the newly imported data.