In order to improve recovery from problems that could occur during the automated/scheduled loading of data to the ARCOS System, ARCOS has added the ability to load files within the web application.
This functionality allows an authorized ARCOS user to load customer data into the ARCOS System.
Putting this functionality into the hands of the customer will improve recovery by eliminating the time delays currently inherent in the recovery process: the phone call to ARCOS Support, the wait while Support contacts ARCOS Engineering, the time until Engineering is ready to attempt the reload, etc.
This functionality is not intended to replace currently scheduled/recurring load processes. It is offered as a recovery option when manual intervention is needed.
This functionality is accessed through the ARCOS web application by navigating to the Sys Admin tab; from there, click on the Loader link.
Access to the Load Data button as well as to the View Load Results button are security controlled. Without the necessary security, these buttons will not be visible to the ARCOS user.
To load a file
Click on the Load Data button to begin the data loading process.
The ensuing page is composed of several ‘panes’. The pane at the top left of your screen contains the tools needed to load the data file.
Select File to Import > Choose File option allows searching your computer for a file to load
Type: Represents the type of data being loaded, or the Data Loader to use, i.e., HRI, OTI, SDI, etc. This selector is not used to specify the file type (extension) like .DAT, .txt or .xlsx.
The Type dropdown will contain the following Load Types:
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HRI
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HRI1
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IEX
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OTI
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OTI2
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SDI
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SEA
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SHIPS
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STARS
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ULT
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CMW1
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CMR1
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CML1
Import: provides the opportunity to preview your file; problems with fields/contents are indicated in the preview so that the errors can be corrected before the file is loaded. Hover-over help provides detail of the problem.
NOTE: Some corrections you could make on screen, through the Preview. For example, changing ONE date in ONE field makes sense to do in the Preview. Other corrections you would not make on screen. Major corrections you would make to the file and then re-Import the corrected file, for loading.
Load: loads the file AS MANIPULATED in the Data Preview.
In the event that the file you are attempting to Import/Load is not formatted as expected for the load Type you have indicated (in the Type dropdown), ARCOS will clearly identify the problems so that you can correct them. In the example below, you can see two types of validation warnings: the yellow triangle indicates a potential problem, whereas the red circle indicates an issue that would cause the load to fail.
Another pane on this page – the top right of your screen - provides file details
Data Preview includes Search, Replace and Mask options.
Search will find a string in any field/row in the data preview.
Replace allows “Find/Replace” (like MS Word) with dropdowns to identify the record type to search, the field/column to search.
Mask allows masking or hiding certain fields as part of the load process, so that existing data (in the ARCOS database) is overwritten with dummy data. Example: phone numbers present in the load file may be masked by 111-111-1111 when loaded to ARCOS. Similarly, masking e-mail addresses in the load file prevents an e-mail address from being loaded/saved into ARCOS.
NOTE: Once the Masking tool is used, the masked data cannot be restored by disabling the [Mask] flag. That is, for example, once phone numbers are masked by 1111111111, unchecking the Mask > Phone Numbers box does not restore the phone numbers that were previously masked. To restore these fields, the file will need to be imported again.
These tools will assist with making some corrections to the data in the file without leaving ARCOS.
Finally, a Validation pane at the right of the Data Preview, provides a concise list of any validation errors encountered in the imported file.
Validation pane lists errors or warnings found in the imported file, along with counts (how many times the error occurred)
Additional Notes on using the Load Data functionality
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Ensure that your data file/type
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Does not strip leading zeros
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Does not convert dates entered without / to their exponential representations
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Retaining the file name required by the automated Data Loader will allow the ARCOS System to recognize the appropriate load Type so that the ARCOS user doesn’t need to select a Type.
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If the filename is NOT in the format required by the ARCOS Data Loader, it will be the responsibility of the ARCOS user to select the correct Type for the file during the manual load.
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File types supported (for loading from) are CSV or TXT, AND the same .DAT and/or encrypted file type that the automated Data Loader would be expecting. That is, if the file you’re manually loading was created for the automated Data Loader, and is encrypted as ARCOS would expect, the manual Load option will recognize the encryption and decrypt appropriately.
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There is no ‘schedule’ component to this new functionality. It is not possible to schedule a load to take place, using this functionality, at a future date/time.
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Security: System Admin – New Security feature for Load Data will be made available, along with existing View Load Results feature
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Because the intent of making this functionality available to you is to empower you to reload or reattempt a load that was scheduled/automated but failed for some reason, we presume that you already have the specifications for correctly formatting the file. However, if you do not have access to the specifications for your load type, please contact ARCOS Support.
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