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Importing multiple objects with associations (Excel import)
Importing multiple objects with associations (Excel import)

How to import Discoveries, Feedback, and Customers with associations

Valentin Huang avatar
Written by Valentin Huang
Updated over 2 months ago

In this article, you will learn how to import Discoveries, Feedback, and Customers while building associations between them in Harvestr.

Excel file template download

IMPORTANT: You must use this Excel template to import multiple objects with associations.

Please pay attention to the following:

  • DO NOT modify the file format (it must remain Excel, no CSV or alternative format)

  • DO NOT modify the file structure, sheet names, or column headers. In each sheet (discoveries, customers, feedback), lines 1 and 2 and column A must not be edited. You should only fill the Excel template with your discoveries, customers, and feedback data, starting from line 2, column B, on each sheet. You can, of course, overwrite the sample data that you will find on each sheet.

  • DO NOT import attributes with empty values (ex: "ARR: "). The import would fail.

Import limitations

Discoveries: 1,000 values

Customers: 30,000 values

Feedback: 10,000 values

Attributes (labels, segments, etc.): 1500 attributes, unlimited values

If you need to import more data than allowed, please contact us.

When to use this import?

This import should only be used if:

  • You want to import at least 2 different object types (Discoveries, Feedback, or Customers) with associations. For example, you could import and link Feedback with Discoveries, or you could import and link Feedback with Customers.
    ​
    AND/OR

  • you want to import Discoveries with tags and/or custom fields (numeric and score fields)
    ​
    AND/OR
    ​

  • you want to import Customers (users or companies) with segments and/or attributes

When NOT to use this import?

Do not use this import if :

  • you only need to import Feedback WITH title, content and associated user emails/names but WITHOUT companies and labels
    -> Rather use our Feedback CSV import for that

  • you only need to import Discoveries WITH components, titles, descriptions and statuses but WITHOUT tags and/or custom fields (numeric and score fields)
    -> Rather use our Discoveries CSV import for that

  • you only need to import Customers WITH company names or user emails/names but WITHOUT segments and/or attributes
    -> Rather use our Customers CSV import for that

Excel file structure

Objects sheets: Feedback, Discoveries, and Customers

The Excel file contains 3 sheets: 1 for Feedback, 1 for Discoveries, and 1 for Customers.

On each sheet, 1 line corresponds to 1 object record, and each column represents a property for this object.

In the Discoveries sheet, for example, 1 line represents 1 Discovery, and each column represents a Discovery property: ID, title, component, tags, etc.

The sheets should be filled according to the objects you want to import.

You can fill only 1 sheet, 2 sheets, or all 3 sheets.

Object IDs

Each sheet contains an ID column that must be filled out for each record you want to import. The ID can be a number (incrementing with each line) or a randomly generated hash string (unique string for each line).

Those IDs will not be imported into your Harvestr project; they will only be used for import purposes, such as building associations between objects (e.g., linking a feedback item to a customer).

IDs don't have to be unique across all the sheets but must be unique inside one specific sheet.

Associations

In addition to importing objects, the import also lets you build associations between them. You can link:

  • Feedback with Discoveries

  • Feedback with Customers

Associations can be set on the Feedback sheet:

  • link a feedback item to a Discovery by entering the relevant Discovery ID in column D of the Feedback sheet

  • link a feedback item to a Customer by entering the relevant Customer ID in column E of the Feedback sheet

Importing Customers (users and companies)

The Customers sheet helps you import users and companies. You can either import only users, only companies, or users with their associated companies.

Importing users only

Mandatory fields:

  • ID (col. A)

  • user name (col. B) or email (col. D), or both

IMPORTANT:

  • The ID is only used for the import, especially if you want to link a user to a feedback item from the Feedback tab. IDs will not be imported into Harvestr and will not be used to identify the user in Harvestr.
    ​

  • The unique identifier for a user is the email, which must be unique in the import file.

  • company name: see below

  • phone

  • segments:

    • assign a user to several segments by separating them with commas

    • example: "enterprise, Europe"

    • segments that do not already exist in your Harvestr account will be automatically created with the import

  • attributes:

    • add attributes to a user by respecting the following format : [attribute_name]: [attribute_value]

    • add several attributes to a user by separating them with commas

    • attributes can have the following types:

      • boolean: false/true, yes/no, 0/1

      • text: any text string

      • number: any integer or floating values

    • example: MRR: 499, Plan: Enterprise

    • attributes that do not already exist in your Harvestr account will be automatically created with the import

    • you cannot import attributes with empty values (ex: "MRR: "). The import would fail.

  • description

When importing a user with an email that already exists in Harvestr, the user's fields will be automatically updated.

Importing companies only

Mandatory fields:

  • id (col. A)

  • company name (col. C)

IMPORTANT:
​

  • The ID is only used for the import, especially if you want to link a company to a feedback item from the Feedback tab. IDs will not be imported into Harvestr and will not be used to identify the company in Harvestr.
    ​

  • The unique identifier for a company is its name, which must be unique in the import file.

  • type (col. I): must be "company"

Optional fields:

  • segments:

    • assign a company to several segments by separating them with commas

    • example: "enterprise, Europe"

    • segments that do not already exist in your Harvestr account will be automatically created with the import

  • attributes:

    • add attributes to a company by respecting the following format : [attribute_name]: [attribute_value]

    • add several attributes to a company by separating them with commas

    • attributes can have the following types:

      • boolean: false/true, yes/no, 0/1

      • text: any text string

      • number: any integer or floating values

    • example: MRR: 499, Plan: Enterprise

    • attributes that do not already exist in your Harvestr account will be automatically created with the import

    • you cannot import attributes with empty values (ex: "MRR: "). The import would fail.

  • description

When importing a company with an email that already exists in Harvestr, this company's fields will be automatically updated.

Importing users with associated companies

To import a user with his associated company:

  • Create a record for the user by filling in at least the following columns: id (col. A), user name (col. B), company name (col. C), email (col. D), type "user" (col. I).

  • If the company does not already exist in your Harvestr project, create another record for the company in the same sheet by filling at least the following columns: id (col. A), company name (col. C), type "company" (col. I)

Importing Discoveries

The Discoveries sheet lets you import Discoveries.

Mandatory fields:

  • id (col. A)

  • title (col. B)

  • component (col. C):

    • separate components and subcomponents with slashes (ex: Master component / Sub-component 1 / Sub-component 2)

    • components that do not exist will be automatically created with the import

Optional fields:

  • tags (col. D): comma-separated tags (tag1, tag2, tag3)

  • description (col. E): discovery description (accepts HTML)

  • status (col. F): discovery status (if no status is defined, default status will be automatically assigned)

  • fields (col. G):

    • Comma-separated key-value list for discovery field values/scores (ex: ease: 3, impact: 4)

    • Related Discovery fields must already exist in your Harvestr project when importing. The import will not create any new Discovery field

    • values, which can be numeric, arbitrary strings, or boolean (ex: true/false, yes/no, 0/1) and they must match the field type in Harvestr

    • you cannot import fields with empty values (ex: "MRR: "). The import would fail.

  • create date (col. H): the date when the discovery was created (ISO-8601 formatted date/time string)

Dates must be imported in ISO-8601 format:
​

2022-05-08 = YYYY-MM-DD (day precision)
2022-05-08T15:10 (minute precision)
2022-05-08T15:10:10 (second precision)
2015-06-10T10:40:38.974 (milliseconds precision)
​

With "Z" modifier:
2022-05-08T15:10Z (minute precision)
2022-05-08T15:10:10Z (second precision)
2015-06-10T10:40:38.974Z (milliseconds precision)

If you use another format, the import date will be the default value.

Let's say I want to import a discovery named "PayPal login" that belongs to "Payment systems" and the sub-component "PayPal." It has the state "In progress", tags "payment, PayPal," and an impact of 5.

Here is what the entry will look like in the Discoveries sheet:

And here is the imported Discovery in Harvestr:

If it does not already exist, the following Component / Sub-component structure would be created with the import:

Discoveries that already exist in Harvestr cannot be updated with imports. When importing a Discovery with a title that already exists in Harvestr, a new duplicate Discovery will be created.

Importing Feedback

The Feedback sheet lets you import Feedback into your Harvestr inbox.

Mandatory fields:

  • id (col. A)

  • content: body contents of the message (HTML format is supported) (col. C)

Optional fields:

  • title: title (or subject) of the feedback (col. B)

  • discovery id: coma separated list of discovery IDs from the "discoveries" sheet, this allows you to link feedback directly to one or several discoveries (col. D)

  • customer id: customer ID from the "customers" sheet allows you to define the requester of the feedback (col. E)

  • labels: coma separated list of labels for the feedback message (ex: high priority, financial) (col. F)

  • create date: ISO-8601 formatted date/time string (col. G)

Dates must be imported in ISO-8601 format:
​

2022-05-08 = YYYY-MM-DD (day precision)
2022-05-08T15:10 (minute precision)
2022-05-08T15:10:10 (second precision)
2015-06-10T10:40:38.974 (milliseconds precision)
​

With "Z" modifier:
2022-05-08T15:10Z (minute precision)
2022-05-08T15:10:10Z (second precision)
2015-06-10T10:40:38.974Z (milliseconds precision)

If you use another format, the import date will be the default value.

Importing feedback with associated customers and discoveries

To link feedback to a Customer, you just need to fill column E with the ID of the corresponding Customer from the Customer sheet (col. A of the Customer sheet).

To link feedback to one or more Discoveries, you just need to fill in column D with the ID of the corresponding Discoveries from the Discoveries sheet (col. A of the Discoveries sheet).

In the following example, we will import a new feedback item that will be associated with the customer whose ID is equal to 2 (John Doe) in the Customers sheet. The feedback item will also be categorized into 2 Discoveries with IDs 1 ("Paypal login") and 2 ("Generate bitcoin wallets"), respectively, in the Discoveries sheet.

Feedback that already exists in Harvestr cannot be updated with imports. When importing a Feedback item with a title or existing content in Harvestr, a new duplicate Feedback will be created.

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