Importing

Importing is a process that extracts data from a previously exported data file and imports it in to the corporate database. In most cases importing the data from these files completely overwrites any data in the database for that particular location. But the Daily Transactions file is used to update the existing data.

SENDING DATA

We are going to discuss sending data from stores to the corporate office on a daily basis, email is the most commonly used process for updating the copy of the data at the corporate office.

First of all let's look at the file names. The CLOSE*.ZIP files are the files the stores send to the corporate office. A closer look at the CLOSE*.ZIP file shows what is included automatically when your stores close the day, Daily Activity > Close Day.

CLOSE.1.????????.ZIP FILE

The daily close file consists of (2) two files zipped (or compressed) into one attachment. The daily close file is named according to the your location number and the date of the daily close. CLOSE.[location number].[YYYYMMDD].ZIP

Inside this zipped file are (2) files:

(1) Daily Close DD. PDF - this is the printed close report in *.PDF format.

Example - Daily Close 2 would be the close report for the 2nd day of the month.

(2) Home[location] - this is the XML file used by The RAM System Corporate Edition to update the data in the corporate office database.

In the below example the close was created for the open day 9/2/2005, for location 1. So the daily close file is named Close1.20050902.zip.

This is an example of the email that is automatically created and sent to the address you specify.

The stores MUST close each day in order to correctly track income and due dates for their customers. The RAM System simply attached these procedures to the Daily Close operation so your store employees do not have any extra steps.

Steps for each location

1. Close the day. Daily Activity > Close Day

2. Send the CLOSE*.ZIP file to the corporate office.

Remember, The RAM System can automatically email the CLOSE*.ZIP file to the corporate office for the store employee. Company Setup flag in the store level system will allow this.

Steps for corporate office

1. Daily Import

Remember, The RAM System Corporate Edition can automatically read your email account to find the CLOSE*.ZIP files for this import.

2. Now you are ready to print your corporate reports. A good place to start is the Daily Deposit Report.

In this section also learn about:

Daily Transactions

Entire Database

Shared Support Files

Some frequently asked questions: (click each question for answer)

•	What if I still don't get it, what is importing really doing?

Importing is taking all the transactions that happened during a store's regular business day, like payments, rentals, receiving inventory etc. and processes those transactions on the data at the corporate office so the data in both places will match. The home office starts with a backup from each location, and as each store processes transactions, those transactions have to be processed at the corporate office too. Instead of sending the entire database to the corporate office each time, the stores send the daily transactions, and those are updated on the existing data at home office.

•	What if I need to get more than one day from a location?

If you need to transmit more than one day's information the store must choose the range of days you need when processing the Operation > Utilities > Exporting > Daily Transactions.

•	What if I still can't get a location to update properly?

The best thing to do if you cannot get a location to update is to restore a backup from that location to refresh the corporate office data. The stores must make a file with the Entire Database exported by using the Operation > Utilities > Exporting > Entire Database option. Then the corporate office would use the Utility > Importing > Entire Database option to import all the data and overwrite the data for that store.