Setting Up Scheduled Imports of Inventory from Spreadsheets

FlexNet Manager Suite 2023 R1 (On-Premises)

On an inventory beacon, you can set up a repeatable, automatic uploading of selected spreadsheet files of inventory data to FlexNet Manager Suite.

Tip: Importing .xlsx files requires that you have installed a 32-bit version of Microsoft Access Database Engine on the inventory beacon that performs the import. (This requirement does not apply to .csv files.)

Important: If it is not the first time that you are importing a spreadsheet file into FlexNet Manager Suite, the values already imported with the previous file will be updated and overwritten accordingly. Any update of a previously uploaded spreadsheet file:

• Updates the data saved from any modified rows.
• Inserts data found in new rows.
• Deletes the data from the operational database that was previously imported from rows that have since been removed from the new spreadsheet file.
• Deletes duplicate rows. If a duplicate row is identified, only a single entry is created. Identification is based on matching the values in key columns. For example, if the keys match, but some of the other data is different, the first row of the two is kept, while all duplicate rows that follow are discarded.

Templates are available through the inventory beacon (as described below), or you can reuse templates downloaded for one-off uploads through the web interface of FlexNet Manager Suite (provided that these have not been renamed).

To schedule regular imports of inventory spreadsheets:

1. Start FlexNet Beacon.
   Note: To run FlexNet Beacon, you must have system administrator rights.
2. In the Data collection group, click Inventory systems.
3. Click the arrow on the New button, and click Spreadsheet.
4. From the Spreadsheet Type drop-down list, select the type to be used.
5. To prepare your inventory spreadsheets:
   1. Click the Templates hyperlink displayed in the Create Spreadsheet Source Connection dialog box.
   2. Populate the template(s) you choose with the appropriate type of inventory data.
      When scheduling an automatic, scheduled inventory import, you can populate and update spreadsheet files either by a purpose-built script, or through a work flow applicable to your organization. It is good practice to edit spreadsheet files in a work folder separate from your upload folder. This prevents a clash between file updates and file uploads that could result in incomplete data being processed.

      Important: Remember to always use the latest template rather than one you may have saved previously. Also keep in mind that you cannot change the file name, nor any columns (number, names, or order) supplied in the template.
   3. Create an upload folder, and save your completed inventory spreadsheet files to that folder.
      All spreadsheet files located in the one folder are included in the scheduled uploads.

      Note: The folder can also be located on a shared network drive (make sure that an account running the inventory beacon has Read permissions on the folder).
6. In the Connection Name field, type in a name for this inventory data upload.
7. In the Connection Folder field, browse to the folder with inventory spreadsheets you created in the steps above.
   Tip: If you do not want to import the inventory data as yet, select the Connection is in test mode (do not import results) check box. (Remember that data from any secondary inventory source, including this one, cannot be imported until after the first successful import from your primary inventory source.)
8. Select the overlapping inventory filter that you need.
9. Click Save.
   The new connection is added to the list of available inventory connections.
10. Select the new connection, and either:
    • Click Execute Now.
    • Click Schedule..., and choose the schedule on which to run repeated imports from the Connection Folder. (For details on creating schedules, see the online help for the inventory beacon.)