Purchase Order Upload

IT Asset Management (Cloud)

This page enables you to import purchase data from multiple sources into IT Asset Management. You can upload the following types of purchase data files:

  • Standard: Select this option to download the standard template for purchase upload. You can add purchase data into the template and upload it to IT Asset Management.
  • IBM Passport Advantage: Use this option to upload a detailed purchase history report downloaded from IBM Passport Advantage.
  • Microsoft License Statement: Use this option to upload Microsoft License Statement.

Upload Purchase Data Using Standard Template

Select this option to upload purchase data through the standard template (.CSV or .XLSX). You download the template, add purchase data into it, and upload it to IT Asset Management.
Note: You must not rename any columns, nor the worksheet, in the standard template. The import process depends on these standard names. (You may rename the file if you wish, and also re-order the columns to suit yourself.)
Follow these steps to upload data using the standard template:
  1. In the web interface of IT Asset Management, go to the Data Imports page (Data Collection > IT Assets Inventory Tasks > Data Imports).
  2. In the Business Data tab, click One-off upload.
  3. Ensure that the Purchase order upload area is expanded (if necessary click on its title, or click Expand all).
  4. Select the Standard option.
  5. To obtain the template, click the xlsx or csv link next to Download purchase order templates:. The template is downloaded from the application server to your local computer where you can insert the data.
  6. Populate the template with purchase data. Each row in the template file should represent a distinct purchase, a unique item.
  7. Back in the Business Data tab of the Data Inputs page, browse to the template file, and click Upload.
The following table provides information on the data fields available in the standard template:
Important: The first row, containing the column headers, must be preserved for upload (and remember not to change any of the column names). Blank values in mandatory columns cause the import to fail entirely.
Label Sample value Notes
Authorized by Email (Not mandatory) first.last@company.com

Matches an existing user in the system by email address and sets the Authorized by value (as recorded on the Ownership Tab in Purchase Properties) for a purchase to this user if a match is found. In the case that there is more than one user in IT Asset Management with a matching email address, active users are matched first. If more than one user is active, the user that existed first is chosen. IT Asset Management will not create new users if there is no existing user with a matching email address, and never overwrites a populated value with an empty value in the event that the uploaded data matches an existing purchase order.
Contract Number TYM-745-2998 The identifying code for the maintenance agreement included in this purchase. Relevant only for the purchase of software licenses (where the purchase includes maintenance), or software maintenance alone (and ignored for other types of purchase).
Date 11/23/2017 Any date format that is recognized by Microsoft Excel is acceptable. (The cell format must remain set as Date.) If importing this in a CSV (text, comma-separated) file, recognition depends on your server settings: M/D/YYYY or D/M/YYYY work when settings are appropriate; or you can safely use the ISO standard format YYYY-MM-DD (such as 2014-11-23). Mandatory.

Visible as Purchase date in the General tab of the purchase properties, in the Purchase order section.
Description Adobe Creative Suite CS6 Master Collection A meaningful plain-language description of the purchased item. Maximum 250 characters. Mandatory.

Visible as Description in the General tab of the purchase properties, in the Purchase details section.
Effective Date 6/8/2017 The start date for the maintenance agreement included in this purchase. Relevant only for the purchase of software licenses (where the purchase includes maintenance), or software maintenance alone (and ignored for other types of purchase). Any date format that is recognized by Microsoft Excel is acceptable. (The cell format must remain set as Date.) If importing this in a CSV (text, comma-separated) file, recognition depends on your server settings: M/D/YYYY or D/M/YYYY work when settings are appropriate; or you can safely use the ISO standard format YYYY-MM-DD (such as 2014-11-23).
Expiry Date 6/8/2018 The end date for the maintenance agreement included in this purchase. Relevant only for the purchase of software licenses (where the purchase includes maintenance), or software maintenance alone (and ignored for other types of purchase). Any date format that is recognized by Microsoft Excel is acceptable. (The cell format must remain set as Date.) If importing this in a CSV (text, comma-separated) file, recognition depends on your server settings: M/D/YYYY or D/M/YYYY work when settings are appropriate; or you can safely use the ISO standard format YYYY-MM-DD (such as 2014-11-23).
Invoice Date 6/12/2017

The date that the invoice was issued. Any date format that is recognized by Microsoft Excel is acceptable. (The cell format must remain set as Date.) If importing this in a CSV (text, comma-separated) file, recognition depends on your server settings: M/D/YYYY or D/M/YYYY work when settings are appropriate; or you can safely use the ISO standard format YYYY-MM-DD (such as 2014-11-23).

Visible as Invoice date on the Financial tab of the purchase properties.
Invoice Number 4000796 The identifying code on the invoice supplied by the vendor for this purchase (typically, one invoice covers all the purchases on a single purchase order, but this may not be true in the case of back orders; for which reason, the invoice number is recorded for each purchase). Maximum 50 characters.

Visible as Invoice number on the Financial tab of the purchase properties.
Location, Cost Center, or Corporate Unit   You may link this purchase with one each of any (or all) of these types of enterprise groups. Note that this is a link from the purchase, and not from the purchase order: that is, each purchased item may be linked to its own independent groups.
  • Exact and unambiguous matches to exactly one name of each kind of existing enterprise group result in links from the existing group to the purchase.
  • Where there are ambiguous matches, you can disambiguate by adding a parent, separated by the forward slash character. For example, Melbourne may be ambiguous, but Florida/Melbourne and Victoria/Melbourne are not ambiguous. If need be, you may include more than one level of ancestor, such as Australia/Victoria/Melbourne.
  • If the path you declare starts from the highest level (called the 'root') of the hierarchy, and any levels in the path do not already exist in your enterprise records, the missing groups are created automatically as you import the purchase details. For example, suppose the groups shown in the previous example exist, but with nothing below Melbourne. A new record is uploaded, starting with the forward slash character (the root), as /APAC/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/Box Hill. The new location Box Hill is automatically created on import. Notice that this functionality depends on starting with the forward slash (called absolute paths, starting from root). Any relative or partial paths (starting with names but not with the slash character first) never result in groups being created.
  • If a partial path does not find an exact match node (because any group in the path is missing), the import succeeds, but the missing group is not created, and this purchase therefore cannot be linked to that group. Once again, beware of typographical errors.
Maintenance True Relevant only for the purchase of software licenses (where the purchase includes maintenance), or software maintenance alone (and ignored for other types of purchase). It is a Boolean (true/false) value, where an empty cell, or the case-insensitive word "FALSE", is interpreted as false, and any other value is regarded as true.

Visible as Purchase includes support, maintenance, or other service agreement for the following period on the General tab of the purchase properties, under Maintenance. See also the next two fields.

PO Line Number 1 A number to order the line items within the purchase order. Must be numeric, and greater than zero. If left blank, the row number within the spreadsheet is used as the ordering line number.

Notice that this number must be unique within each purchase order (that is, having the same PO Number). The combination of the PO Number and the PO Line Number uniquely identify every imported purchase. This means that a duplicate line number will overwrite (update) the details previously recorded, and only one of the duplicates end up being in the imported data. This is also true if you import the same data again in a separate import (for example, so that you can update some of the values).

To illustrate, suppose that yesterday you imported these values: 

PO Number  PO Line Number   Description
44-19-339  1                Desk
44-19-339  2                Chair
Today, in a separate import, you want to add the next two lines from this same purchase order. You try this: 

PO Number  PO Line Number   Description
44-19-339  1                Monitor stand
44-19-339  2                Footrest
This pattern would be correct for updating the previous details. However, they would fail to add two new lines: to achieve that goal, you must make sure that (even across multiple imports) the PO Line Number value is unique. To add more lines to the previous two, the second import should look like this, with unique PO Line Numbers: 

PO Number  PO Line Number   Description
44-19-339  3                Monitor stand
44-19-339  4                Footrest

Each PO Line Number is visible as Item in the General tab of the purchase properties, in the Purchase details section.
PO Number AN-1338/34

The identifying code for the purchase order that included this purchase. Every purchase that contains the same code is grouped together as part of the same purchase order. (For example, you may have purchased some licenses, and on the same purchase order, have a separate purchase item listed for maintenance. It is convenient to keep these related through the common purchase order number.)

Mandatory. Digits, letters, and simple punctuation marks are accepted (maximum 50 characters). The imported value is visible as Purchase order no in the General tab of the purchase properties, in the Purchase order section.

It is expected that a single purchase order number implies a single vendor, or reseller, against which the purchase order was originally issued.
Processed by Email (Not mandatory) first.last@company.com

Matches an existing user in the system by email address and sets the Processed by value (as recorded on the Ownership Tab in Purchase Properties) for a purchase to this user if a match is found. In the case that there is more than one user in IT Asset Management with a matching email address, active users are matched first. If more than one user is active, the user that existed first is chosen. IT Asset Management will not create new users if there is no existing user with a matching email address, and never overwrites a populated value with an empty value in the event that the uploaded data matches an existing purchase order.
Publisher Adobe The manufacturer responsible for creating and publishing the software. Relevant only for the purchase of software licenses. It is strongly recommended that you include the publisher for software purchases, as an aid to automatic creation of licenses from purchase records. If the value of this column does not exactly match an existing publisher (recorded in the Vendor table of the operations databases, and visible in the web interface under Procurement > All Vendors), a new record is not automatically created, and this record is not imported. First ensure that the publisher exists in the Vendor table, if necessary by importing a spreadsheet that includes the Vendor column (which, in contrast, does trigger the creation of a new record when required).
Purchase Type   Every purchase may have no type or exactly one type, which may be an exact match of any of the following, or of any localized equivalents displayed in the compliance browser (as Purchase type in the General tab of the purchase properties, in the Purchase details section):
  • Disk kit
  • Hardware
  • Hardware maintenance
  • Not set
  • Other
  • Service
  • Software
  • Software baseline
  • Software maintenance
  • Software subscription
  • Software upgrade.

If you leave the column blank for a purchase, or the value you enter does not match one of the existing types in the system, the value Not Set is displayed when you check the purchase properties in the compliance browser.

Five of these values are purely informational, but the following types can trigger specialized handling in the automatic processing of purchases:
  • A blank (converted to Not Set on import) is treated in one of the following ways:
    • If the purchase lists a known SKU, and the SKU purchase type is either Upgrade or Maintenance, then the Purchase type for the purchase is updated to Software Upgrade or Software Maintenance respectively.
    • Otherwise, if there is a previous purchase that referenced the same SKU, the Purchase type is copied from that earlier purchase.
    • Otherwise the purchase is treated as if its type were Software.
  • Software allows for automatic linking of this purchase to an existing software license (if one has been linked to an earlier, matching purchase), or a proposal to create a new license.
  • Software Upgrade allows for automatic linking of this purchase to an existing license for the same product (in an earlier version), and creating a new license for the new version. No new entitlements are added, but the upgraded quantity of entitlements are moved from the old source license to the new upgraded license.
  • Software Maintenance allows the automatic addition of maintenance coverage (either a new period, or extending an existing period) on a pre-existing license.
  • Software subscription allows for automatic listing with expiring licenses that need your attention, as well as entitlement counts driven by comparison of today's date with the effective and expiry dates on each purchase.
Qty 6 A numeric value. Mandatory. This is how many of the same item were purchased at this time.
Tip: A quantity of zero can be imported, but the resulting purchase record does not allow automated processing (since there is zero change). The normal expectation is that you purchased a positive quantity; but you can also use a negative value if (for example) you need to compensate for an earlier error.
Qty Per Unit 5

A numeric value greater than zero. Optional. Default is 1. This is how many individual things (typically, license entitlements) were included in each unit of Qty (or Purchase quantity). For example, suppose you purchased 6 license packs, each containing 5 licenses. In this example, Qty (shown in the web interface as Purchase quantity) is 6, and the Qty Per Unit (Quantity per unit) is 5. The web interface shows the Effective quantity as 30, which is the total number of license entitlements included in the purchase. (All these values are visible in the General tab of the purchase properties, in the Purchase details section.)
Request Date (Not mandatory) 6/12/2017

Sets the Request Date for a purchase (as recorded on the Ownership Tab in Purchase Properties).

Requestor Email (Not mandatory) first.last@company.com

Matches an existing user in the system by email address and sets the Requestor value (as recorded on the Ownership Tab in Purchase Properties) for a purchase to this user if a match is found. In the case that there is more than one user in IT Asset Management with a matching email address, active users are matched first. If more than one user is active, the user that existed first is chosen. IT Asset Management will not create new users if there is no existing user with a matching email address, and never overwrites a populated value with an empty value in the event that the uploaded data matches an existing purchase order.
Request Number (Not mandatory) RN1234

Sets the Request Number for a purchase (as recorded on the Ownership Tab in Purchase Properties).
SKU 65166983AJ45A00 The stock-keeping unit (SKU) code supplied by the publisher or manufacturer of the purchased item. For software license purchases, this is very valuable data, as it allows for automatic creation of appropriate licenses based on this purchase information. Maximum 100 characters, alphanumeric and simple punctuation.
Unit Price 34.95 The value of a single item within this purchase (for example, if you bought Qty 5 for 15.00, the Unit Price is 3.00). Notice that you must not include any currency indicator (such as $ or €). All imported price values are assumed to be in the system default currency, visible in the compliance browser by navigating to System > System Defaults, and opening the Currency Settings tab. Note that, if you have registered multiple currencies for use by your enterprise, you may use the compliance browser to edit the properties of each purchase to change the currency and exchange rate applicable to this (and any) monetary value.

Visible as Quantity nn at unit price in the Financial tab of the purchase properties, in the Cost details section.
Vendor City Software

Mandatory. The name of the reseller (or supplier) against which the purchase order was issued. Maximum 64 alphanumeric characters.

If this text exactly matches the Name property of a vendor already recorded in the system, the purchase is linked to that existing vendor. If not, a new vendor record is created containing only the name (and you might consider completing further details later). In the purchase properties, the Vendor is shown on the General tab, under Purchase order.

Note: If you have multiple purchases tied to the same PO Number (that is, to the same purchase order), then the last imported of these purchases sets the vendor name. Any different values in rows imported earlier are overwritten. An interesting side effect is that, if row 1 (for PO 32) gives the Vendor as Ciyt SOftware, and row 2 (for the same PO 32) gives the Vendor as City Software, the typing error in the first row results in a new vendor record being created for the erroneous name, but the purchases are correctly linked to the real vendor record by the second row. The moral is: avoid typographical errors.

Upload Purchase Data Using IBM Passport Advantage Reports

Select this option to upload the detailed Order History (downloaded from IBM Passport Advantage) to IT Asset Management. Follow these steps:
  1. Go to the Data Imports page (Data Collection > IT Assets Inventory Tasks > Data Imports).
  2. In the Business Data tab, click One-off upload.
  3. Ensure that the Purchase order upload area is expanded (if necessary click on its title, or click Expand all).
  4. Select the IBM Passport Advantage option.
  5. Browse to the Order History report file and click Upload.
    Note: IT Asset Management supports IBM Passport Advantage data upload only in the English language. If you have a license for IT Asset Management for IBM option, IT Asset Management creates both single-product and multi-product licenses while uploading and processing purchase data from IBM Passport Advantage. If you do not have the option license, only the primary application (from a multi-product license) will be linked to the license, and the supplementary application(s) will consume separate license(s).
    IT Asset Management displays the upload status of the last five uploads. For more information on upload status, see Business Data Tab. You can view the status of other upload tasks on the System Tasks page.

Uploading IBM Passport Advantage Purchase Data Using Template

You can upload an IBM Passport Advantage Order History report only if it is in .CSV format. If you do not have the report file in .CSV format, you can upload data using the IBM Passport Advantage specific template. To obtain the template, click the csv link next to Download purchase order templates:. This template contains the same sequence of columns as the standard IBM Passport Advantage Order History report. The template is downloaded from the application server to your local storage where you can insert the data. Populate the template with purchase data, browse to the loaded file, and click Upload. Each row in this data file should represent a distinct purchase, a unique item.

Upload Purchase Data from a Microsoft License Statement

Select this option to upload the Microsoft License Statement report to IT Asset Management. You can use this option to create a new baseline for Microsoft licenses. For more information, see Uploading Purchases from Microsoft License Statement. Follow these steps:
  1. Go to the Data Imports page (Data Collection > IT Assets Inventory Tasks > Data Imports).
  2. In the Business Data tab, click One-off upload.
  3. Ensure that the Purchase order upload area is expanded (if necessary click on its title, or click Expand all).
  4. Select the Microsoft License Statement option. For more information, see Uploading Purchases from Microsoft License Statement.
  5. Set or clear the Accept recommendations and process purchases field to determine how recommendations are handled. These recommendations record your purchases from Microsoft and summarizes your purchases to date.
    • When this check box is clear, the Microsoft License Statement import creates baseline purchase information and finds possible recommendations.
    • When this check box is set, the Microsoft License Statement import creates baseline purchase information, finds possible recommendations, and automatically accepts these recommendations. This option may create new licenses or, if existing identical licenses or SKU's exist, add entitlements to the existing license.
  6. Click the Accept recommendations and process purchases option to allow IT Asset Management to use automatic recommendations (created from Microsoft License Statement) to create matching license records to entitlements.
  7. Browse the report file and click Upload.

    IT Asset Management displays the upload status of the last five uploads. For more information on upload status, see Business Data Tab. You can view the status of other upload tasks on the System Tasks page.

IT Asset Management (Cloud)

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