The Entity Upload Utility spreadsheet creates a worksheet for each entity you selected when downloading the spreadsheet to your hard drive. For example, if you mark the check boxes for Organizations, IT Applications and Custom Entity01, you would see three worksheets in the downloaded spreadsheet, one for each selected entity.
However, if you select the Enable Linking: Download Data for selected entities to link check box, a worksheet will be created for each potential linkage between selected entities. For example, if you marked check boxes for Organizations, IT Applications and Custom Entity01, you would see the following worksheets in the downloaded spreadsheet:
Org-ITApp (To enable linking between an organization and IT application)
Org-Custom01 (To enable linking between an organization and Custom Entity01)
ITApp-Custom01 (To enable linking between an IT application and Custom Entity01)
All fields within each worksheet are color coded to assist users in completing the utility. The Action field is a required field and identifies the operation that will be performed on the data (i.e. create, update, or delete). Other fields may be required or optional, depending on how the administrator configured the fields for the selected entity using the C-form in the Governance Portal, prior to downloading the spreadsheet.
Following are some key implementation considerations:
Hidden Worksheets - Each Entity spreadsheet has certain hidden worksheets which must NOT be tampered with. Any modification in these may result in a processing error and an unsuccessful upload.
Renaming Worksheets - You may rename the spreadsheet while downloading it your desktop. But you must NOT rename any worksheet within the spreadsheet.
Duplicates - The first step in the data conversion process is the removal of unnecessary duplicate values. Occasionally, records can be double entered or values can be repeated (due to human error, different abbreviations, etc.). Duplicates should be identified by sorting through the data and then carefully removed.
Accuracy - In systems that have been in operation for several years, data can often become corrupted or inaccurate over time. By scanning carefully through the data, it is possible that all of the records are valid and current. If there is data present that is no longer needed, remove it from the system. If there is data present that is inaccurate or not current, update it accordingly. Only current and accurate data should be uploaded into the new system.
Spelling - Spell-checking is a simple step that is often overlooked. If possible, run an automated spell-checker on the data to identify and correct spelling mistakes. If the data cannot be spell-checked in the host system, spell-check it once it has been extracted, using Excel or similar.
Spacing - In addition to spelling and accuracy, spaces in words or values are interpreted like any other character in the system. Therefore, it is especially important to remove additional or erroneous spaces from data. For example, a frequency value of “Weekly” is seen as something completely different and distinct from “Weekly ” (with the trailing space at the end), even though they may look similar. Spaces are often hard to spot, and generate duplicate values that could be overlooked. When data is uploaded, the system (actually SQL) automatically cleans trailing spaces and double spaces between words. This can be problematic when attempting to link data through the utility. The reason? When the data is uploaded, the erroneous spaces are removed, but they still may exist within the Excel spreadsheet when attempting to link two data objects together. Thus, when attempting to create the linkage, the system is unable to recognize the values to be linked since there is no longer a corresponding name in the system. BEFORE uploading data, all trailing and double spaces should be cleaned from the Excel spreadsheets by using the TRIM function.
Special Characters - In a similar way to spacing, special characters can also affect the uniqueness of values, and therefore need to be used consistently. For example, “ACME & Co” is different from “ACME and Co”. Additionally, the placement of special characters in a value can cause issues. Be careful to check the placement and consistent usage of dashes “-”, colons “:”, periods “.”, etc.
Key Implementation Considerations 