Data import into Ofbiz

[Kevin M. Myer-2]

Hello,

I am continuing to look at Ofbiz as an option for ERP software for our
company.  I have two cases where I will need to import data into Ofbiz
and I am curious what the best practice recommendation for how to do
this would be.

The first would be during initial setup, when I would be loading our
product catalog.  Would the best method of doing this be to create an
XML Entity Engine file that I import through the WebTools interface?
This process would be performed by me, so ease of import is not a
large issue.

The second would be to import orders from a legacy database
application.  This would be ongoing, until the point in time that the
legacy system is completely replaced by the new ERP solution.  The
legacy system generates an Excel spreadsheet with an order number and
various other data.  This process would be performed by end-users, so
it would either need to be automated, or a very simple step for them
to import a file containing the data.

Thanks for any advice or feedback.

Kevin

[Vince Clark]

Kevin

For the first case, initial setup, the answer is yes. The easiest approach is to import initial data by constructing the xml and then loading it through the web interface in webtools. Of course if you are dealing with a high volume of data it might be necessary to handle this another way.

For the ongoing data import I will make two possible suggestions:
1) Manual process - take the data from the spreadsheet that is generated by the legacy system and drop it into a pre-formatted spreadsheet that generates xml. I usually do this on another tab. So you would take the raw data and drop it into the first tab on the spreadsheet, then have one or more other tabs to generate xml for the various entities that you need to import data.
2) Automated Import Process - This is less error prone than the manual option so the effort may be worthwhile if you will be continuing this for a while. Also allows for more timely importing since you can schedule the process to run as frequently as you want. So the high level scenario would be that you write an OfBiz service that polls a directory where the legacy system dumps the data, then formats that data for import and loads it. You can set the service up as a recurring job and run it as frequently as you like.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin M. Myer" <[hidden email]>
To: [hidden email]
Sent: Friday, January 2, 2009 9:42:50 AM (GMT-0700) America/Denver
Subject: Data import into Ofbiz

Hello,

I am continuing to look at Ofbiz as an option for ERP software for our
company. I have two cases where I will need to import data into Ofbiz
and I am curious what the best practice recommendation for how to do
this would be.

The first would be during initial setup, when I would be loading our
product catalog. Would the best method of doing this be to create an
XML Entity Engine file that I import through the WebTools interface?
This process would be performed by me, so ease of import is not a
large issue.

The second would be to import orders from a legacy database
application. This would be ongoing, until the point in time that the
legacy system is completely replaced by the new ERP solution. The
legacy system generates an Excel spreadsheet with an order number and
various other data. This process would be performed by end-users, so
it would either need to be automated, or a very simple step for them
to import a file containing the data.

Thanks for any advice or feedback.

Kevin

[BJ Freeman]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Basic rule if it static data then use the import.
I use excel to create the xml which saves a lot of typing.

for the dynamic, you can create a datasource for the legacy and use a
delegator. This is a little more fancy but then can use the entity
engine to query the legacy and write to the new database using services.
the services can be then setup in the sand box to run every so often.
you can also update the legacy system using the method.

This approach also means you have to generate the entities for the
legacy database.
I don't think this is documented anywhere, so let me know if you
interested and I will work on putting something on the wiki.

Kevin M. Myer sent the following on 1/2/2009 8:42 AM:

> Hello,
>
> I am continuing to look at Ofbiz as an option for ERP software for our
> company.  I have two cases where I will need to import data into Ofbiz
> and I am curious what the best practice recommendation for how to do
> this would be.
>
> The first would be during initial setup, when I would be loading our
> product catalog.  Would the best method of doing this be to create an
> XML Entity Engine file that I import through the WebTools interface?
> This process would be performed by me, so ease of import is not a
> large issue.
>
> The second would be to import orders from a legacy database
> application.  This would be ongoing, until the point in time that the
> legacy system is completely replaced by the new ERP solution.  The
> legacy system generates an Excel spreadsheet with an order number and
> various other data.  This process would be performed by end-users, so
> it would either need to be automated, or a very simple step for them
> to import a file containing the data.
>
> Thanks for any advice or feedback.
>
> Kevin
>
>

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (MingW32)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFJXnwNrP3NbaWWqE4RAswmAJ9+xsAjhykaiOEUYC+xjD1P1TxiZgCfSdgf
G8lkmQxSmQtX9oI/te+7Qvw=
=Y4Tk
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----