An import of master data allows you to insert data from other systems into your Xentral database. To do this, the data from your external systems must be exported as CSV files (text files containing all information as comma-separated lists).
First, consider which data you can and want to manually create, and which you want or need to load into the system via import. Factors such as data quantity, volume, fields, and the possibility of data export from existing systems are decisive for classification.
Smaller amounts of data, such as an assortment of a hundred products, can be entered relatively quickly. With corrections, it may even be faster than retrieving, processing, and creating an import template for inventory data. If the volume of data far exceeds manual capacities or complexity, you should consider whether to perform a data import yourself or seek technical assistance from a partner.
Carefully consider your future number ranges for products and addresses to ensure they align with your projected sales order volume for the next year and meet the requirements of your tax office. For example, pay attention to which number ranges your accounting export requires and adjust accordingly if needed. Also, remember that number ranges for Datev, for instance, can only be adjusted at the start of a new fiscal year.
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If you're in e-commerce, also plan to maintain your SKU and external numbers.
You can start entering your data into Xentral right away. It's best to start with a few products and contacts, to get to know Xentral better. You can then conduct some tests in the workflow if necessary. Only when you have finalized the product and contact structures should you begin to enter the entire quantity of your data.
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You can find information about product and contact management in the First steps section of the Implementation guide.
If you have decided against manual data maintenance and want to import data to Xentral, you'll first need to export data from your current system landscape in tabular form: product data, customer data, supplier data.
Get an overview of your database and assess the current data quality. It might be worthwhile to sort out old data and duplicates or remove unused fields. There are likely fields and settings that are used differently or not present in your current system.
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Get an overview of the most important fields and their usage in Xentral and your previous system. You can also take the opportunity to elevate your old data to a new level of quality, well-structured and thought-out. A well-thought-out and solid base-structure can bring process quality and organization to your data and your company in other areas.
Examples of data maintenance include managing product master data and contact master data, as well as handling imports.
Xentral processes your data in CSV format. A CSV file is a special file type that can be created or edited in Excel. Instead of storing information in columns, information in CSV files is separated by commas. While Excel files save data in their own table format, CSV saves information efficiently in a text file.
Note
A CSV file is essentially just a different format and easy to create. It is displayed as text instead of a tabular file, which might make it look more complicated than your usual table. With a few tips, even beginners can save and open files as CSV. When you import a CSV file into your word processing program and open it as an Excel file, you'll get back the familiar table format.
Caution
Data import can be very extensive and may require many process steps and checks. In its entirety, data import can become very complex.
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Import carefully and thoughtfully, preceded by tests on a small-scale dataset. This will save you from having to manually correct thousands of incorrectly imported data.
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Very precisely delineate what you create manually, what you bring in through a data import, and what might later be created via your shop interface in the product and contact master. This helps you maintain an overview and keep your import strategy in focus.
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It's best to follow this order: First customers and suppliers, then products. In the product data, there are fields such as prices or default supplier for which you need the supplier's or customer's number.
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Never go live with an untested system.
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For a successful start, you should allocate sufficient care and time for your onboarding. If you have a larger company and want to carry out a data migration with contact and product data, you should follow the recommended onboarding steps and, for example, carefully consider your strategy for number ranges.
You can obtain information and assistance from the Xentral Onboarding Team or from a partner.
Due to the interconnected nature of data in the ERP system, it's not quite easy to create a checklist that can be consistently worked through from top to bottom. The data of addresses and products cannot be viewed in isolation, for example, prices such as customer-specific prices, purchase prices from various suppliers are reflected in the product structure.
Another important point: not every company needs exactly the same things at the same time. Companies vary in size, revenue, team size, and product range. Within an industry, there are many similarities. However, decisions such as the use of certain modules for workflows and the external module landscape are still very individual.
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In short: It's best to start by writing down some points and then consider which strategy and best practices best suit your project. And of course, there are multiple possibilities and approaches. You can import data in a single large file or in smaller steps divided into smaller subsets.
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Contact master data |
Questions, you can ask yourself for checking |
Possible use cases |
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Customer data |
Which customer data do you need in your new Xentral system? Is there customer data that you do not need in the new system? |
For example, in the B2B sector, you definitely need regular customers with their own debtor numbers. Since they order via email or phone, you want to make sure this part of the contact master is clean and well-maintained. |
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Customer data |
Is there customer data that you do not need in the new system? |
For example, one-time buyers whose data you only need for the generation of a single invoice. Typical B2C customers in e-commerce. You inform your regular customers in this area about news, for example, with HubSpot or a marketing tool. |
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Customer data |
Which data do you need for your process chains, for example, billing address? |
You definitely need the billing and shipping addresses for each new sales order for the generation of documents. The email address for shipping information and for generating parcel labels. The channel through which the sales order was placed, and probably also the payment method, so that you can later make an assignment for your accounting (payment reconciliation). |
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Supplier data |
What amount of data do you have in your previous system? |
Often, the supplier master data is limited to a smaller number of key suppliers. Supplier data rarely comes from an external system. You can manually manage data maintenance for a few suppliers. |
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Supplier data |
Which data do you need for your process chains, for example, delivery address, goods receipt, liabilities? |
For a goods receipt process, you probably need name, address, delivery addresses, purchase prices (tiered pricing, special prices), delivery date, or standard lead time. For a liability, you need data such as address, payment terms, alternative creditor number, tax rate, and bookkeeping account. |
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Number ranges |
Which number ranges have you used so far and why? Are there limitations that are already concerning you today or problems you want to tackle? |
How many digits do you need per year so that your number range does not "overflow"? Do the six-digit document numbers suffice for you, for example, in the SKR04, and is Xentral thus compatible with Datev? Or do you have an e-commerce channel that requires more digits? Do you want to restart the number range per year and, for example, indicate it by a prefix? Or do you want to choose a larger number range and, for example, export and bundle collective debtors for Datev? If you have a B2B business with well-organized data, you should not modify the customer numbers here if they already fit the Datev format. Instead, choose a range for the customer numbers for new channels. For B2B, you can create a separate project "B2B" and assign a number range there. All other channels will then use the central Xentral number range. |
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Product data |
Prices: What data do you need for sales (customers) |
Do you have the same prices for all customers, negotiated group prices, or customer-specific special prices? |
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Product data |
Prices: What data do you need for purchasing (suppliers) |
Do you purchase a specific range of products from each supplier, or do you purchase a single product from multiple suppliers? |
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Product data |
Prices in business processes |
Which data do you need for your internal process chains and monitoring, for example, product prices for sales and product prices for purchasing, or internal cost monitoring? |
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Product data |
Product data from shops and marketplaces |
Which product data do you need for interfaces, for example, to your online shop or Amazon business? (PIM question and which system is the leading system). Product data is often stored in other systems as well. |
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Product data |
Which data do third-party systems need, for example, integration with your fulfiller (3PL, EDI, e-commerce platforms)? |
Inventory data is usually synchronized back to you from fulfillers overnight. Make sure that the warehouse location is included and that the stock levels are adjusted only for the Xentral warehouse of your fulfiller. If a fulfiller manages your entire inventory, you can have the stock levels reported back globally. |
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Shops, marketplaces and fulfillers |
Customer data is often transferred to an ERP system during ongoing operations via third-party systems. This is to create documents and process the workflow in your operations. |
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Tax office, accounting interface |
What requirements does your tax office have regarding accounting exports and number ranges? |
Data your tax advisor needs from you to create the monthly financial statements. Pay attention to the possibility of data transfer, for example, to Datev, by choosing the number ranges, if possible, to match your chart of accounts. |
Contacts should always be imported before product data. Ideally, separate CSV files should be created for customers and suppliers. You can import the most important customer data and, for example, import data like contact persons in a separate file afterward.
Note
The customer number or supplier number can be assigned with the role during the creation of new contacts from the central or another number range. To do so, at least the following information is needed in the import file: customer name, project identifier for the number range assignment, instead of the customer number, the label "new" in the customer number field (the customer number will then be newly assigned. Alternatively, you can also provide a fixed customer number).
The most important import variables for addresses can be found here.
Examples can be found in the article Importing customer data.
Examples can be found in the article Importing supplier data.
Examples can be found in the following articles:
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The most important import variables for products
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Importing prices and price groups: Product import examples
Important
Complex data migrations, data synchronization, and reconciliations with third-party systems (outside of Xentral shop and marketplace standards) and their synchronization fall into the Advanced category. Note that you will need the appropriate interfaces or IT support from your partner for this.
Information on this can be found in the following places: