About importing in-house expenses and time
In some cases, you record in-house expenses or time in a file outside of Ajera, such as a Microsoft Excel file, that you then import into Ajera.
This topic describes how to set up the file that you import to Ajera.
The software exporting the data often provides the comma-separated values (.csv) file that you import to Ajera. A third-party vendor or Ajera consultant ensures that the file is set up properly so you can import it into Ajera.
Data you can import
The file must be in a .csv file. The import file can consist of the columns listed in the table below. The columns can be in any order, but the order must be the same for every row of the file.
| Note: |
Do not use the Delete key or the right-click > Clear Contents command. These functions do not delete all traces of content, and an error will occur during the import process. |
For data that is redundant, you can use only one column or the other. For example, if you include the Activity Key, Ajera does not allow you to include the Activity Description.
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In-house expenses import file options |
Time import file options |
|---|---|
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Activity Description Activity Key Billing Amount Billing Rate Billing Units Cost Amount Cost Rate Date Notes Phase Description Phase ID Phase Key Project Description Project ID Project Key Units |
Activity Description Activity Key Date Employee Key Employee Name Employee Type Description Employee Type Key End Time Hours Hours Type Notes Overhead Description Overhead Key Phase Description Phase ID Phase Key Project Description Project ID Project Key Start Time |
Key fields
A key field
is a one-to-one match with the Ajera database. You may prefer to use the key field instead of the description field. When you use a key field, you eliminate import errors due to typos, misspellings, and so on.
To use Ajera's key fields in the import file, you can write a query of the Ajera database listing phases and activities. Another option is to modify the Transaction inquiry so it contains only the key, such as the phase key and activity key; you can then export it to Microsoft Excel and save it as a .csv file.
When all phases or activities are the same
If all phases are the same, or all activities are the same, you do not need to include a column for them in your import file. There is an option in the Ajera import where you can identify the specific phase or activity, and therefore, assign it to all the entries in the file.
Data you do not need in the import file
Ajera can automatically create some columns based on related columns, so you do not need to include them in your import file.
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If your import file has a column for |
It does not need a column for |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Project Key |
Project Description Project ID Phase Key |
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| Project Description |
Project Key Project ID Phase Key |
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| Phase Key |
Project Key Project Description Project ID Phase Description Phase ID |
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| Phase Description |
Phase Key Project ID |
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| Phase ID |
Phase Key Phase Description |
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| Employee Name | Employee Key | ||
| Employee Key | Employee Name | ||
| Employee Type Description | Employee Type Key | ||
| Employee Type Key | Employee Type Description | ||
| Activity Description | Activity Key | ||
| Activity Key | Activity Description | ||
| Overhead Description | Overhead Key | ||
| Overhead Key | Overhead Description | ||
| Units |
Billing Units, if you want the billing units to automatically equal the cost units
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| Billing Units |
Units, if you want the cost units to automatically equal zero
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Text entries
The capitalization of letters in the text (such as upper case or sentence case) for entries in the import file does not need to exactly match the entry in Ajera.
However, the text in the import file must include any spaces between words, such as for Schematic Design.
When subphase descriptions are the same
If some project subphases have the same description and your import file includes the Phase Description or Phase ID column, enter the full phase path for those subphases in the import file, not just the description. This way, Ajera can differentiate between the subphases.
Be sure to format the phase path as <phase description>\\<subphase description> (for example, Schematic Design\\Interior Architecture\\Documents\\March). Separate each phase description and subphase description with two backslashes.
