How to change data import settings in PATorganiser

There are 3 options to import data into PATorganiser, and these methods can be changed by going into Settings > Data in the app.

Data Import Options

The options for importing data are:

Unique Asset IDs
Site/Location/Asset ID Matching
Track for Future
None

Unique Asset IDs

If the Asset ID exists in PATorganiser, it will be matched. This setting should only be used if Asset ID's are unique in your database.

Site/Location/Asset ID Matching

If the same Site/Location/Asset ID exists in PATorganiser, it will be be matched. This should be reliable for in-house businesses and test and tag businesses, except in the unlikely event that two clients have the same site/location/asset ID.

Track for Future

The Site/Location/Asset ID will be remembered against the system generated Asset. If the same combination comes through in a subsequent import, it will be matched. This is the default behaviour, but this method won't work though if the path changes on the device/system the data is being imported from.

None

No mapping will be applied. Data will be placed in Unknown Client/Site/Location depending on the information provided.

Data Workflow Diagram

The following diagram represents the data workflow in PATorganiser. Some key notes to keep in mind whilst interpreting the diagram:

Asset IDs must be unique within a location

Moving an asset into a location that has the same asset id already will merge these results

Asset IDs do not have to be unique across the whole dataset - this is especially true for Professional Testing companies who may have multiple clients using the same Asset IDs
Different testing devices can have more or less information about the hierarchy of an asset e.g some testers have Client, some don't
PATorganiser can now move assets within the hierarchy based on new information from a testing device. Within the Settings \ Data screen, enable the Unique Asset IDs and Move Matched Assets on Import settings.

Note: These settings can be changed whenever appropriate from within the Settings page. They can be enabled/disabled ahead of any particular upload if you know the situation makes sense. For example, you may not want Unique Asset IDs on in all cases, but if you know that a particular customer import file has unique IDs, you can enable the setting prior to import, import the data, with the data then matching on the IDs only, and revert the setting afterwards.