Connector data

The Sage Network imports data from many different financial and accounting systems. This page documents the data we import from each program and how it works. If you’re planning to import your own data into the Sage Network, this page will teach you how to do it.

Uploading your own data

The Sage Network handles deduplication and merging for incoming data streams. To import your own data, you can contact the Upload Sync File API. This API takes, as input, a ZIP file containing one or more CSV files. This API will do the following work:

• Create a SyncRequestModel object to track this sync
• Inspect the ZIP file to make sure it is readable
• Inspect the CSV files in the zip to make sure they are all readable and that all columns match the column names in the data definitions (see below for Connector Data Examples)
• Reads in all data from the CSV files and compares it to existing data in your account using Sage Network’s Identity Columns rules:
  • Inserts each record that has a new and unique AppEnrollmentId + ErpKey field
  • Updates each record that matches an existing record’s AppEnrollmentId + ErpKey field
  • If a record matches an existing record, and no data is different, no action is taken
• After all records have been processed, updates the SyncRequestModel with information about the results of the import task

The Sync API is designed to handle either a full data import or a delta file containing records changed since a specific date. If you choose to import data using a Delta mechanism, we recommend using overlapping time windows due to time zone and clock skew issues. Where possible, Sage Network encourages you to load a daily delta file containing all changes from the past 48 hours.

After a Sync is complete, you can use Retrieve Sync or Query Syncs to fetch back information about your recent Sync tasks. This information contains logs of all the problem reports that occurred and any data discrepancies that could not be resolved.

What is an ErpKey?

All records that are imported from outside Sage Network are assumed to have a primary key. Sage Network calls this primary key an ErpKey, since ERP is a common acronym for an enterprise resource or planning system.

Whenever you import data into Sage Network, you should look at the documentation for the originating system and find out what that system thinks of as its primary key. Whatever that primary key is, you should put it in the ErpKey column for that record.

The ErpKey has a variety of uses:

• If you send data for a new ErpKey, Sage Network will create a record for you.
• If you send data for that same ErpKey again, Sage Network will update the record with the new information.
• If you want to link an Invoice to a Company, you can put the company’s ErpKey value into the invoice’s CompanyErpKey column.

Connector Data Examples

We have published data definitions for the import models for each data type online, and we’ve also published example files in Microsoft Excel formats for many of them. Right click on any of the links below to download these example files.