Data Import Order

You can use Import Option Sets to define the order in which data from different tables should be imported into SBM. For details, refer to Working With Import Option Sets.

The order in which you import data is important due to the relational nature of the SBM database. For example, you should import data into supporting auxiliary tables before importing data into primary tables if you need to import more than identifying text labels into the supporting auxiliary tables.

The following scenarios describe why you may or may not choose to import supporting data into auxiliary tables before importing data into primary tables:

• You need only a "title" identifier. If your source data contains a text or choice field that contains information you want to move to a Relational field in SBM, you may want to create the relational auxiliary table in the receiving database, create the Relational field for your workflow, and map the Text or Selection field to the new Relational field. The wizard creates new items in the auxiliary table, but only the system Title field is populated.

  For example, if you want to establish a Company relational field in your workflow and the source data is stored in a Tracker Choice field or a Text field from another database, you can create a Company Relational field in your workflow that points to the system Companies table. When you import data, map the source Company field to the SBM Company field. SBM attempts to match the incoming text to the system Title field of the Companies table and sets up the correct relationships between the imported primary items and the Companies table. You can later manually add information to each Company record in the Companies table.

• You need full records from an auxiliary table in a source SBM database. If you are importing primary items that use Relational fields to pull information from auxiliary tables, you should import data in the auxiliary tables before importing data in the associated primary table. In this case, you create the auxiliary table in the receiving database, create the Relational field for your workflow, and then map the Relational field in the source database to the Relational field in the receiving database. Since the source is an SBM database and mapping is available, cross-reference maps are used to establish the specific foreign key to the Companies table and when no cross-reference exists, SBM matches the incoming text name to the system Title field of the receiving table.

  Important: If you intend to import Contacts table records from another SBM database, this data should always be imported before any other data.