Learn about Reference Data in Maica
Reference Data is essentially any flat/static data that is used across Maica to power it's functionality. This data is consistent, predefined, and used throughout the system to standardise operations and prepare your Maica instance for Service Delivery.
Reference data is important for Service Delivery in Maica because it populates and powers key functions like Appointments, Billing, and Rostering. For example, you cannot schedule an Appointment without having the necessary Reference Data, such as Resources.
There are two distinct stages in the Reference Data lifecycle within Maica, these are:
Both these stages are critical in the successful import of Reference Data into Maica. To learn more about each stage, please refer to the related articles linked above.
Learn how to Import your Reference Data Template into Maica
How do I import my Template?
Once you have completed your Reference Data Template, you can import it into Maica using Maica's Data Import Utility Tool.
First, you must export your Template as a CSV file.
Your Reference Data Template will be comprised of many tabs (one for each Data Object supported), you can only import one tab at a time into Maica and it must be in a CSV format.
Once you have exported your Template out of Google Sheets or Excel (whichever you prefer to use), you will be ready to import it into Maica.
To complete the import, use the Data Import Utility Tool that is described here.
When importing Reference Data into Maica you must select Maica - Reference Data Import Handler
as the Flow Setting
. If you are unsure what a Flow Setting
is, please refer to our article on the Data Import Utility. To learn more about the logic behind the Flow itself, click here.
Once you have chosen the correct Flow Setting
and uploaded your file, but before you finalise your import, we recommend ticking the Check Only
box. As explained in the Data Import Utility article, the Check Only
checkbox replicates the data uploading process. This means you may check for mistakes before transferring data to Maica. If there are any errors, you will get an Error Report.
Once you have checked and finalised your file, uncheck this box and press import to start the upload process.
Allowing Parallel
uploads will speed up the process, but we do not suggest it because it may cause Record Lock difficulties.
After you have imported your data, you will see a successful display message indicating that the import has been completed, as shown below.
After each import execution, Maica will display the number of successful rows as well as the number of failed rows. If there are any failures, an Error Report will be available for download.
The error report will include a complete list of failed rows as well as an explanation for each failure.
You can then repair any data errors and reload the failed rows to finish your data load.
Please refer to the table below for an outline of some common errors that may arise when importing your Reference Data Template
Due to relationships between Objects in Maica, some Data Objects being imported may have a Related Record Name
field. This essentially means that certain Objects will have columns in their Reference Data Template that call for the Name Value of a related Object. This Value represents a lookup field linking the record to another related record. In the Reference Data importing process we use the Name Value from the related Object to search for, find and relate the imported record.
As a result, certain Objects need to be imported prior to others that may be searching for a related record.
For example: A Price Book Entry
will rely on a Product
, hence Products
must be imported into Maica prior to Price Book Entries
. This is because you need Products
to create a Price Book Entry
, which is shown in the Price Book Entry Template through the Related Record Name
column of Product Name
, as shown below. Hence, when importing Price Book Entries
into Maica, the system will search for the related Products
that must have been previously imported.
Please note that Price Book Entries
may be called Price List Entries
in your Maica instance, and Products
may be called Support Items
. The logic is unchanged.
The logic below outlines the Data Object relationships and the required import order of each of them.
Contacts
(Participants) are not imported using the Reference Data Template, but rather configured directly in Maica. However, it is important that you configure your Contacts
prior to Importing Reference Data.
The above logic shows that each object (or group of objects) on the right depends on the object (or group of objects) on the left. Arrows (->
) indicate the dependency, meaning the object on the left must be imported before the object on the right can be correctly imported or used.
The table below describes some common errors and solutions that can occur when attempting to import a Reference Data Template into Maica.
Click here to view and download the complete Reference Data - Common Errors sheet
Learn about the Reference Data Template required to Import your Data into Maica
Maica provides you with a spreadsheet template in which you may enter your data. This template is called the Maica Reference Data - Import Templates
and it contains a number of tabs for typical Data Objects in Maica that Reference Data may be beneficial for.
Each Data Object has a unique set of fields that need to be populated, hence the corresponding tab is specific to any particular Object. Within each tab, each row in the spreadsheet corresponds to a Salesforce record, while the columns correlate directly to Salesforce attributes.
It is crucial that the first row within each tab is not modified. Modifying or adding columns in the first row will result in errors when attempting to import your data into Maica.
The template's objective is to allow you to bulk load the necessary reference data for Maica to get you up and running.
You can download two versions of the template below:
To download a Template, click on the Template Name in the table above. Once you have opened it, simply create your own copy and start populating it.
As mentioned above, Maica objects contain attributes of varying Data Types. So, to begin populating a Reference Data Template, lets use an example object: Appointment Services
.
When preparing your reference data for loading, there are several formatting requirements that you must follow to guarantee that your data is loaded successfully.
In the downloadable template above, each column will come pre-populated with a value for each column letting you know what Data Type is expected. Remember, each column represents an attribute of the specific object. Below shows the pre-populated columns and rows for the Appointment Services
object:
Here we can see Line 1
contains the attributes of the Appointment Services object, and Line 2
contains the required Data Type to input in order to populate that attribute.
So, in order to populate the attributes, we first must understand the Data Types. The table below explains each Data Type in more detail:
Now, these Data Types must be practically applied to the attributes shown in Line 1
. In order to understand the formatting or values of any field, you can follow the below steps:
Setup
For our example we are using the Appointment Service
Object. First, you must go to the Setup
by clicking the Cog
(as shown below) followed by clicking Setup
.
Once in the Setup, head to the Object Manager by clicking the following.
Then, use the Quick Find to search for the required Data Object. In this case: Appointment Service
.
Fields & Relationships
After you have selected the required object, click the Fields & Relationships
tab and find the attribute you are wanting to understand the formatting or values for. For example, let's say within Appointment Services
tab of our template you want to populate the Available Sections
column. You can see from the template that the Data Type for this column is Multi-Select Picklist Values
, but you may be wondering what these values are. So, in the Fields & Relationships
of Appointment Services
, find Available Sections
and select it, as shown below.
Within Maica you can also find or confirm the Data Type
for any Field
, as shown above.
Values
to populate your TemplateAfter you have found the required Field
, in this case Available Sections
, scroll down to see the Values
and their associated API Name
, as shown below.
Now, you can see the required information to populate your column within the Template.
For any Picklist, always use the Values API Name
when populating your template.
Ensure you always refer back to the required formatting of the Data Type when populating the template, as shown above.
Please see below for an exmaple of how this column would be populated within the Template with the correct values and formatting.
If you require custom Picklist
values, you can add them in the Values
section of the Data Object
by simply clicking New
.
Template Type | Description |
---|---|
Data Type | Description |
---|---|
This is a blank template ready to be populated with your data.
This a template with pre-populated data that you can refer to when populating your own template.
Object API Name
This column represents the Data Object you are loading for and must be populated with a valid API name of a Maica Object. It’s required on every row to tell the import flow which object to retrieve and write the values to.
Related Record Name
Any column that references the Name value of a related Object represents a lookup field linking the record to another related record. In the Reference Data loading process we use the Name value from the related object to search for, find and relate the loaded record. In the above example, this is shown in the Related Client Note Template Name
. Note, this may be called Participant Note
in your Maica instance.
If there is more than one record with the same Name value, the import for this row will fail. (The flow can be easily extended to reference IDs of records for loading purposes if required.)
Text Value
This field accepts free text values, however it is important to check if there are any length restrictions. To do so: Go to Setup > Object Manager > {Object Name} > Fields & Relationships and look at the field you are populating. This process is further explained below.
Rich Text Value
As per the Text Value but allows loading in of HTML formatted text.
Number Value
This field accepts numbers values, however it is important to check if there are any length restrictions or if decimals are allowed. To do so: Go to Setup > Object Manager > {Object Name} > Fields & Relationships and look at the field you are populating. This process is further explained below.
Picklist Value
This field only accepts valid available and active values from the Object Picklist. check the field under Setup > Object Manager > {Object Name} > Fields & Relationships > {Field Name} to check for valid, active values. This process is further explained below.
Multi-Select Picklist Values
As above, but allows for many values to be loaded. Each value must be valid and be separated by a semicolon ;
.
Date Value
This field only accepts valid Date format values. Your Salesforce Org setting will determine the acceptable default date format, but typically this will be dd/mm/yyyy
or mm/dd/yyyy
.
Date/Time Value
This field only accepts valid Date/Time format values. Your Salesforce Org setting will determine the acceptable default date/time format, but typically this will be dd/mm/yyyy
, hh:mm:ss
.
Boolean Value
Only valid TRUE
values will be accepted (field is set to FALSE by default). (TRUE, true, True, 1, yes, Yes, YES).