Importing business data as it should be done

Following the results of the recent customer survey we ran, you all made it pretty clear that one of the most interesting things you would like to see on this blog are practical guides about how to get specific things done in megaventory. Moreover, we’ve asked you to share a typical use scenario in which megaventory makes life easy for you – and lucky for us many of you did. So in this series of posts we’re combining the two types of information into one neat type post: practical guides for typical megaventory uses.

First up, is importing your data into megaventory of course.

Generally speaking there are two ways to get your data into the service. Firstly, you can try creating the entire data structure piece by piece experimenting as to what works best. This is something you probably need to go through to familiarize yourself with megaventory – but it’s not necessary.

Megaventory’s step-by-step tutorial

Secondly, or when you’re confident enough about the initial data you’ve already uploaded, you can start massively uploading information. This is done with our handy import tool which covers most of the data that can be stored in megaventory.

Step1 of the Data Import process of Megaventory

It’s really easy to get things online. Say, for example, we want to upload all our suppliers. We click the second icon and proceed to download the special spreadsheet file by megaventory.

Step2 of the Data Import process of Megaventory (here importing Suppliers)

Upon opening it we see its columns have already been constructed appropriately so all we have to do is fill in as many rows as necessary.
 

Needless to say, fields that need predetermined values are filled in by drop-down menu to avoid problems due to a typo for example. Obviously, any data entry mistakes can also be corrected afterwards individually.
 

And as expected once the data has been entered (or copy-pasted) we just need to upload the file. With a bit of preparation you could have your entire business online and ready in a few minutes!

Uploading the Data

The importing feature is especially useful in two cases. For one thing when you’re just starting to insert your business in megaventory, you can do a couple of test imports manually (i.e. individually) and once you get the hang of it import with the tool the bulk of your data – and save loads of clicking.

For another, when you have to import things regularly (e.g. new contacts or products) it can be a huge timesaver if you want to process data entry in batches. Just let some of the work gather, enter it all in the interim spreadsheet provided by megaventory and upload the lot in a few clicks.

“The importing tool is extremely useful.”, laxtongroup.com

Who would use the import tool? Take for example laxtongroup.com, a company selling kiosk and touch screen related products among others. With various types of products, components and items to keep track, inventory management software is a must.

Also, given that their products move relatively fast, the need to keep their catalogues up-to-date is no surprise and need to make heavy use of mass importing regularly.

Depending on the size of your company and the turnover times of your business such simple features can save considerable time and effort from trivial tasks (while also preventing silly errors), resources that can then be redirected to more important things.