Instrument Inventory Import Overview

Table of Contents

Video Walkthrough

Accepted Instrument Data

Steps for Import

1. Access Template
2. Populate Data
3. Save as CSV
4. Upload and Import
   1. Partial Imports

Suggestions and Best Practices

List of Instrument Types

Video Walkthrough

Accepted Instrument Data

To import your Instrument Inventory into CutTime, you will first need to populate an import template containing the formatting accepted by our system. See the screenshot below for a list of the available fields in our Instrument Inventory, the type of data accepted, and limitations on what data will be accepted by the system. Since the Instrument Inventory can only accommodate instruments, equipment such as electronics and furniture cannot be imported. If you are looking to import equipment instead, you can view the following article for detailed instructions - see the bottom of this document for a full list of what Instrument Types are accepted.

Steps for Import

Step 1: Access Template

Click the link below to access our import template. This is a read-only link, so you will either need to make a copy into your own Google Drive (recommended) by clicking File -> Make a copy or download and edit the sheet in excel or another spreadsheet editor (not recommended) by clicking File -> Download.

Step 2: Populate Data

Copy and paste (values only - see note below) your Instrument Inventory data from your current spreadsheet into the CutTime import template. The column headers in the import template should not be edited.

Step 3: Save as a CSV

When you have finished populating your import template, you are ready to save and upload it to our import helper for verification. The file will need to be in CSV format for our importer.

• In Google Sheets, click File -> Download -> Comma Separated Values (.csv)
• In Excel, click File -> Save As and change the format from Excel Workbook (*.xlsx) to CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv)

Step 4: Upload and import

Once you have your CSV file saved and ready to import, navigate to your Import Data dashboard and click the "Import Instruments" button. Click "Choose File", select the CSV file you just saved, and click "Preview" to open the import helper.

The import helper will generate a table displaying the data from the file that you just uploaded. From this screen you can make any final edits necessary before completing the import.

Valid records will appear in the table without any highlighting. These records can be imported as-is, but you can also edit them as necessary (see below for help editing an instrument).

Invalid records will be highlighted red in the table. These records cannot be imported and must be either edited or skipped before the import can be completed (see below for help editing an instrument). The field(s) that are not accepted will appear with a help tip in the edit form so you can see why it is invalid and make the necessary adjustments.

Skipped records will be highlighted dark gray. Skipped records will not be imported, so if an invalid record is skipped, it would not prevent other valid records from being imported. Both valid and invalid records can be skipped. If you mistakenly skip a record, you can click the edit form again to "Unskip".

To edit an instrument:

1. At the top of your preview, you will see a red box displaying the number of records with an error. Click "Address next error" to open the edit form
2. After you open the edit form, you can make adjustments to any of the fields that were originally imported. Note that the edit form will display "Originally" so you can always reference the data that was imported with the file
3. When you're finished editing, click "Queue row for import" to save the instrument's new record with the data you just edited. Even after you save a record, you can still open the edit form again and see the Original value if necessary.
4. If you'd like to exclude an instrument from the import, you can click "Skip row" instead. Skipped records can also be unskipped. See above for more information about skipped records.

When you have verified all of your instrument records, click the green "Import" button on the top right of your screen to finalize the import, or click "Validate Import" to save the changes you've made before importing. If the button is greyed out, that means you have at least one invalid record that must be either edited or skipped before the import can be finalized - check for any rows that are highlighted red.

Once you click the green "Save and import" button, you're done! Any records that were not skipped will now appear in your Instruments page.

Finishing a Partial Import

If you complete an import that has any invalid or skipped rows, you are able to come back and continue editing or unskip the data from that upload, so you can import those rows that were left out the first time!

1. Navigate to the Import Dashboard page, and find the import log that you'd like to continue
2. Click the "Resume" button on the right side of that row.
3. Make any necessary edits to invalid records or unskip any rows.
4. Validate and Import!

Suggestions and Best Practices

Some tips from our support team as you compile and clean your inventory data:

• Save your original data first! ALWAYS keep a backup of your original inventory file before you start editing. It can be easy to make mistakes when editing data in a spreadsheet editor, and sometimes you won't notice the mistake until you've already worked on it for an hour and it's too late to fix it. Having a backup of the file might not undo an hour's worth of work, but it will ensure that you have a clean source file if you do need to go back and start over or reference your original data.
• Make sure that your naming conventions are consistent. Some common examples seen by our support team include variations on the names of Makes (Selmer vs. Selmer Paris, Buffet vs. Buffet Crampon, Fox vs. Fox Renard, etc.) and misspellings of Makes (Yahama, Gemeinhart, etc.). Using filter and sort functions in your spreadsheet editor can help you locate these inconsistencies and resolve them before importing.
• Check for duplicate records. While Google Sheets is preferred for preparing data, it is often easier to identify duplicate records in Excel. It’s common to encounter two or more rows in your spreadsheet representing the same instrument, so reviewing and cleaning up duplicates beforehand will help ensure a smooth import process. If you're using Excel, you can select the entire column where you have your Serial Numbers and click Conditional Formatting -> Highlight Cells Rules -> Duplicate Values to highlight cells that have the exact same value. This will allow you to see at a glance if you have two instruments in your file with the exact same serial number so you can remove any old records.
• Combine your comments into one field. Our system currently only supports one field for "comments" - the Condition Comment field. If your original file has multiple columns containing different notes or comments about the instrument, you can combine those different comments into one in order to import it. This will ensure that you're carrying as much information as you can from your original file into CutTime.
• Assign a condition to every instrument. Our importer will accept instruments that do not have a condition listed, but in order for a Condition Comment to be imported, a condition must be present. If our support team receives a file that has Condition Comments without Conditions, we will add a placeholder condition of Fair in order to complete the import without losing the comment. Rather than import a placeholder condition, we suggest that you assign a condition to every instrument. You know your instruments better than we do, so even your best guess will likely be closer to reality than our placeholder.
• Unless you know the details for all five Repair columns in the import template, consider adding them as Condition Comments instead. It can be difficult and time-consuming to track down old repair invoices, and doing that for multiple instruments can compound the amount of time it takes you to clean up your file. If you only have certain details about a past repair, you can always import it as a Condition Comment so you still see the notes. For example: If your file says "Repaired spring 2017", we are missing 4 out of the 5 requires fields we need to import a repair - an exact start date, an exact end date, a vendor, and a cost. Importing as a Condition Comment will keep the note that it was repaired with significantly less effort. Then, when your inventory is imported and you begin using the system, you can start adding new repairs as actual Repair records on the instrument since you'll have all the necessary details on hand.

If you have questions during the inventory cleanup and reformatting process, you can reach out to support@gocuttime.com for help - we are happy to answer your questions and help you with challenges that come up.

List of Instrument Types

This list can also be found in the second worksheet of the import template. Note that the Instrument Type column in the import template contains a dropdown list of the available options.