Instrument Inventory Import Overview

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. If you are importing data for more than one school, please combine all of the schools' inventories into one import template and use the Manager column to designate the school for each instrument. Since the Instrument Inventory can only accommodate instruments, equipment such as electronics and furniture cannot be imported - see the bottom of this document for a full list of what Instrument Types are accepted.

Step 1:

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.

Please note that our support team highly recommends that you complete this process in Google Sheets - Excel and other spreadsheet editors can apply automatic formatting that may not be compatible with our importer.

CutTime Instrument Inventory Import Sheet

Step 2:

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.

Please note: The import template is pre-formatted to help you ensure your data matches the formatting that our importer will accept. This formatting will be broken if you paste your data into the template normally (CTRL+V/Command+V). To ensure the template's formatting is not overwritten, please Paste Values Only (CTRL+Shift+V/Command+Shift+V in Google Sheets, right click>paste special>text in Excel) when pasting data into the template.

Step 3:

When you have finished populating your CutTime Import Template, you are ready to share it with out support team for verification.

In Google Sheets:

1. Click Share in the top right corner
2. Under "General access", change to "Anyone with the link" and choose "Editor". This will ensure our support team can make adjustments to the file if needed.
3. Click "Copy link"
4. Email this link to support@gocuttime.com with the subject "Instrument Inventory Import - {your school name}"

In Excel:

1. Click File>Save As and add the name of your school to the title of the file
2. Attach this file to an email and send to support@gocuttime.com with the subject "Instrument Inventory Import - {your school name}"

Once you have emailed your populated import template to support@gocuttime.com, one of our support team members will review your file and finalize your import. If there are any issues with the file, our support team would reach out and resolve those issues before finalizing 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. This is easier to do in Excel than in Google Sheets, but it's common to have two or more rows in your spreadsheet for the same instrument. 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.

Instrument Types Accepted

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.