Table of Contents

17.09. Importing assets

Assets are imported directly from Excel spredsheets so there is no need to export data from the spreadsheet to a tab delimited text file first (as you need to do for other imports).

Import spreadsheet format

The first row of the spreadsheet is for the column headers and is not imported.

The first 34 columns (up to, and including column AH, “Notes”) represent standard asset fields in mSupply and the column headers for these are completely ignored in the import. Any columns after that are for asset properties and their headers are important; those headers must be in this format:

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Property name (Property type)

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where Property name is the description the property will be given and Property type is one of “Text”, “Date” or “Drop down list”.

For example, a column header of Project name (Drop down list) will represent a drop down list property with the description Project name.

During the import process, if any properties or entities (like asset locations) do not exist, they will be created. If any options for drop down list properties or standard asset drop down lists (categories) are found not to exist, they will also be created.

The import spreadsheet must contain these columns in this order (Description and Current status are mandatory, the others are all optional):

Column number Column letter Field Description
1 A Code 255 alphanumeric characters. A code that the asset can be recognised by
2 B Description Mandatory. 255 alphanumeric characters. The name the asset will have and be recognised by throughout the system
3 C Make 255 alphanumeric characters
4 D Model 255 alphanumeric characters
5 E Serial number 255 alphanumeric characters
6 F Supplier name 255 alphanumeric characters. Name of the company/person who supplied the asset
7 G Purchase order number 255 alphanumeric characters
8 H Purchase order date Valid date in current operating system format. The date the purchase order to buy the asset was confirmed
9 I Acquisition date Valid date in current operating system format
10 J Next maintenance due date Valid date in current operating system format. The date the next maintenance is due to be carried out on the asset
11 K Disposal date Valid date in current operating system format. The date the asset will be or was disposed of
12 L Last verification date Valid date in current operating system format
13 M Location code 20 alphanumeric characters. The code the location name will have. Will be matched against the names currently in the database. If a name with this code does not exist, one will be created with the name provided in the Location name field. If the Location name field is empty the name will be created with the code as its name. This field is mandatory if you want mSupply to create the name.
14 N Location name 255 alphanumeric characters.
15 O Asset user name 255 alphanumeric characters. The name of the asset user in the format “last name,first name”. Will be created if the user does not exist as a contact of the location (the first and last names only are used to determine whether the asset user exists. Phone number and email address are ignored in the check).
16 P Asset user phone number 255 alphanumeric characters
17 Q Asset user email 255 alphanumeric characters
18 R Custodian location 255 alphanumeric characters. Where the custodian of the asset (the main person responsible for it) is located
19 S Custodian name 255 alphanumeric characters. The name of the custodian
20 T Custodian phone number 255 alphanumeric characters
21 U Custodian email 255 alphanumeric characters
22 V Current status Mandatory. 255 alphanumeric characters. Will be created if it doesn't exist
23 W Proposed status 255 alphanumeric characters. The proposed next status of the asset. Will be created if it doesn't exist. Please note that there is no way of telling mSupply what proposed statuses are allowed to follow which current statuses during import. This can only be done manually in the asset settings (see the 21.01. Assets setup page for details). During import all proposed statuses are assumed to be valid and will not be checked. There are, however, some important exceptions:
1. If the current status of an asset is designated to be a final status, any proposed status will be ignored.
2. If an imported asset has a current status which has some possible proposed statuses assigned, if the proposed status is not included in these, it will be added to them.

So, be careful with the proposed statuses in the import file: you could make a mess if you have already set up which statuses can follow which and you don't follow that in the import file.
24 X Type 255 alphanumeric characters. Will be created if it doesn't exist
25 Y Condition 255 alphanumeric characters. Will be created if it doesn't exist
26 Z Purchase price Number, currency. The cost of the asset when it was purchased
27 AA Purchase costs Number, currency. Any costs that are ot be added ot the purchase proce to arrive at the total value of the asset to be depreciated
28 AB In service date Valid date in current operating system format. The date the asset starts to depreciate from
29 AC Useful lifespan (months) Number, integer. The number of months the asset can be used for
30 AD Disposal value Number, currency. The value of the asset at the end of its useful life
31 AE Insurer name 255 alphanumeric characters
32 AF Insurance policy number 255 alphanumeric characters
33 AG Insurance renewal date Valid date in current operating system format. The date the insurance should be renewed by
34 AH Notes Lots of alphanumeric characters! Any other information that needs to be stored against the asset
35 onwards AI onwards User-defined property columns You can add user-defined property columns in any order from column AI onwards. Column header must be in the format “Property name (Type)” where Property name is the name of the property and Type is the type of the property (either Date, Text or Drop down list). If the property does not exist it will be created and if the option of a Drop down list property does not exist it will also be created.

Here is an example spreadsheet you can use (contains no property columns, only the standard mSupply columns): asset_import_blank_template.xlsx

When entering dates in the spreadsheet, make sure they are counted as text in their cells. Sometimes Excel will autoconvert dates to date or numerical format and then they will import into mSupply as blank dates. You can make sure that dates will import correctly by using the row preview functionality (see below) - if the dates look correct here then they will import correctly.

Doing the import

Go to the File > Import > Import assets menu and you will be asked to select the import file from a file window. After you have selected the file (if it is valid) you will be shown this window:

mSupply uses the code field to determine whether the asset being imported is a duplicate; an asset with the same code as one already in the database is determined to be a duplicate. Any assets with no code are ignored during duplicate checking i.e. an asset with no code can never be a duplicate and will always be imported as a new asset. In the If duplicate codes are detected section you tell mSupply what to do if it encounters a duplicate asset during the import:

The Field column of the table shows you all the columns that mSupply has detected in your import file, the Value column shows the values it has found in the cells for that row of the spreadsheet. You can move through the rows of the spreadsheet using the Previous and Next buttons. If you try to go beyond the first or last row of the spreadsheet mSupply will let you know.

You can carry out the import by clicking on the Import now button or cancel it by clicking on the Cancel button.

When the import has finished you will be shown a message telling you how many assets were imported and how many rows of the spreadsheet were skipped, ignored or failed.

All the assets created by the import will have the text “Created by import on xx/xx/xxxx” (where xx/xx/xxxx is the date of the import) appended to the end of their Notes field.



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