Reviewing Import Results

This is part of a series of articles on Importing Time Sheets with Excel.

In this article, we will discuss the import results screen and how to use it. 

When we import/resubmit a time sheet template, Time Portal will analyze the data within the template and try and find any potential issues. These potential issues, if found, are returned to us in the form of Errors and Warnings. Time Portal also provides us with summary data that helps us determine if the data that will be imported is accurate. Let's review each of these results and understand how it can help us. 

Summary Results

The first and most obvious summary result is the Totals Comparison. This is a quick high level verification that the calculations in the spreadsheet and Time Portal both return the same result.  The first total displayed is the actual written total value in the spreadsheet. This is the value that the spreadsheet calculated while entering data into it. The second total is the total calculated by Time Portal when reading and interpreting the data. These two values should match. If they do not match, then we know that something is incorrect. Please see the article What Could Cause a Totals Mismatch for more information.

Additional information is presented on the Summary Tab as illustrated below.  Use this information to make sure the dates, pay rates, minimum wage rates, piece rates and other information make sense to you before you actually Import the data.

If warnings are found, a small message will be displayed on the import results screen. Warnings do NOT block the import process but, it is highly recommended that the warnings are reviewed/addressed so that the data is imported as we intended it to be. 

Switch to the Detail Tab for a preview of the actual Time Sheet records that will be created from the imported data. The Warnings column identifies assumptions or potential issues encountered when reading rows from the Excel import file.

Errors

As mentioned above, Time Portal will attempt to find any issues prior to importing data. If any errors are found, the result screen is not shown but, instead an error list is provided with all errors found.

Important - All errors must be corrected in order to import the data into Time Portal

Time Portal tries to provide us with as detailed messages as possible to help us quickly find the issues in the spreadsheet to make corrections. The error messages below narrow the issues down by worker and date as well as provides us the reason why the error occurred. Once we have made the needed corrections in the spreadsheet, we will click the "OK" button on the error list and then re-import the spreadsheet. Repeat this process until all errors are resolved. 

As discussed in the topic Creating a New Import, you must click Import Data button to actually generate Time Sheets with Time Sheet records.