Rules for Creating, Updating and Changing Data

Each field in a Data Exchange file holds information that when imported does one of the following:

• Creates new data
• Updates existing data
• Changes unique identifiers (IDs).

To accomplish these tasks, the system looks for certain IDs that act as keys that tell the system which accounts, locations, service points, meters and endpoints go with the data. That is why Account_ID, Location_ID, Service_Point_ID (when there is more than one service at a given location), Meter_ID and Endpoint_SN are required.

When creating and updating data in your system, you can:

• Import all of your existing data, new data and revised data in one Data Exchange file
  • Remember the importer only updates fields containing data changes and that successive imports of the exact same data are ignored
• Import one Data Exchange file that contains only new or revised data
• Use multiple Data Exchange files to create or update any combination of data fields, for example, dedicate one Data Exchange file to update meters, another Data Exchange file to open and close accounts and a third Data Exchange file to adjust location information.TIP: Use meaningful file names that let you see at a glance the task it performed.

Each row of data in those Data Exchange files must include the IDs required to associate the data with the appropriate accounts, locations, service points, meters and endpoints.

Use the Data Exchange Rules table below to see which IDs are needed to create or update any given data field. See Updating IDs for detailed instructions on how to change or correct IDs.

Data Exchange Rules