You can import changes to many purchasing categories at once using an Excel file. To do this task, you must have the Manage categories user right (found from System Users > Administrators).

Download the Excel template for purchasing categories:

1. Navigate to Data Management > Purchasing categories.
2. Select the organization for which you want to update the categories.
   Note! You do not need to export everything if only changing things under a specific branch or a single company. If you select only the branch or company that you need to make changes for and then export, the Excel sheet will have less data and will be easier to work with.
3. Click Export to export the purchasing category data as an Excel template.

All category data is in the Excel workbook. The workbook is divided into six sheets, which mostly align with the user interface for purchasing categories.

Update information in the template:

For details about each sheet’s columns and behaviors when updating or deleting, see the Field definitions section.

To add a new row:

1. Create a new row in the sheet.
2. Fill in the mandatory columns, marked with an asterisk (*).
3. Optionally, fill in the other columns.
4. Set the Action column for the new row to UPDATE.
   When imported, the new information is added to the categories.

To delete an existing row:

1. Set the Action column for the row that you want to delete to DELETE.
   Note! You cannot delete a purchasing category if it has any documents associated with it in Basware Procurement. Instead, deactivate the category from Basic data.

To make changes to a sheet’s information (fields that are not key values):

1. Change the values directly for each row that you want to update.
2. Set the Action for each changed row to UPDATE.

To make changes to a sheet’s Key values (see the Field definitions section for the key values on each sheet):

1. Copy all the row information to a new row.
2. Update the key value as needed in the new row.
3. Set the action in the new row to UPDATE.
4. Set the action in the original row to DELETE.
5. Key values are typically used in more than one sheet of the workbook. In all other sheets, follow these same steps to update the changed value.

Import the template

Always import changes on the same level from which you exported the categories.

1. Navigate to Data Management > Purchasing categories.
2. Select the organization for which you want to update the categories.
   Note! When importing changes, most changes are not applied to lower-level organizations. The only exception to this is the category tree itself. If the category tree is changed, the change is in effect for all organizations.
3. Click Import changes.

The import file and import results can be seen in the purchasing categories’ History page. All users with the Manage categories user right can download the import file. History also shows what user and organization level the import was done for.

Validations and possible error messages

When importing the changes, errors can occur due to validations. You can see the error messages from the History page by clicking View error report.

Validation is done on each sheet in order. If the imported category tree is invalid, the import will fail and no updates will be made.

This can be caused by:

• Circular references between parent and child categories
• Duplicate category names or category codes
• Missing category names or category codes

If information in any other sheet is invalid, the import will succeed but the invalid rows will be skipped. You can use the error report to find and fix the error, then re-import the template to fix the issue.

Field definitions

Category

From the Category sheet, you can update the category tree. These changes affect all organizations.

Notes:

• You cannot delete a purchasing category if it has any documents associated with it in Basware Procurement. Instead, deactivate the category from Basic data.
• When a new category is added, it is created for all organizations. By default, the new category is set to active for the organization that you selected on the Purchasing categories page and all lower-level organizations. The category is set to inactive for all other organizations.

Column name	Description
Category name *	The name of the category. This value must be unique.
Category code * - Key value	The code that identifies the category. This value must be unique.
Parent code	The category code of the parent category if this is a sub-category.
Description	A short description of the category.

Basic data

Basic data is defined for each category. A row should exist for each category-organization combination.

Note:

• When a category is set to active, its sub-categories remain inactive unless they are activated separately. When a category is set to inactive, all sub-categories are also deactivated.

Column name	Description
Category code * - Key value	The code that identifies the category. This value must match the value in the Category sheet.
Organization code * - Key value	The code for the organization that this information is defined for. Each category has basic information defined separately for each organization.
Valid from	The start date for the category’s validity period. If this date is in the future, the category will become active on this day for this organization.
Valid to	The end date for the category’s validity period. The category will become inactive on this day for this organization.
Active	Sets if the category is active or inactive. Valid values are True or False. When a category is set to active, its sub-categories remain inactive unless they are activated separately. When a category is set to inactive, all sub-categories are also deactivated.
Owner ID	The ID of the user who owns this category. The format of this ID depends on the Owner ID type.
Owner ID type	Defines what type of ID is used for the owner. Valid values are 0 = Email (default), 1 = Login account, 2 = External code.

Supplier

Here, you can define which suppliers can or cannot use the category. The supplier settings can be different for each organization.

Note:

• The Usage field must be the same for all suppliers in each category-organization combination.

Column name	Description
Category code * - Key value	The code that identifies the category. This value must match the value in the Category sheet.
Organization code * - Key value	The code for the organization that this basic information is defined for. Each category has basic information defined separately for each organization.
Supplier code * - Key value	The code for the supplier that this information is defined for. Each organization can have supplier information defined separately for each category.
Usage	Defines if the supplier listed is included or excluded from the category. This value must be the same for all suppliers listed in the same category and organization. Valid values are 0 (default) = Category can be used by all suppliers, 1 = Category cannot be used by this supplier, 2 = Category can only be used by this and other specified suppliers.
Blocked	Sets if the supplier is blocked for this category and organization. Valid values are True or False.
Supplier class	The class for the supplier when used in this category, for this organization. If blank, defaults to the supplier’s default class.

Account

Account codes can be defined for each category-organization combination, to help guide accounts coding for purchases in this account.

Column name	Description
Category code * - Key value	The code that identifies the category. This value must match the value in the Category sheet.
Organization code * - Key value	The code for the organization that this information is defined for. Each category has basic information defined separately for each organization.
Account code * - Key value	The account code to be associated to this category for this organization.
Default account	Sets if the account is the default account for this category and organization. Only one account can be the default account for each category-organization combination. Valid values True or False.
Tax code	Defines the tax code that applies when the account code is used.
AACC	The account assignment category code.

Note:

• Only one account code can be set as the default account for each category-organization combination. If you want to change a default account, you must remove the existing default. You can do this in a few ways: 
  
  • Option 1: Have an UPDATE row with the existing default account where you set Default to False, then add the new one in another row with Default True. This will give you two accounts in the category.
  • Option 2: Have a DELETE row on the existing default account and then add the new one in another row with Default True.
    
    • Make sure the DELETE rows are above the UPDATE rows. There is no logic when running through the rows - they are processed from top to bottom.
    • Do not try and UPDATE rows that are not unique (Branch or Companies). Updating country levels NO, SE, BE, and so on will not work since the system does not know which one to update.

Task management

From this sheet, you can define the task and task recipients for each category-organization combination.

Note:

• Only one task can be in use for each category-organization combination at a time.

Column name	Description
Category code * - Key value	The code that identifies the category. This value must match the value in the Category sheet.
Organization code * - Key value	The code for the organization that this information is defined for. Each category has basic information defined separately for each organization.
Task name * - Key value	The account code to be associated to this category for this organization.
Task recipient ID *	Defines the user who receives the task. The format of this ID depends on the Recipient ID type. To add more than one recipient to a task, create a new row with identical information and change the task recipient ID.
Task completion – Key value	Defines how the task can be completed. Valid values are 0 (default) = All reviewers must complete the task; 1 = One reviewer must complete the task.
In use – Key value	Sets if this task is active or not for the category and organization. Only one task can be in use for each category-organization combination at a time.
Recipient ID type	Defines what type of ID is used for the recipient. Valid values are 0 = Email (default), 1 = Login account, 2 = External code.

Organization

This sheet is a reference sheet that shows all organizations that are included in the template. No changes.