Customer Orders import field reference and situation how-tos

What this covers

This article explains which columns to include in a Customer Orders import for common tasks, which fields are required, and what every Customer Orders import field does. It applies to both the [Basic Importer] and the [Admin importer].

Field names below are the Zenventory defaults. If your company renamed fields in the Lexicon, your screens and sample file show your names instead.

Required for a basic order

• Order Number
• SKU
• Quantity
• Shipping Address 1
• At least one of: Account Number, Name, Surname, or Customer Email

All other fields are optional. The Situation how-tos above cover the fields needed for other tasks, like holds, shipped orders, and addresses.

Mapping reference table

This table lists every field on the Customer Orders import mapping screen, in the same order and under the same section headings (Customer Order, Customer, and Item). Use it to decide which of your file's columns to map to each field, and to check that your data is in the right format.

For each field, the table shows:

• What to map this to for Customer Orders: what the field does on the order, customer, or item.
• When is this field required?: whether the field is always needed, needed only in certain cases, or optional.
• Format: the type of value the field accepts, such as text, number, date, or Y/N, and its character limit.

Some fields, like Userfield1 to Userfield3, MyList1, MyList2, and Warehouse Name, only show on the mapping screen when they're turned on for your company.

Field names are the Zenventory defaults. If your company renamed fields in the Lexicon, your mapping screen shows your names instead.

Situation how-tos

How the import handles new and existing orders

How does Zenventory know which rows belong to the same order?

Rows with the same Order Number become one order, with one item per row. Keep an order's rows next to each other in your file.

• The order and customer details are taken from the order's first row. You only need to fill them in once per order.
• If rows for the same order are split up in the file, the later rows' items are dropped.

Will my file create new orders or change existing ones?

Zenventory checks each order's Order Number.

• If the Order Number isn't in Zenventory yet, the import creates a new order.
• If the Order Number already exists, the import updates that order's details. Line items on an existing order aren't added, changed, or removed. Most order details are replaced by your file, even when a cell is blank, so include the current values of any details you want to keep. See Update existing orders in the Situation how-tos.
• Orders that were cancelled can't be imported again.

If you use 3PL features, select the client in the import window. An order number that's already used by a different client gets " - clientid" added to it.

What happens to the customer on each order?

Zenventory looks for an existing customer before creating a new one.

• With an Account Number, it only matches on the Account Number.
• Without one, the Name and Surname must match, plus either the Customer Email or the full shipping address.
• If nothing matches, a new customer is created.
• For a matched customer, details in your file update the customer, and blank cells keep what's saved.

What happens to items on the order?

• A SKU that's already in Zenventory uses that item. The item columns in your file don't change it, except Recommended Retail Price.
• A SKU that isn't in Zenventory yet creates a new item, using the item columns in your file. New items are marked as needing approval.
• If the SKU is blank, the Description is used as the SKU. A row with no SKU and no Description is skipped without a message.