Upload demand planner feeds to WFM using Integration Central

This article covers how to create and run an Demand Planner Feed Import file through the Integration Central tool within Humanforce. This import which is used to populate numbers to determine how many staff are required throughout a given day.

For more general information on Integration Central and the guide on enabling this tool, you can refer to the below Help articles:

• What is Integration Central?
• How do I enable Integration Central?

Creating a Demand Planner Feed Import

Demand Planner Feed Imports can be performed on a one-off basis by uploading a file from your computer, or on an ongoing basis by targeting files uploaded to your Humanforce sFTP folder.

If you wish to enable the sFTP file import process, please log a ticket on Humanforce Help so that our Support Team can enable this functionality for you.

Using the File Import tool, you can import new or update existing employee profiles from data in your .csv file.

The tool also provides a downloadable template when creating a new import which you can use to create a Demand Planner Feed import file from scratch to meet your needs.

Within Integration Central, click the New button and select the File Import integration type.

Enter a Name for the integration, then select Demand Planner Feed as the Data type.

If you require a template file as a reference for structuring your own import file, you can click the Download template button to generate an example.

This will provide a .csv file which contains all column headers in the first row that are available for use within your import file. The subsequent rows contain information such as for character limits, mandatory fields and these rows should be overwritten with rows containing the data you wish to import when building the file.

File Format

The required file format for this import is csv. The csv file must contain a header row that
uses the field headers specified below and provides data in the correct format. The values
must match existing data where required, as specified below.

All required columns must be present in the file however the imports are flexible and are mapped to the headers provided in the output file. There is no requirement for the positioning of columns.

Columns may be omitted for any non-mandatory fields fields that will not be populated.

The headers in this auto-generated template file should all automatically map during the next stage, but any adjusted header values can be manually remapped if required.

Import Field Details

*The Date End field is optional unless the configuration of the Demand Plan Feed Setup is set to either IsSpanned or Apply Value Across Date Range.

Import File

If you are performing a one-off import, you can drag-and-drop your desired file into the File section, or alternatively you can click Browse and use the file explorer to navigate and choose your desired file. Click Next once you have selected your file to proceed to the field mapping stage.

If you are setting up an ongoing import with files in your sFTP folder, click the Humanforce sFTP Import option, then select your desired file from the dropdown menu. Click Next once the file is selected to proceed to the field mapping stage.

Mapping the file fields for import

Integration Central will detect the header columns in your provided .csv file, and will then attempt to automatically map each column to the required field within Humanforce.

If any columns do not automatically map, you can manually specify the Target Field which they should utilise within Humanforce.

Format Specifiers can be defined for some columns like dates to specify the format you are providing in the import file.

Some fields will provide the option to set your desired Lookup Type; this will define what data you wish to match on certain linked fields like Location/Department etc. Most of these fields let you match on Name/Export Code/GuidKeys.

Import Settings

The following setting is available for the Demand Planner Feed Integration Central import task.

Running/scheduling the import

If you are performing a one-off import, clicking the Next button after finishing the field mapping step will instantly execute the import process and show you the results of your import.

If you are setting up an ongoing import, clicking the Next button after finishing the field mapping step will take you to the scheduling step.

Within the scheduler, you can choose the below parameters to define your desired frequency:

• Execution frequency
  • Run once
  • Run daily
  • Run weekly
• Start date
  • Defines the date that your schedule will start executing
• Start time
  • Defines the time of day that your schedule will be executed

Once your schedule parameters have been defined, click the Schedule button to engage this automated import.

You can additionally choose to Skip defining a schedule if you wish to run this on-demand from the Integration Central main menu when required.

If the file is on a schedule, you can still run it on-demand from the main menu provided that your file is available in your Humanforce sFTP folder.

Clicking the menu icon against each import will also allow you options to edit/delete the task, as well as checking the logs from the last execution & viewing the history of multiple previous executions:

Further assistance

If you experience any issues while creating, scheduling, or executing a File Import through Integration Central, please log a ticket on Humanforce Help so that a member of our Support Team can assist you with the problem.