Import Stock Kits

To access this function start INSTALLATION Workshop and from the main menu select Transfer|Import External File|Stock Kits.

This utility is provided to simplify the often complex process of importing stock kits (also known as bills of materials) into CAPITAL. This is achieved by transferring kit data already imported from a CAPITAL card file database.

The information that follows is intended for advanced users and consultants.

The import procedure you should carry out is typically as follows:

1. A kit (bills of materials) file is provided in ASCII or perhaps DBF file format.

2. This data is imported into the sample card file KIMPORT (or one based on the structure of KIMPORT) using the External File Import Utility found on INSTALLATION Workshop's program's Transfer menu.

3. The contents of KIMPORT are then imported into the CAPITAL stock kits file using this utility.

The KIMPORT card file has the following structure:

Card File Name

Enter the name of the card file to use to import kits.

Kit Code Prefix

You may enter a prefix code to appear in front of the kit code to distinguish kit records from "normal" stock items. This may be necessary if the system you are importing from allowed stock kits and stock items to share the same product codes. Identical product codes are not permitted, as CAPITAL allows you to mix kit codes and normal product codes on the same transactions.

For example if the product code "XYZ-1" also has a kit (bill of materials) code of "XYZ-1", specifying a prefix such as "K/" would convert the kit code to "K/XYZ-1" during the import.

Default Location

If a location is not specified within the structure of the card file you are importing from, this location is used. Unless you are running multi-location stock control, this option is ignored.

If you wish to force all kits to default to this location remove the "LOCATION" field from the card file's structure.

Technical Notes On CAPITAL Kit Structures

A product held in Stock Control may be designated as a normal item or a stock kit. As a consequence a product item and a stock kit cannot exist in the system at once with identical product code names.

If the system you are importing from allowed kits and stock items to share the same product code names, then you should alter the product code names of the kits before you start importing them. For example, you might put the letter "K" in front of all kits names to differentiate them from normal product code names and avoid clashes when importing.

In CAPITAL, stock kits cannot hold physical quantities. Kits may only be used to represent other "normal" products. When importing kits CAPITAL executes the following procedure:

1. If the master kit code is not found, a new stock record is created and marked as a stock kit.

2. If a kit component is not found, CAPITAL does not create a new component. This is considered to be an error. (You must therefore import stock information before you import kit materials information.)

3. If a stock record already exists that clashes with the master kit code name, CAPITAL checks to see whether the "stock in" quantity is zero. If it is, it marks this item as a kit. If it is not zero, CAPITAL considers this to be an error.

4. If the stock kit already exists in the system, components in the card file will be added to it. For this reason you cannot run this import procedure multiple times with the same data without first clearing the stock kits file.

If you are experimenting with importing kit information it is suggested you create a test company and do trial imports into that first.