Enter, or click to select, a parameter ID of up to 15 alphanumeric characters. Choose characters for your parameter ID that help identify the type of selections you made on the screen, such as PERIOD or QUARTERLY.

When you save your record, all the selections made on the screen are stored with the parameter ID. Later, you can retrieve the parameter using Query.

You can use the parameter to run the process more efficiently because you can select the parameter ID with its previously defined screen selections. After the default selections display on the screen, you can override the defaults.

Enter, or click to select, a parameter description of up to 30 alphanumeric characters.

Use this drop-down list to select the file format of the input file you want to use with the  preprocessor. Choose from the following options.

• Delimited: Delimited ASCII text files have a comma, or other user-defined symbols, to delineate separate fields. It is not required to put a comma (or user-defined symbol) after the last field entry. If you choose this option, you must choose a file delimiter from the File Delimiter drop-down list.
• Fixed Length: Fixed Length ASCII text files do not have commas to delineate separate fields. Each field is a fixed length and must be filled with either an appropriate character or a space to the specified width. It is not necessary to zero fill numbers; spaces can be used to maintain the proper format. Numeric fields should be right justified; character fields should be left justified. Each record must be on a separate line. For example, if the line length is 200 characters and the last piece of meaningful data is in position 100, another 100 spaces are not required. Every row should end with a carriage return and a line feed.
• Table: Table files can be used as input files. This type of file organizes your records using rows and columns.

Each header input file record must have at least one Line input file record. Similarly, a line input file record must have an associated header input file record. Line records do not need to physically follow their corresponding header input file record (although recommended). A single header row is sufficient for multiple requisition line rows associated with the same requisition. Requisition ID is used to determine which line records belong to which header record. Similarly the requisition ID/requisition line combination will be used to determine lower level details such as line accounts and line charges.

If you selected Delimited from the File Format drop-down list, use this drop-down list to select the file delimiter defined within the file. If you selected Fixed Length or Table, this drop-down box is disabled.

A file delimiter is an ASCII character used to separate fields of data within an ASCII flat file. The options are:

• Comma: Each field in the ASCII file is separated by a comma (,). It is not required to have a comma appear after the last field entry.
• Other:Each field in the ASCII file is separated by a character you define. Enter this character in the adjacent field. It is not required to have this character appear after the last field entry

Enter the location of the input file you are importing. There are two ways to do this:

• In the File Location field, enter, or click to select, the alternate file location where the input file is located. Alternate file locations are set up on the Manage Alternate File Locations screen.

  or

• From the Global Menu, click Process > File Upload. On the File Upload Manager dialog box, click Browse and use the dialog box to select the file you want to import. If you select the Overwrite? check box, Costpoint will overwrite any file of the same name that already exists in the Costpoint database. Click Upload when you are finished. If you use this method, leave the File Location field blank. For more information about the File Upload Manager, see the File Upload Manager topic in the Getting Started Guide.

Use this field to enter, or use to select, the name of the file you want to use.

If you selected Table from the File Format drop-down list, use this drop-down list to select how staging table records are processed. The options are:

• Load Unprocessed Records: Process all records that have not been previously processed.
• Reprocess Error Records: All records that encountered an error will be reprocessed.
• Delete Imported Records: All successfully imported records will be deleted.
• Delete Error Records: All records that encountered an error will be deleted.

This field displays the date when this table input file was last updated.

This field displays the date when this table input file was last processed.

Use this drop-down box to select the approval submission method for the requisitions to be uploaded.

Depending upon the option selected, uploaded requisitions and requisition lines will initiate the approval process. Input file records can only have Requisition (or Requisition Line) Status of Pending or In-Approval (for new record inserts) or "Void" (for existing record updates).

The system-defined options are:

• Submit Only In Approval: Requisition or requisition lines from the input file that have an approval status of "In-Approval" will be uploaded with a status of "In-Approval" and rows will be created in either the RQ_HDR_APPR or RQ_LN_APPR tables. If approvals are not required, such records will be automatically "Approved."

  Requisitions or lines from the input file with an approval status of "Pending" will be uploaded with a status of "Pending" and will not initiate the approval process (no rows created in either the RQ_HDR_APPR or RQ_LN_APPR tables). If approvals are not required, such records will still have a status of "Pending."

  Requisitions or lines from the input file with an approval status of "Void" will be uploaded with a status of "Void" (if other validations pass) and will not initiate the approval process (no rows created in either the RQ_HDR_APPR or RQ_LN_APPR tables). If approvals are not required, such records will still have a status of "Void."

• Submit All: Requisition or requisition lines from the input file that have an approval status of either "Pending" or "In-Approval" will be uploaded with a status of "In-Approval" and rows will be created in either the RQ_HDR_APPR or RQ_LN_APPR tables. If approvals are not required, such records will be automatically "Approved."

  Requisitions or lines from the input file with an approval status of "Void" will be uploaded with a status of "Void" (if other validations pass) and will not initiate the approval process (no rows created in either the RQ_HDR_APPR or RQ_LN_APPR tables). If approvals are not required, such records will still have a status of "Void."

• Submit None: Requisition or requisition lines from the input file (or staging tables) that have an approval status of either "Pending" or "In-Approval" will be uploaded with a status of "Pending" and will not initiate the approval process (no rows created in either the RQ_HDR_APPR or RQ_LN_APPR tables). If approvals are not required, such records will still have a status of "Pending."

  Requisitions or lines from the input file with an approval status of "Void" will be uploaded with a status of "Void" (if other validations pass) and will not initiate the approval process (no rows created in either the RQ_HDR_APPR or RQ_LN_APPR tables). If approvals are not required, such records will still have a status of "Void."

The settings you assigned in the Configure Purchase Requisition Settings screen determine if approval processes are to be assigned at the header or line level. If approvals are done at the header level, the RQ_LN approval process code will be null. If approvals are done at the line level, the RQ_HDR approval process code will be null.

The settings you assigned in the Configure Purchase Requisition Settings screen determine how approval processes are assigned. If No Approval Required is selected, this preprocessor will leave both the header and line blank. If Global is selected, this preprocessor will load either the header or line in accordance with the default approval process designated in the Configure Purchase Requisition Settings screen. If PAO is selected, this preprocessor will first assign by the inventory project by looking up the PROJ table or, if that does not exist, use the inventory abbreviation’s material acct/org (ACCT_ORG). If assigned by Item Type, this preprocessor will use the part’s approval process (by looking up RQ_APPROV_PROC where PART_TYPE_FL = "Y"). If approval processes are manually assigned, this preprocessor will pull the approval process from the appropriate INVT_PROJ row.  If that row is null, the preprocessor will pull from the RQ_SETTINGS default. If that is also null, an error message will appear.

If the generated requisitions are given a status of "Pending," this preprocessor will not create rows in either the RQ_HDR_APPR or RQ_LN_APPR tables.

If they are given a status of "In-Approval," the preprocessor will perform the following steps:

1. When the requisition is validated and saved with an approval process code, the appropriate approval process steps will be copied to either the RQ_HDR_APPR or RQ_LN_APPR tables (depending on the RQ SETTINGS). The estimate dollar amount of the requisition or requisition line should be checked against each approval title’s minimum and maximum dollar limits. Only those approval titles that are within the limit will be added to the requisition or requisition lines approval steps.
2. If approval is required for the requisition or requisition line(s), and an approval process has been manually or system assigned, all approval title rows with an approval type of "E" or "B," and the lowest approval sequence number (it is possible to have more than one approval title with the same sequence number) will have their NEXT_SEQ_FL set to "Y." Rows with an Approval Type of "S" can be ignored for this purpose. This tells the system which approvals are to be performed next. For instance, if there are six approval title steps for a requisition with the sequence numbers 010, 010, 010, 020, 030, and 040, the three approval titles with the sequence number of 010 will have their NEXT_SEQ_FL set to "Y." The others would be set to "N" (this assumes the estimated requisition amount is within all of the approval titles’ minimum/maximum dollar limits).
3. Set all S_APPRVL_CD values to "P," except for Signature approval type rows, which can be set to "A."
4. If due to dollar limits and approval types, the requisition/requisition line will require no approval set the status to "A" and load the system date to the requisition line approval date.

Use this drop-down list to select the process option you wish to use in the event of errors within the input ASCII file. Choose from the two system-defined options:

• Process Valid Requisitions: Upon executing the trial run or upload process, input file records without errors (warnings are acceptable) will be processed while those with errors will not be processed.
• Process None: Upon executing the trial run or upload process, no rows will be processed if there is any error present within the input ASCII file.

Use this drop-down list to select the process for handling duplicate records in the uploaded file with the existing requisition/requisition line data in Costpoint. Select one of the two available system-defined options:

• Overwrite Existing: If duplicate records are encountered, a warning message appears and processing completely replaces existing records with the corresponding new duplicate row information (that is, delete old and add new).
  Note:

  Overwriting of existing rows will not be allowed if the requisition lines have a status of C (Closed) or G (Generated), regardless of the option selected.

• Do Not Overwrite: If duplicate records are encountered, an error message appears and corresponding duplicate records are not uploaded.
  Note:

  Duplicate rows within an input file are considered as errors.

Select this check box to not have Costpoint create an error file after the trial run or file upload. If you leave this cleared, Costpoint will create an error file as follows:

Records not processed due to one or more errors will be written to an ASCII error file using the same format in which they were originally saved. The error file is  placed in the same path as the input file and will be saved as ZZZZZZxxxxmmddyyyy.ERR (where ZZZZZZ = original input file name, xxxx = sequentially increased number for each day (in case the same input file has been used multiple times in a given day) starting with 0001, 0002, etc., mmddyyyy = date with a two-digit month (01-12), two-digit day (01-31), and four-digit year. For example, the first error file created on April 15, 2005 will be named Testfile000104152005.ERR (where "Testfile" is the name of the input file) followed by Testfile000204152005.ERR, etc.

This field displays the date and time the upload process started.

This field displays the date and time the upload process ended. Once the upload process ends, the validation process immediately begins.

The preprocessor reads the specified input file and performs relevant process validations against requisition lines and other associated tables. See the Report/Process Validations topic for the report/process validations performed by this preprocessor.

This field displays the total number of records read by the preprocessor.

This non-editable field displays the date and time the validation process ended. Once the validation process ends, the Error report immediately begins to print.

This field displays the date and time the Error report stopped printing.

This field displays the total number of records found with errors during the process.