Instructions for IT departments providing data for hosted dynamic lookups

Files to be sent to Altarama:

Customers generally provide client data, and sometimes provide a file of Matter or Project information. Files containing other data types can be sent if appropriate, after consultation with Altarama.

Initially you need to send a “complete” copy of each file for setup and testing. The files must be supplied with a definition of what data is held in each column and how that relates to the data the library wants inserted into their RefTracker request form/s.

When the testing is complete and live operation is about to start, you need to send a new copy of the “complete” file/s, and start sending the “update” file/s on a regular basis.

Should the file held at Altarama appear to be out of sync at any time, a new “complete” file can be loaded at any time by sending a DELETE_ALL_RECORDS instruction at the top of the replacement file.

The “complete” client data file should contain one record for each client for whom contact information is being provided, and similarly, in the Matter/Project file, there should be one record for each Matter/Project that will need to be referred to.

The “update” file should contain one record for each record that has changed since the last update –one record for each record to be added, amended, or deleted.

File naming convention:

When sending “Complete” or “update” files they need to be consistently named in the following format:<companyname><tablename><yyyymmdd>.<ext>Where <companyname> is your company name<tablename> indicates the type of data in the file. Altarama will advise the specific name for you to use for each file.

e.g. Altarama_Client_20100909.txt
 

Altarama_Project_20100909.txt

How to send the files:

The initial “complete” file can be sent by email or FTP. It will be used to establish the mapping.

Please include a separate text file with descriptions of the data held in each column contained within the your data file.

Once the mapping is in place “Update” files and replacement “Complete” files must be made available for pickup from your FTP or SFTP server.Altarama uses an intelligent file transfer client to bring the file you provide onto our server using Windows Scheduler to look for available files to download on a scheduled basis.

So that we can pick up your data files please provide:

  • FTP or SFTP server address
  • Initial folder containing Raw files
  • username (for secure transfer only)
  • password (for secure transfer only)
  • frequency with which files will be made available

Should your organisation not have an externally facing FTP or SFTP server, you can upload to Altarama’s FTP server. Access details are:

  • server: ftp:alt-web1.altarama.com
  • port: 21
  • username:<ask Altarama for your username>
  • password:<ask Altarama for your password>

Format of the file/s to be sent to Altarama:

The file format should be delimited data in a .txt .csv .xls or .xlsx filePreferred delimiters are pipe or tab.xml is also supported – please ask Altarama for the xml format if you need it (it shows the wide range of fields that have already been allowed for and the field sizes).

Fields in the file/s to be sent to Altarama:

Your library will advise the fields that they need in each of the data files that will be held on Altarama’s server. They must contain all the data that needs to be provided for population into your RefTracker form/s. The file that you send us must include at least those fields but can include more.

You can supply the fields in any order (as long as it is consistent between the “complete” and “update” files) as Altarama uses a mapping process to ensure the data is stored on our server in a way that will suit its use in RefTracker.

The data format for BOTH the “complete” and “update” files must be:

  • No field headings
  • First column to contain: 
    • D = the existing record with the specified key will be deleted 
    • N = new record will be added (any existing record with the same key will be overwritten) 
    • U = the entire existing record with the specified key in the identifier column will be replaced by the data provided in this record (if the key does not exist a new record will be created)
    • <blank> = add a new record if there is no existing record with the same key, or, if a record with the same key already exists overwrite it.
  • Second column must be the identifier field (key for each record)
  • Each record must contain all data for that record as records are overwritten in their entirety when updated.

Example “Update” file;


But the data held at Altarama is out of sync with our master copy – it needs a reset!

For various reason the Data held at Altarama may no longer identically reflect the data held at your organization.

When this occurs you can send a new “Complete” file using the normal “Update” file process – name it as if it is an update file, and make it available in your normal S/FTP location, but make the first filed of the first record in the fileDELETE_ALL_RECORDSand follow it with a new “N” record for every record in the database.

For example:

How your data file will be processed by Altarama:

When loading each supplied record, Altarama’s Client Data Import Manager (CDIM) application will:- not load any records that have a blank identifier field (key)- not load any records that have anything other than N, D, U or blank in the first column- truncate any field that is longer than the RefTracker field into which it is going to be mapped- create any additional columns that it was agreed at the design stage can be obtained from the supplied data and advantageously used by the library e.g. store a field containing first and last name, as three separate fields: first name, last names and a field containing both first and last name.

Details of any errors encountered while processing “update” files will be emailed to your RefTracker system administrator and nominated IT representative.