Data Clean up with RapidStart - Part 1

This is the first of a three-part series to demonstrate how RapidStart can be utilized.

RapidStart.  These words are a mystery for the average NAV user.  Something they’ve heard about but are afraid of.  Is it a myth or fact that RapidStart can help a company correct data, populate newly setup dimensions and correct errors?  It is no myth and I hope that by the time you finish this series you will realize that RapidStart can be a very powerful tool to help with data population.

Important Note: I highly recommend that you practice any RapidStart data changes in your Test Database before making changes to your Live/Production Database.

Let’s begin with a hypothetical example. 

Scenario 1:  Data cleanup

You had someone at work help you enter some new items. When you are complete you realize that they have entered them with the wrong Item Category Code.  You could edit each individual item to correct the issue, but with thousands of entries you realize this is not a reasonable option. A better solution is to use RapidStart which can help you correct all of your entries quickly. Here is how you would do that.

1. Add a package (a package is required to be able to use RapidStart).
   1. Go to RapidStart Services menu
   2. Open Configuration Package
   3. New
   4. Add a Code  and Package Name
   5. Click OK
2. You can work in the Package but I prefer working in the worksheet screen.
   1. Open Configuration Worksheet.
   2. New
   3. Line Type = Table
   4. Enter the Table no. Item = 27
   5. In the Actions Tab on the Ribbon select Assign Package
   6. Assign the line to the package you created
   7. Go into No of Fields Available in the Fact Box- Package Table or you can use Fields in the Action Tab on the Ribbon
3. This will pull up a list of the fields available to work with in this table.
   1. Select Edit List on the Ribbon.
   2. Select the fields you want to include on the export.  If you clear included, it will leave only the key fields that are required and then you can select the additional ones you want to correct.

Tip: these can be both fields that you want to change and fields that you do not want to change.  See below where I selected ‘Description’ so that it will make it easier for me to know which ‘Item Category Code’ to populate my spreadsheet with.

No. of Fields Included lists a summary of the fields you have selected.

4. Next you will export the Template to Excel so that you can make the corrections.
   1. Select Export to Template on the Ribbon.
   2. It will require a name and location to store the spreadsheet.

Note: this may take a couple minutes – when it is complete you can open or save the Excel Spreadsheet.   Select save and then work in the saved file

5. Modify/Correct the field in the Excel spreadsheet.
   1. NAV is very picky, do not change the structure of the table.
   2. At the top of the spreadsheet, you will see the Package name and the table no – do not change this.
   3. You can remove records (rows of items) that you do not need to correct.
   4. Correct the items with the Correct Item Category Code.
6. Go to the Configure Worksheet Screen in NAV and Import from Template.
   1. Select your modified worksheet.

Note: this may take a little time to pull in depending on the size of the table.

b. You will know it is complete when you see a quantity in the ‘No. of Package Records’ in the FactBox.

     7. Apply the Data. 

1. After Applying the Data if there are any errors they will display on the Package Table Fact Box.
2. After the Records have been applied successfully, it will clear out the ‘No. of Package Records’ and show the ‘No. of Database Records.’

 For Errors: See Error Handling at the end of this article

Congratulations!  You have successfully updated the Item Category Code on your items.

Errors Handling:

After Applying the Data if there are any errors they will display on the Package Table Fact Box.

You can Drill down to see what record an error is occurring on and select Show Error.

 You can fix the errors and Apply Data.  If there are a lot of errors, you can fix them in the worksheet, re-import and apply.

Note:  NAV validates the data to make sure the changes you are making are allowed.  See below – it did not allow me to make a change to the ‘Base Unit of Measure’ because there have been entries posted to this item. 

Error Message:  ‘Config. Package Table does not exist…’

This error could happen when you import a Table. 

It is telling you that the Package name on the imported table does not match the Package on the worksheet line.  This error is easy to fix.  Correct the Spreadsheet and re-import.  If this doesn’t work, I have re-exported to a new file name, copy and pasted my data to the new worksheet and then re-import.

I hope that this article has eliminated the mystery behind RapidStart.   Through these exercises and examples, I hope that you have found some great uses for RapidStart that will help you.

View the webinar below to find out more on Data Clean up with RapidStart.

Check out our blog page here for more information and other topics of interest, or drop us a line at info@innovia.com.