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General Information about Import / Export Preparation

You will find a general description of Managing Lists in the System in the chapter MONITOR General Information in the MONITOR Basics.

Why Use This Procedure?

In this procedure you can import or export complete preparations directly to another MONITOR database. Preparations can also be exported/imported to text files, so that you can save them on a USB flash drive or e-mail them as an attachment. During import/export to text files you can select an optional directory for the text files.

You may need to import or export preparations when similar parts and similar preparations are needed in several different databases. This way, the "preparers" or "process planners" do not have to repeat the same preparation individually in the different databases.

It can also come in handy when a preparer needs to save the preparation outside the database in order to continue working with it in MONITOR somewhere else, like a computer outside the network. The preparer just has to export the preparation as a text file and import it using the same procedure on the other computer.

If you have installed the supplement Warehouse Management you can create planning info for all warehouses. This is determined by the setting Create planning info for all WH when registering new parts under the Inventory tab in the Settings procedure.

What Is a Preparation?

A preparation contains a lot of part information. During import/export, the following data is copied by default from/to the different tables (indicated in parenthesis) of the database. Only data that can be entered in a preparation is copied.

You can also indicate the kind of information that you want to include by checking the box Do not overwrite... under the Create tab and selecting the tables that you do not want to include. The information listed above is included by default.

This option to manually enter the information that you want to include is only recommended for advanced users that are familiar with the database descriptions for these tables. In most cases, you do not need to use this alternative.

Preparations in Text Files

When you export a preparation to a text file, four tab-separated text files are created that contain information from different database tables (in parenthesis):

Security During Export to Another Company

When you export a database to another company, for instance from 001 to 002, a security check is performed. The ADMIN user in the company that the export is sent to will be logged on. This means that the password for the ADMIN user of the destination company must be entered. This will take place when the list is loaded onto the screen. If the ADMIN user has no password, the security check will not work properly.

That is why it is highly recommended that you configure a password for the ADMIN user in all your companies. This will make it more difficult to export preparations to another company by mistake.

Window Functions

The Display list under the Create tab is used to load data for the preparation import from text files or database. If you have selected to import from text files, a dialog box appears where you select the source for the import.

In order to start copying the preparation (import/export) you click Save under the Display List tab. A control question will appear first. If you have selected to export to text files, a dialog box appears where you select the destination directory for the export.

Read more about the other Window functions under Window Functions in the MONITOR Basics guide.

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