Importing Suppliers From an Excel (.xls) Spreadsheet

Merchanter enables you to efficiently upload new supplier records using the Excel (.xls) bulk upload tool. This feature allows you to quickly import supplier data during system setup or when onboarding multiple vendors, streamlining what would otherwise be a manual entry process.

Before Your First Upload

Please note that supplier import from spreadsheet is only available to users with T25 admin, Prime user, or the User Role permission of Suppliers High (SU_HIGH).

Ensure your system administrator or Ten-25 support has correctly set up the XLS importer with the latest version of the tool. 

Step 1 - Supplier Import Template

You will need to prepare your Supplier data for uploading into Merchanter. 

There lots of fields, and the template can seem overwhelming. There is a guide Excel fields to Import New Supplier Records, with a list of all the fields in the template along with brief descriptions of what they do. This guide focuses on performing the upload.

Downloading the Suppliers Template

To download the suppliers template spreadsheet , click the Contacts menu, then choose the Suppliers option. 

Within the Suppliers overview, locate the Import from Spreadsheet button situated in the top right corner: 

Click on this button to initiate the Import Wizard.

In section 1 you can download a copy of the blank Excel import template ready to be filled in. just click the blue Download button
If there is a problem with this download please contact your system administrator or Ten25 Support

Please note it is important that you are using the latest version of the import template.

Now fill in as much relevant detail as you need in excel. Not all fields are required. when saving please make sure keep the file as a xls, also make sure the file is closed in Excel before trying to perform the upload.

Your sheet should look something like this.

There is a prefilled Supplier Template Example that you can down load and take a look at.

Step 2 - Importing the Spreadsheet

In the Select Import File section, click the Browse… button on the upload .xls file. Navigate to your supplier data set and upload the .xls file by clicking the Read Import File button in the bottom right. 

Initial validation

The system will do a quick scan of the data to do some basic validation, you there are errors or mistakes in your data set you may see an error message like this:

This tells you that the Tax Registration Number in your .xls sheet is 26 characters, but the field is limited to 15 characters in Merchanter.

Validation passed

If your file passes its first round of validation, you will now see a summary of your import data. Make sure the total number of records matches the number of suppliers you expect to import or update. You can also add a note to the upload if you like: 

At this point, if you notice anything that you would like to change, you can go back a stage or cancel the import; go back to Excel; and modify your data source before starting the upload process again.

Validate Import File

If you are happy with the preview, click the Validate Import File button, and a secondary validation process will occur. If there are any problems, you will receive a warning message. The image below shows that 5 of the 5 suppliers in my data set have issues that will prevent the upload of the data: 

Clicking the OK button will take you to a Validation Results screen. Here you get a summary of the error and how many records share the problem. If you click on one of the individual lines, you receive additional information on which record in the spreadsheet had the error. This will help you go back through the .xls data and clean up the errors:  

Common Validation Error Types

Below is the description of the most common errors when performing an upload:

Validation Error	Notes	Action
Not found	The text you have entered is not found in the system settings and cannot be set. e.g. you typed “Selivered” instead of “Delivered” in the cell delivery type.	Go back to your data source, correct all the identified errors and then attempt the upload again
Missing	The cell is blank and the import needs something entered into the field.	Go back to your data source, correct all the identified errors and then attempt the upload again
Invalid	The data input does not match the required format.	Go back to your data source, correct all the identified errors and then attempt the upload again
Supplier code is not unique	This supplier code already exists in the Merchanter database.	This error can be fixed using the import tool. Unlike the other errors, when you click on this field, you are given the option to skip the record or to update it. if you choose update you will over write existing data in the existing supplier!  If you intend to update records, we recommend adding the supplier code to the Like Code field as well. Any fields you don't want to fill in will be copied from the existing supplier, saving you some time. To update the records, pick the option from the drop-down and then click the Apply System Fix - Yes radio button.

Importing your new Suppliers

If there are no problems at all you will just see a green Import button. Now, click the button to start the Supplier import.

After a short process, you should see an information pop-up with a summary of the operation:

You should have completed your supplier upload. Now go and double-check them in the system to make sure the upload has worked as expected.

Video Guide