A Catalog Export Template is used to export SKU data from the catalog in a format required by the customer. You need to create an export template by mapping the fields from the file used by the customer to ingest data into their system. Once the template is set, and the SKU attributes are mapped, you can then export the data by selecting the template created.
NOTE | Currently, all users with Grainger as their customer can generate the export file in the format needed by Grainger to ingest the SKU data directly into their system. |
Let us understand how to create an export template and then use it to export data.
Creating a New Template
It is important to create a template based on the format required by the customer. Following is a sample of the excel file used by Grainger to ingest data into their system.
Now, since Grainger needs data in the format as shown above, all suppliers (who use PCC to maintain their product data and need to share the required data with Grainger), will have to create a template mapping the fields from the Grainger transaction excel file uploaded with the SKU attributes from the PCC catalog.
To create a new template:
Hover over on the upper-left corner and the following menu is displayed as shown in the following figure.
Click Catalog Export and the following is displayed.
Click Create New Template and the following screen appears.
There are 2 steps to create a new template.
Step 1: Template Configuration
Here, you can add the basic details for creating a template and upload the interface file from which the headers will be read.
Enter the Template Name for the template being created.
By default, the Template Type selected is Grainger Interface Excel File as this template is being created to export data in Grainger supported format.
Click Browse to select and upload the interface file used by Grainger to add information of all suppliers. The following screen appears.
Select the relevant file (same file as shown in Figure 311: Sample Grainger File) and then click Upload as shown below.
The file is uploaded successfully as shown below. You can also remove the file here in case you need to add another file by clicking the Remove File button.
Enter the Header Row Position, that is the row number where the headers are present in the file uploaded. This is a very crucial field as the data will be read from the row number specified. In this case, these headers will be used to map the necessary SKU attributes from the PCC catalog. Hence, you need to enter the correct row number here. For example, in the following sample file uploaded, the headers are present in row 10 as shown below.
Hence, you need to enter 10 in this case.
Click Next to proceed.
Step 2: Template Mapping
Once the file is uploaded, the fields present in the excel file uploaded based on the row number specified will be read and fetched from the file and displayed as fields.
All the fields present in the excel file will be listed as Column Heading. Also, a lock 
icon is present next to some fields which indicates that these fields are locked and you do not need to map attributes from the catalog for them. All the locked fields will already have information present in the excel file uploaded as a prerequisite by Grainger. Hence, no mapping is required for these fields.
NOTE | Currently, the *<ID> field which is locked and uploaded from the transactional excel file will be used to do a SKU match in the PCC catalog selected. For example, a *<ID> in excel file is 142539 and the catalog also has the same SKU ID 142539, the value for all the attributes mapped from the catalog with the non-locked fields, will be populated in the export file generated using this template. |
An 
icon present next to all fields populated from the excel file has brief information about each field which is populated from the excel file itself. The excel file has comments on what information should be added for each field and the same is displayed when you hover the mouse on the 
icon.
Select the PCC Catalog from the drop-down list from which the attributes are to be mapped.
You can now select attributes from the catalog next to the fields from the excel file which should be mapped.
NOTE | You will be allowed to select attributes even for the locked fields and map them. However, when the export file is generated, the values for all locked fields will not be populated from the catalog as it is predefined in the excel file. |
Let us assume that 2 attributes from the catalog UPC and Heavy Metal Indicator need to be mapped to the respective fields populated from the excel file.
Type and select the attribute from the catalog to be mapped next to the respective field as shown below.
In this case, since UPC is to be mapped, the attribute UPC is selected from the catalog and mapped next to the respective UPC heading from the excel file. Once the attribute is mapped, it is indicated by 
icon.
Similarly, you can map all the required attributes from the catalog to the respective fields from the excel file. Let us map another attribute Heavy Metal Indicator as shown below.
NOTE | Values for all unlocked fields from the excel file that are mapped with the respective attribute from the catalog in PCC will be populated when the file is exported. |
Click Save Changes once all the required attributes are mapped and the export template is created and saved as shown below.
The name of the template and catalog along with other details of when and who created the template is displayed on the Export Templates screen.
Editing the Export Template
Once the template is created, you can make any changes in the template configuration details, upload another excel file or change the mapping details as needed in future. This is useful when there is some change in the transaction excel file / some other attributes need to be mapped from the catalog and all these changes need to be updated in the template as well.
To update an existing export template:
Click the Edit Template
icon `next to the template in the Export Templates page as shown below.
The Update Export Template page is displayed as shown below.
Edit the Template Name if needed.
If you need to remove an existing interface file and upload a new file, the following scenarios are possible.
Case 1: Remove the existing interface file and upload a new file
Click Remove File and the following dialog box appears.
A warning message is displayed stating that all the existing attribute mappings will be removed if you proceed to remove the file.
Click Yes and you can now browse and upload a new file.
Click Next and you will see that all the previous mappings have been removed. You can now map the new attributes and save the changes as mentioned in section Creating a New Template and the template is now updated.
Case 2: Remove the existing interface file and upload a new file but do not make any changes in Step 2, that is, template mapping.
In this case, you remove an existing file and upload a new file as mentioned in Case 1, but do not make any changes in the Template mapping screen.
In this screen, if you do not make any changes and click Cancel, there will be no change in the template and the earlier version of the template will be retained.
Case 3: Do not remove the existing interface file and make changes in Template Name / Header row info only
In this case, since the excel file is not removed and only other information has been updated, there will be no changes in mapped data in Step 2 after you click Next.
All the existing mapped attributes will be visible. You can map new / remove existing mapped attributes and save the changes and the template is updated.
Case 4: Exiting the screen without saving the changes
In any of the above 3 cases, at any point if you do not click Save Changes, and click Cancel or close the screen, there will be no change in the template and the earlier version of the template will be retained.
Deleting the Export Template
You can also delete a template created in case it is no longer relevant to be used for exporting data.
To delete an existing export template:
Click the Delete Template
icon next to the template in the Export Templates page. The Delete Template page is displayed with details of the catalog from which it will be deleted.
Click Yes to delete the template successfully for the catalog.
Exporting Data using the Export Template
The process to export is the same as mentioned in section Exporting Data from a Catalog. In this case, the export template should be selected while exporting the data.
Let us consider a catalog PCC Test Catalog for which the export template has been created as it contains information to be mapped with the transactional excel file.
There are 3 SKUs present in the node Hand Sanitizers as shown below which need to be exported in the Grainger format.
Let us understand how to export using the Grainger format.
To export the data:
Right-click the node as in this case you need to export data for a specific node and then click Export Node as shown below.
The following screen appears.
The catalog name and hierarchy are automatically selected.
Click the Specific Organizations tab and then click the Export Catalog
icon on the Grainger card as shown below.
The following screen appears.
Type the Export Name for the export being created.
Select the Export Template from the drop-down list. Based on the catalog selected, a list of export templates created for that catalog will be displayed. Here, you need to select the template which has the necessary attributes mapped and should be exported in the file being generated.
Click Browse to select the excel file to which the data should be added once the export is triggered. For example, in this case, the file shown in Figure 311: Sample Grainger File is the format used by Grainger to ingest data into their system. The same file has been used as a reference to create the template and map the fields from the excel file with the attributes in the PCC catalog. Hence, select the file accordingly.
Type the Header Starts From value as the row from which the headers can be read from the uploaded file. Since the same file is being used, the header row will be 10.
Enter all the details and then click Export. The export process is initiated, and you can track the status as mentioned in section Custom Export Template.
It is important to create a template based on the format required by the customer. There is a possibility that you might be interacting with a number of applications and each of the applications might have their own custom format. A Custom Export Template is used to export SKU data from the catalog in a format required by the customer. You need to create an export template by mapping the fields from the file used by the customer to ingest data into their system. Once the template is set, and the SKU attributes are mapped, you can then export the data by selecting the template created. Custom Export Template
It is important to create a template based on the format required by the customer. There is a possibility that you might be interacting with a number of applications and each of the applications might have their own custom format. A Custom Export Template is used to export SKU data from the catalog in a format required by the customer. You need to create an export template by mapping the fields from the file used by the customer to ingest data into their system. Once the template is set, and the SKU attributes are mapped, you can then export the data by selecting the template created.
To create a new template:
Hover over to the upper-left corner on the left navigation band and the following menu is displayed as shown in the following figure.
Click Custom Export Template and then click Add New Export Template.
Enter the Template Name for the template being created.
Click Build Your Own Template and on hovering over i icon, you will be prompted with a message ‘Create a custom export template from scratch’.
Select the File Type which could be either Horizontal Excel or Horizontal Delimited. If you select Horizontal Delimiter, you must enter Field Delimiter and Field Enclosure if any.
On hovering over the ‘i’ icon of File Header, the message prompted is ‘Enter a non-wrapped text that will be added as a header to the export file’. You can enter a header as per your wish. If you want to add multiple Header Lines, click Add Header Line and you can add multiple header lines. If you do not want to add Header Line, keep it blank.
You can enter the number of columns to be skipped from the left. The default will be 0.
Click Next to proceed.
Under Product Data Configuration, you can add the Taxonomy Path Delimiter and Multivalue Delimiter value.
Under Number of DAs to be exported per SKU, if you want to select All the DAs, select All, if you do not want any DAs, then select None. You can specify the number of DAs that can be exported for each SKU by clicking Custom radio button and entering the number of DAs. DA Name, DA Type and DA Public URL are the three DA field sets available. You can drag and change the order. If you want to disable any of the field set, toggle off the respective field. Click Next to move to Field Selection section.
Under the Field Selection section, select the catalog. This will fetch the template fields and display Field Name, Field Type, and Customer Attribute ID.
You can select one or multiple fields and the selected field details can be moved for export to File(s) to be exported section using 
. To move the attribute from the File(s) to be exported panel back to Available Field(s), click 
.
On the File(s) to be exported panel, Column Position, Field Name, Field Type, Customer Attribute ID are displayed. You can search for specific Field Name and Customer Attribute ID through the search tab available. Column Position are denoted by A(1), B (2) and so on.
There will be an option to Add a Blank Field on the top right which will simply add an empty row in the file. This field will be displayed as <Empty Field>.
Click Next to open the Field Formatting section. The columns available are Column Position, Field Name, Column Header, Change Case of Attribute Value, Prefix with Value, Suffix with Value, and UoM Display Control.
Column Position – Displays the column position like A(1), B (2), and so on.
Field Name – Selected Field Name is displayed.
Column Header - You can enter a different column name for the field chosen by clicking edit which will be displayed as the attribute name in the export. The default value displayed is the original attribute name.
Change Case of Attribute Value - You can apply changes to the attribute value case by selecting an option from the dropdown. The options available are No Change, Upper Case, Lower Case, Title Case. Default will be No Change.
Prefix with Value – The dropdown options available are No Prefix, User Entered Value, UoM Name, UoM Symbol, and Field Name(:). You can enter a text if the selection is User Entered Value, enter a UoM Name or UoM Symbol which will be appended as the prefix to the SKU attribute value. If Field Name(:) is selected, the Field Name followed by value is displayed. For example, if a user enters $, it will be displayed as $ 10 in the export. Prefix is applied to the SKU attribute value in the same column or field. Default selection will be No Prefix.
Suffix with Value - The dropdown options available are No Suffix, User Entered Value, UoM Name, UoM Symbol. You can enter a text if the selection is User Entered value, enter a UoM Name or UoM Symbol which will be outputted as the suffix to the SKU attribute value. For example, if a user enters $, it will be displayed as 10 $ in the export. Suffix is applied to the SKU attribute value in the same column or field. Default selection will be No Suffix.
UoM Display Control – The dropdown options available are No UoM, UoM name in adjacent left column, UoM symbol in adjacent left column, UoM name in adjacent right column, UoM symbol in adjacent right column. By default, No UoM is selected. UoM name in adjacent left column means UoM name will be placed to the left of the attribute in a new column. UoM symbol in adjacent left column means UoM symbol will be placed to the left of the attribute in a new column. UoM name in adjacent right column means UoM name will be placed to the right of the attribute in a new column. UoM symbol in adjacent right column means UoM symbol will be placed to the right of the attribute in a new column.
If you select any option other than the No UoM, the export with UoM controls is displayed.
All UoMs in the attribute (this will export all UoMs for this SKU attribute in the placement specified above)
Include with Specific UoM (List of UoMs entered in a field which includes those UoM (s) for that SKU attribute in the placement specified above). Start typing into the field and select the UoMs you want to include.
Exclude with specific UoM ( List of UoMs entered in the field which will exclude those UoM (s) for that SKU attribute in the placement specified above). Start typing into the field and select the UoMs you want to exclude.
When user selects UoM Name or UoM Symbol in the Prefix with Value or Suffix with Value column, only No UoM will be displayed, other options will be disabled.
You can delete each row; however, if you select multiple rows or files, you cannot delete it. If you want to perform deletion of entities in bulk, you can carry out the operation in Field Selection section (previous section).
If you select multiple fields, and you want to copy a particular value for all the selected fields, click 
near to that particular value, and select either Apply To All Field Values or Apply To Selected Field Values.
Once you makes these changes, click Submit to save the template. The saved template is displayed on Export > Custom Export Template. This template can be used to export catalog in the desired template format.
On the Custom Export Template creation page, you can perform four actions on the custom export template. You can update the template, save as the template, delete the template, and export the template.
On clicking 
, you can update the template and follow the steps from 3 to 19.
On clicking 
,you can enter a different name for the new template along with a few other details. Enter the fields such as Template Name, Select Catalog, Select File Type, Field Delimiter, and Field Enclosure. Click Submit to save the template.
You can delete the template by clicking 
. This will ask for a confirmation, click Yes to delete the template.
You can export the template by clicking 
. This will redirect you to Export Data ;screen.
You can also use the customer export template created from Export --> Export Catalog screen.
Viewing the Export File.
In the case of Grainger export, the following details are displayed in the Exports screen.
The Totals section lists the total count of all entities exported in the file:
Matched SKUs – Count of SKUs that were matched from the excel file and the PCC catalog selected.
Processed Rows – Number of rows that were processed from the excel file
Processed Sheets - Number of sheets that were processed from the excel file. It is possible that the excel file has multiple sheets. In this case, since there is only 1 sheet, the count is 1.
Visible Sheets – Number of sheets that are present in the excel file uploaded
Click the Download File 
icon next to the excel file generated and the file is downloaded.
The node selected for exporting data had 3 SKUs 60JJ16, 60JJ17 and 60JJ18 whereas the excel file uploaded to which the data had to be mapped has only 2 SKUs 60JJ16 and 60JJ17. Hence, the value for UPC attribute which was mapped in the template created has been updated for the 2 SKUs that matched during the export process. Similarly, the other attributes that have been mapped will also be updated in the exported file.
The file can then be shared with Grainger directly for further processing as it is in the format required by them.
Following is some of the key pointers to be remembered while exporting using the Grainger format:
The data will be populated in the excel file only if the SKU ID in the catalog selected exactly matches the Product ID (column B) listed in the excel file.
The values for unlocked fields from the excel file should be mapped with the respective attributes in the template created. However, values for mapped attributes will populate only if a SKU match is found.
Editing the Export Template
Once the template is created, you can make any changes in the template configuration details, upload another excel file or change the mapping details as needed in future. This is useful when there is some change in the transaction excel file / some other attributes need to be mapped from the catalog and all these changes need to be updated in the template as well.