Personal Expense Credit Card > Data Import - New Specification

The credit card data import specification needs to be setup before you can import your credit card bank statement. This specification needs to match your statement export exactly.


CREATING A NEW SPECIFICATION

  • Before creating the new setup, download your credit card statement in the standard format

  • In Workbook: finance & administration module > export, import & maintenance sub-menu> personal expense credit card

  • Go to the import file tab > and click the ‘import’ button

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  • The data import box will open

  • Click on the settings tab > the create import specification button

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  • Complete the following fields:

No

Field

Description

No

Field

Description

1

Specification

This is the name of the new credit card. E.g. National Bank CC

2

File type

Select the file type of your credit card statement. E.g. CSV or Excel

3

Exclude lines

This tells Workbook which lines to ignore at the top of your credit card statement, e.g. your header lines. If there are 5 header lines, enter 5

4

Field separator

If you’re importing a CSV file, enter a comma here. If it’s an excel file, the field will lock so nothing is required


MATCHING THE FIELDS TO THE CREDIT CARD STATEMENT

  • Once you’ve set up the above fields > go back to the execute tab > and select your newly created specification from the dropdown

  • Now you’re ready to set up the fields to match your credit card statement

  • When entering the fields some of them will require formatting. See notes below

Fields available:

Field name

Description

Required

Formatting

Field name

Description

Required

Formatting

Credit Card No.

This field is very important as it matches the credit card mapping that you’ve already set.

If you have multiple cards in your credit card statement, it allocates the reconciler to the transaction.

If you have a single card and the statement doesn’t include the credit card no. you can default this field to match the reference on your mapping. You will also need to create a specification per card so that it defaults correctly.

YES

NO

Creditor Info

See note below in blue

NO

NO

Payment Info

An optional field for reference purposes only

NO

NO

Employee ID

See note below in blue

NO

NO

Expense date

The date of the transaction

YES

YES

Expense description

Description that will appear on the expense entry

YES

NO

Currency code

An optional field for reference purposes only

NO

NO

Currency ID

An optional field for reference purposes only - will need to match the currency ID in Workbook

NO

NO

Currency amount

An optional field for reference purposes only

NO

NO

Amount

The local currency amount of the transaction.

If you have a credit and debit column, a script will need to be added. See script information below

YES

NO

Activity ID

See note below in blue

NO

NO

Unique transaction ID

See note below in blue

 

 

Location

An optional field for reference purposes only

NO

NO

Country

An optional field for reference purposes only

NO

NO

Merchant category code

See note below in blue

NO

NO

Merchant code

See note below in blue

NO

NO

Expense time

An optional field for reference purposes only

NO

NO

Currency rate

An optional field for reference purposes only

NO

NO

Import currency code

See note below in blue

NO

NO

Import currency ID

See note below in blue

NO

NO

Tax code

See note below in blue

NO

NO

Tax code ID

See note below in blue

NO

NO

Expense entry type

See note below in blue

NO

NO

Expense entry type ID

See note below in blue

NO

NO

GST location

See note below in blue

NO

NO

Above fields in blue - these fields wouldn’t commonly be available on a credit card statement but you can add them prior to import if you wish, just make sure the values match WorkBook exactly.

 

  • Field 1 needs to match column A in your bank statement, Field 2 matches column B etc.


FORMATTING THE FIELDS

  • If a field needs a format selected it will come up with a yellow triangle

  • Click on formatting > and enter a value from the dropdown box to match your bank statement export E.g. dates: dd/mm/yyyy or numbers: -1,234.56/1,234.56

  • Now that you’ve setup the specification, you can import your credit card file and check that the information matches correctly

EXAMPLE


ADDITIONAL FORMATTING OPTIONS - SCRIPTS

Scripts are used when additional formatting is required on an import. You can use them to delete extra lines at the bottom of the import or calculate 2 fields.

  • In the bank reconciliation data import go to the settings tab > select the add new script parameter button

  • Complete the fields in the add data import script pop up (see script examples below) > click ok

Standard script usage:

CalcFields

Used to calculate an amount from other columns and insert it into a different column. A typical example of this would be a file with debit and credit amounts in separate columns (@1 and @2 for example), but the import only has a single amount field, so there is a need to combine them.

  • Function: Inserts a calculated value into the specified field.

  • Sequence: Not important.

  • Script type: After field.

  • Field number: Not used.

  • Parameter: @TargetField = calculation. @field to use values from the import. For example, @3 = @1 - @2 to combine debit and credit into a single amount column in field 3. Field 3 would be mapped to Amount, while field 1 and 2 are not mapped to anything. 

More information on separate debit and credit columns is available below

DeleteEmptyLines

Lines can be deleted with this. The import can stop on its own at the last line, but if a file contains empty lines among the data then that can cause errors for some fields such as dates.

Some lines that look empty can also simply be blank in excel, and these may also be wrongly imported. This can cause an import to be overly long and encounter issues as well.

This script checks if a line is empty in certain fields and deletes it if so. It only allows checking within the first 16 fields.

  • Function: Checks specific fields (2 minimum) to see if they are empty and deletes the line. 

  • Sequence: Not important.

  • Script type: Before default.

  • Field number: Not used.

  • Parameter: Field;Field;... So for example if you want to delete lines where field 3, 5 and 6 are empty you would write this: 3;5;6

ReverseNumericValue

Used to convert positive amounts to negative, or negative amounts to positive. This is useful if an external document only provides expense values as negative, for example, but the expense values need to be positive for the expense entry import.

  • Function: Reverses the numeric value in a field.. 

  • Sequence: Not important.

  • Script type: Before default.

  • Field number: Not used.

  • Parameter: @field to be converted. So @5 to reverse the value in field 5.


STATEMENTS WITH SEPARATE DEBIT & CREDIT COLUMNS

The credit card import only allows for a single ‘amount’ column. If your credit card statement has a debit column and credit column:

  • In a field with nothing in it on your credit card statement, enter the ‘amount’ option

  • Use the ‘Calcfields’ instructions from above

  • Example:

Credit card statement:

Script:

Fields:


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