Importing records

A system administrator can import ITSMA Service Management records from an external unload file using the Database Manager. Service Management can import records from all three formats of unload files (binary unload, text unload, and formatted text unload) as well as from two formats of text files (fixed-width and character-delimited text files). You can import records into Service Management as a manual foreground process or as an automated scheduled background process.

How Service Management imports records depends upon the format of the source file. When importing unload files, Service Management uses the database dictionary stored in these files to determine where and how to import records into Service Management. The database dictionary inside an unload file determines whether Service Management updates or ignores duplicate records in the existing system. When importing text files, Service Management requires an import descriptor record to tell it where and how to import records. You can define an import descriptor record during the import process or prepare one in advance.

An import descriptor record defines:

  • The external file source
  • The internal destination table
  • The format used to identify fields in the imported file
    • Fixed-width fields
    • Character-delimited fields
  • The rules for handling duplicate records
    • Ignore duplicate records
    • Replace duplicate records
    • Update duplicate records
  • The optional Format Control record to apply
  • The names of destination fields for import records
  • The date format to use
  • The number of elements from an array to import