Privilege Needed: Administrator
This feature allows Administrators to import 'M&IE Breakdown rate' (Meals and Incidental Expenses) information into the Unanet system. This information can be either new entries or the data on the import can be used to update existing data. The table below shows all the fields that are on the M&IE Breakdown rate schedule table that can be imported.
There are a number of available sources for this type of M&IE data -- each potentially having a slightly different layout. Each Unanet customer will be responsible for selecting and manipulating the source file into this Unanet format specified below. Further, you will also need to determine the frequency with which this data must be re-imported / updated. Listed below is one known US source for this type of data. Unanet does not vouch for the accuracy/content of the data provided by this site :
You may also be interested in the Per Diem Rate Schedule import.
|
Field Name |
Required/Description |
|
| 1 | M&IE Rate | ALWAYS REQUIRED. M&IE Per Diem allowance value. Numeric format -- NUMBER (15,3). For example: "001234567890.123". |
| 2 | Breakfast Amount | ALWAYS REQUIRED. Amount of M&IE Rate attributable to breakfast. Numeric format -- NUMBER (15,3). For example: "001234567890.123". |
| 3 | Lunch Amount | ALWAYS REQUIRED. Amount of M&IE Rate attributable to lunch. Numeric format -- NUMBER (15,3). For example: "001234567890.123". |
| 4 | Dinner Amount | ALWAYS REQUIRED. Amount of M&IE Rate attributable to dinner. Numeric format -- NUMBER (15,3). For example: "001234567890.123". |
| 5 | Incidentals Amount | ALWAYS REQUIRED. Amount of M&IE Rate attributable to incidental expenses. Numeric format -- NUMBER (15,3). For example: "001234567890.123". |
If a matching M&IE Rate entry is found for a record being imported, the existing entry in the Unanet database will be updated to match the import record. If no matching M&IE Rate entry is found for a record being imported, a new entry will be created in the Unanet database for the import record.
Also note that the import will enforce that the sum of the values for fields 2 through 5 must equal the value of the entry in field 1.
The file to import must be saved in a comma delimited format. The fields can be enclosed in double quotes -- which would be particularly necessary should the data being imported contain commas.
Examples:
You can create the comma delimited import file with any number of tools. For those interested in using an Excel spreadsheet to create the file, you can click here to download an Excel Template with predefined headers and required fields.
EXCEL NOTE: the fields that start with ** are required fields.
EXCEL NOTE: Excel may add the double quotes around fields for you. If using the excel spreadsheet template -- note that excel will automatically put double quotes around fields that contain commas. Manually adding double quotes within excel would result in two sets of double quotes in the .csv file and thus cause an error on import.
EXCEL NOTE: When creating a comma delimited file using Excel, the saved ascii text file will contain a header row. This row will be ignored by the import process and will not create any import warnings. The import process will ignore the header (as well as any other rows) that begin with: #M&IE RATE# or **
The Import M&IE Breakdown screen simply looks like:
You select the file you would like to import and press the import button. The import process will commit all data that passes the necessary validations. That may result in some records being fully imported -- some may be partially imported -- and others may be rejected all together.
All Warnings and Error messages are written to the screen and can then be saved if desired.
As an alternative to using the Import Screen described above, you can also invoke imports using the command line import functionality. This functionality allows you to invoke an import without accessing the Unanet system application (user interface). This may be useful if you would like to write an external process to extract data from an upstream system and programmatically load it into Unanet (without user intervention).
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