Populating the Products import template

SECURITY  Security level with Admin permission to configure Products, Services, & Inventory. Refer to Admin security settings.

NAVIGATION   > Admin > Features & Settings > Products, Services, & Inventory > Products > Import > click Import

NAVIGATION  To export and update existing products, go to > Inventory > Inventory > Products > button bar > Export > In Import Template Format.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN  Please review the general instructions for importing and updating data in Autotask in this topic: Importing or updating data.

NOTE  If you see a check mark in the Must be looked up in Autotask instance? column, it means that, in the Autotask user interface, a value is selected from a list. You may use selections that are currently inactive, but they must exist. Navigate to the page shown in the Description column and look up the valid options.

*= required field

Field Name Must be looked up in Autotask instance? Description

Product ID (updates only)

Yes

Enter the Product ID to identify the product you want to update.
Product ID is located at the end of the URL when you view a product. It is the string of numbers following productID=.
Product Name *   The product name will appear on quotes, the Devices list, and on the customer invoice. This is a required field. The field size is 100 characters.
Product Description   The product description will appear on quotes and invoices. It may be left blank. The character limit is 8,000.
Product Category   Product categories can be found here: > Admin > Features & Settings > Products, Services, & Inventory > Product Categories. Refer to Adding product categories for more information.
Serialized (yes or no)  

This column appears if the Inventory module is enabled. If you enter Yes, you must enter specific serial numbers when you receive stocked items based on this product, and you must install specific serialized products to your customers. If you enter No, the product will not be serialized.
Default Device Type Yes Device types can be found here: > Admin > Features & Settings > Devices > Device Types. The Device Type determines which User-Defined Fields appear on the Device page for technicians to view or enter information. Refer to Overview of device management.
Material Code* Yes Material Codes can be found here: > Admin > Finance, Accounting & Invoicing > Billing Codes > Material. They categorize product sales for reporting purposes, determine the tax category of a product, and allow exported billing items to be mapped to the proper general ledger account in an external accounting software package. Refer to Setting up billing codes and Autotask to QuickBooks Mapping.
Billing Type   Acceptable options are:
  • Standard
  • Per Contact
  • Per Device

If the field is left blank, it will default to Standard. The Period Type must be monthly for Per Contact or Per Device billing types.

This column cannot be updated for existing or new products.
Price/Cost Method   Acceptable options are:
  • Standard
  • Tiered
  • Volume

If the field is left blank, it will default to Standard. Refer to Setting up volume-based and tiered pricing.
This column cannot be updated for existing products.
Unit Cost   The amount you pay the vendor of the product.
Unit Price   The amount you charge your customer for the product. The difference between Unit Cost and Unit Price is the Product Revenue, which appears in the Financials calculations.
Unit Price Customer Currency Name (available if Multi-currency is enabled)   If Multi-currency functionality is enabled, a column for Unit Price (Customer Currency Name) will be displayed for each currency that is either active, or is currently selected on at least one active account. This allows you to prepare the price list with prices for all your active currencies, and import it into Autotask.
MSRP   Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. This field does not impact revenue calculations.
Period Type Yes Values are One-Time, Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly. Can be left blank; there is no default value.
Internal Product ID   An internal ID code, if used. This field appears on the printed purchase order.
External Product ID   Use to cross-reference an external product list.
Manufacturer   Manufacturer Name can be typed in; it does not have to be entered into Autotask.
Manufacturer Product Number   Use this field to reference a manufacturer product number.
Product SKU   Enter an SKU code, if available.
Product Link   Enter a URL, for example to a manufacturer's product web site. This URL is added to the product description on a quote and can be clicked by your customer to learn more about the product. After entering the URL, click Preview to test the link. On the page that opens, click the Web Page link.
Default Vendor Yes If you enter a vendor, the organization must exist in your Autotask instance, and the organization type Vendor must be applied to it.
Default Vendor Part Number   Enter a part number if available.
Default Vendor Cost   Enter your cost when purchasing from the default vendor.

If Multi-currency is enabled for your Autotask instance and the default vendor is associated with a different currency, the value you enter here is assumed to be in the vendor currency.
Does not require Procurement (yes or no)   Appears only when the Procurement module is enabled. If you enter No, the product will require procurement. If you enter Yes, the items will not be subject to approval or appear on the Purchasing & Fulfillment page. Refer to Introduction to Inventory.
Active/Inactive   When you import new items, enter the word Active to activate, Inactive to inactivate. Leaving the column blank will also activate.

When you update existing items when importing, enter the word Active to activate, Inactive to inactivate, and leave the column blank to do nothing (the current Active/Inactive status will not change). If the column contains any text other than Active or Inactive, the import will fail. Refer to Lookup Fields in the table Duplicate criteria for imports.
Product User-Defined Fields   User-defined fields for all entities that support them can be imported and exported, with one exception: UDFs of type List (Multi Select) cannot be exported or imported. Inactive list options can be imported and exported as well. Required UDFs cannot be left blank, or the import will fail. UDFs are identified as such and appear after all system field columns.To learn more about how to set up and use UDFs, refer to Managing user-defined fields

To find out how to reverse an import, refer to Rolling back an import.