CSV FILE FORMAT
Information you need to know about
Creating
Templates from
File in IB4B
- CSV file format
CSV Import Overview
The CSV import file format allows you to create templates for Direct Credit (including payroll)
and Direct Debit transactions from files containing a simple list of payee(ers). This format
allows six different information fields to be imported with each payee(er) line into the new
template.
1.Name*
2. Account Number*
3.Amount
4.Particulars
5.Code
6.Reference
*A name and account number is required for each line to be imported; all of the other fields are
optional.
Example
The following is a short (5-payee) example file:
Name,Account Number,Amount,Particulars,Code,Reference
Alpha,02-0500-0123456-000,50.14,abc,def,ghi
Beta,02-0500-0123456-001,25,abc,def,ghi
Gamma,02-0500-0123456-002,12.23,abc,def,ghi
Delta,02-0500-0123456-003,23,abc,def,ghi
Epsilon,02-0500-0123456-004,10.01,abc,def,ghi
Figure 1 - example CSV file
CSV files can also be viewed in a spreadsheet tool like Excel:
Figure 2 - example file shown in Excel
The remainder of this guide:
1. Sets out in more detail the CSV file format that Internet Banking for Business (IB4B) expects
for template imports; and
2. Offers some basic advice on creating and working with these files.
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Glossary of Terms
Term
Description
CSV
A Comma Separated Value (CSV) file is a text file containing a table of information. Each line
in the file is a row in the table and commas are used to separate each row into fields.
CSV files can be easily created and edited using a spreadsheet tool like Excel or Numbers.
A
Alphanumeric – this field can include any of the following.
Letters: a - z and A - Z
Numbers: 0 - 9 and special characters:
Space
N
Dash
-
Apostrophe
‘
Ampersand
&
Hash
#
Underscore
_
Full Stop
.
Question Mark
?
Forward Slash
/
Numeric – this field can only contain numbers 0 – 9 and a single decimal point
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CSV File Format
There can be up to 2,000 Payee(er) records in a file.
Example: Acme Ltd,02-0985-0999088-025,50,The Electrician Corp,AZ100364C,Oz Corp
Field
Field Name
Field Format Comments
1
Name
A(20)
Mandatory field.
If more than 20 characters are included the field is truncated during the
import.
The following characters can be used a - z, A - Z, 0 - 9,space - ‘ & #_.? /
2
Account
Number
A(15-19)
Mandatory field.
The account or credit card into which the transaction amounts will be
deposited (or collected from in the case of a Direct Debit template). The
account number can be entered with or without dashes or spaces.
New Zealand domestic account and credit card numbers can be 15 or 16
digits long depending on the suffix length, with the extra digit being a left
hand zero i.e. an account ending in suffix 25 can also be represented as 025.
The following examples are all valid representations of the same account
number:
• 020100012345625
• 0201000123456025
• 02-0100-0123456-25
• 02 0100 0123456 025
Scheme debit accounts and Diners club card accounts are not valid in
templates.
Credit card accounts (excluding Diners) can be included in Direct Credit
(including payroll) templates but not in Direct Debit templates.
3
Amount
N(12)
Optional.
The amount of the payment (collection) in dollars. Negative values cannot
be imported. To specify cents include a decimal point.
4
Particulars
A(12)
Optional.
If more than 12 characters are included the field is truncated during the
import.
The following characters can be used a - z, A - Z, 0 - 9, space, - ‘ & #_.? /
5
Code
A(12)
As above
6
Reference
A(12)
As above
3
Column Headers
The first line in the file can be used for column headings. This can make it easier to work with in
a spreadsheet tool.
If you choose to include a headings line the following headings (in order) must be used for each
of the six fields:
1.Name
2. Account Number
3.Amount
4.Particulars
5.Code
6.Reference
So a heading record for a file using all six columns would look like this:
Name,Account Number,Amount,Particulars,Code,Reference
Any additional columns (the 7th and above) will be ignored by the import and have no effect
on the template created.
Name,Account Number,Amount,Particulars,Code,Reference,Manual1,Manual2,...
It is valid to omit the last 1-4 columns from the end of the list if they’re not required. So the
following headings records are all valid:
Name,Account Number
Name,Account Number,Amount
Name,Account Number,Amount,Particulars
Name,Account Number,Amount,Particulars,Code
However it is not valid to omit columns from the middle of the list, also columns 1-6 can’t
be transposed, and no extraneous column should be included before column 7. All of these
combinations are invalid:
Name,Account Number,Code,Reference
Name,Account Number,Reference,Code,Amount,Particulars
Name,Account Number,Amount,Manual1,Manual2
Note: If you decide not to include a heading row in your file the first line in the file should
contain the first Payee(er) record.
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Generating a CSV file for IB4B using Excel
You can easily prepare a CSV file for an IB4B template using Microsoft Excel or another
spreadsheet tool. These notes outline how to set up a valid file using excel. The layout of the
spreadsheet is shown below:
To create a CSV file use ‘save as’ in Excel and select the CSV format.
A note on Account numbers in Excel
Account numbers can be problematic in Excel if entered as a single number without dashes or
spaces e.g. 0205000123456000. Excel interprets numbers like this as whole numbers and can
reformat them in an unhelpful way.
Figure 3 - Account number reformatted by Excel
In the example above the leading zero has been removed and Excel has reformatted the
account number into scientific format. Importing files that contain account numbers without
leading zeros will cause the account number to load incorrectly. To ensure that valid account
numbers are produced by Excel, enter all account numbers enclosed in quotes or use dashes/
spaces as separators. This will ensure Excel interprets account values as text.
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Other Requirements
To be successfully imported into IB4B to create templates, CSV files must adhere to the
following standards:
> The file extension must be .csv or .txt
> There must be at least one payee(er) entry
> The following characters are permitted in the filename:
Alpha
a – z, A - Z
Numerical
0-9
(4644) 100989 06-14
Space
Dash
-
Apostrophe
‘
Ampersand
&
Hash
#
Underscore
_
Full Stop
.
Question Mark
?
Forward Slash
/
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