Distribution List
Spreadsheet Upload (.csv files)
Functions, Development & Instructions
Description:
A Distribution list upload file makes it fast and easy to add multiple customer contacts into a recall.
Upload files contain some columns in a fixed order, and with specific Header Labels & formats, plus ten (10) optional “User-Defined”
columns that are provided. However, only certain column fields need to have data entries. Rows with all identical data entries in the
Fixed, Labeled Columns are ‘duplicates’ and will not be loaded even if there is ‘different’ data in the “User-Defined Columns. If there is
‘necessary’ data in “User-Defined” columns that would make a complete row of data unique, then move that Column to one of your
‘unused’ fixed columns, or contact Recall Support for assistance.
Existing Spreadsheets or Upload Spreadsheet Development: The Contacts upload files can be created as fixed Spreadsheets with
data in the proper order and format, or data can be Exported from your own customer database or each recall. See database Query
Development (Instruction Sheet and the Sample Files to your IT Department). Files must be saved into the .CSV format. Example.
In the Spreadsheets, here are special requirements for the “Company” and “Ship-To-Address” columns. See the explanations below.
Multiple csv files can be uploaded sequentially as desired for special handling different types of customers, and for “Affected” & “NonAffected”. Spreadsheet Item data for a particular customer contact is accessible on their online Responder screen - through the
“Shipping Info” button on their Screen#1, or in their Reports.
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Responders can be designated as Distributors, Stores, or Consumers. A separate upload file is used for each and selecting
their “Type” on the popup box.
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Normal Recall (“non-Distinct”): The recall system communicates all of the listed Items to all of the Distribution List contacts.
Each contact sees all of the Items, but not other Contact names. On each row, enter a Company name (and contact name if
desired), plus data for one or more of the 4 contact methods. Other data entries are optional. Multiple contacts for a company
are allowed. A recall of only one Item is “non-Distinct” by definition since there is only one Item communicated to all customers.
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Distinct Recall: Individual Customers see only certain items from the whole Item List. For instance, “Private Label” with
UPC/LotCode combinations or P.O.s will be visible only to certain customers. Both the Items List & Distribution List will have
the ‘distinct’ UPC/LotCodes listed, and so only those Items will be visible to them. Customers see only their Items.
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Important General Requirements
Examples):
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(see the examples on the next page, and Upload Column & Row Instructions and
Header row is always required: Use the header row names in the order shown below, plus any 10 “User-Defined” Header Row
names. Sometimes a Text format database export will have the filename and other data on the first line of data besides the Header
Row and contact data. The extra line(s) will cause an Upload Error, and so the extra lines must be removed prior to upload.
There must not be any ‘commas’ inside any data fields as a part of data for spreadsheet files. For text format files, such as from
some database Queries or Exports, the different data fields are separated by Commas (but commas within fields must still be
eliminated), also for each .txt file Row, a comma must end the data string for that row. Ex. “Company , Inc.” or “ItemDescription.
The “Company” column is required to have an entry for the Contact reporting amounts (see Login Email address). This is the
‘company name’ for that reporting contact person. For Chain Stores or a Single ‘Corporate’ or ‘broker’ Contact that will report for
multiple Locations, the specific Locations must then be in the “Ship to Location” column. Normally, the “Chain” name is in each data
Line for that contact in column A, and the specific, separate “Locations” are on separate lines in column “P” (Ship To Location).
Email Address/Contact Info: A “Company” must have an Email address (or Ph/Fax#) for the one reporting amounts for Locations.
Ship-To-Location: Data exported to this Column is the specific location for which Quantity Responses are entered. see examples below.
Phone/Fax numbers must have 10 numbers only, which includes the area code with no spaces, and no parentheses (xxx), and no
“1” for US/Canada. Other “Country Code” prefixes are required. Phone number Extensions follow an underscore “_”:
1112223333_4444. Do not enter any text such as “ext”, “X”, etc. Two separate phone numbers for the same contact can be entered
into the single Phone data field by separating the two phone numbers with a space, (e.g. 1005557777_444 space 1005559999).
Separate Email Addresses are handled in the same way: xxx@xxxx.xxx space yyy@yyyy.yyy. No “Commas”.
The “P.O.” column may be replaced by “Invoice #” if desired; however both the Item File and the Distribution List file must match
either P.O.# or Invoice # columns. Also, if there is a separate “P.O. Date” or “Invoice Date” column in a database export then that
column could be placed into the “Shipping Date” column in the Distribution List, or moved to a “User-Defined” column.
Distinct recalls are separate items (but perhaps with the same problem) sent to different customers: Depending upon the type of "Distinct"
selected, each customer line of the Distribution List must have a UPC/item number, case UPC, LotCode, Sell-by/Use-by Date combination that
corresponds to the Item List. If separate Lot Codes are listed on an Item List, an entry on the Distribution List of "All Lots" cannot be used in a Distinct
Recall (neither could “All UPC’s, etc) because the words “All Lots” would not match ‘individual’ Lot Codes. For “Distinct” recalls, each Lot Code would be
‘exported’ from the DB for each customer in separate lines.
Single Contact, Multiple Location Reporting: one Contact can respond for multiple locations. Each line of data must also include that
Single Contact’s “Company”, Contact info & the specific Ship-To-Addresses for proper reporting. On different lines of Contact/Item data, the
“Reporting Contact Company” would be the reporting “Company” entry. The “Ship-to-Locations” would have individual entries for Location
(see “Bakermann Co.”). The Responder screen #2 lists each Item for each Location. However, Column “P” could be repeated in Column
“A”.
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.CSV file Format Template & Examples:
Spreadsheet column order, field names, formats & examples:
CSV format for “Distinct” or “non-Distinct” recall events. “Distinct” allows sending to separate
customers any separate UPC, P.O.s, LotCodes, Ship-To addresses & Shipping Dates: (the .txt format will have these columns of data separated by commas).
Note that
most fields can be empty if there is not data to be communicated. All of this data is viewable by the recipient (Responders) using their 1 st screen “Shipping Info” button,
or the Shipping Info Report.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
{Reporting
Contact}
Company
Acct
ID
Address
First
Name
Last
Name
Email
(2 allowed)
Phone
(2 allowed)
Required
Opt.
Opt.
Opt.
Opt.
Digits & Characters
Fax
I
K
L
Case
UPC
Req. for
Opt.
Distinct*
10 digits, plus optional Country Code.
UPC: Digits
Digits /
Digits
Phone numbers may have extensions
only. Or Item #:
Char
only
after an underscore, 1005551234_1234
Digits & Char
1003435000
1002345001
2011-1
100
1100
{space}
Required. Enter at least ONE of the Four contact methods
Email Format
with @ and .Com, .Net,
.Biz, etc.
bfisher@FinnSeaFood
Fisher .Biz {space}
BF777@Gmail.com
J
SMS/
P.O. /
UPC /
Text Msg Invoice# Item Number
Opt.
M
N
O
P
Q
-Z
Lot Code
Sell By Date
Supplier
Qty
Ship To Location
(Address etc.)
Shipping Date
10 UserDefined
Columns
Opt.
Opt.
Opt.
Opt.
Opt.
Opt.
mm/dd/yy
Digits &
Characters
Digits &
Char.
mm/dd/yy
100-A
01/31/2011
Digits&Char: –Store Name or
Digits only Store# or AcctID# or Address
or any unique Location
Finn Sea
Food Inc.
0192
General
Distributors
Corp
0076
408 W. Idaho
St. Boise ID
Ike
Sweesy
Ike.Sweesy@
GenDist.Biz
2088909169
208
8909169
23-A2
100
1100
100-A
05/31/2011
General
Distributors
Corp
0076
408 W. Idaho
St. Boise ID
Ike
Sweesy
Ike.Sweesy@
GenDist.Biz
2088909169
208
8909169
23-A2
100
1100
100-A
05/31/2011
10045610001 10045610003
B2
100
1100
100-A
01/31/2011
50
10045610001 10045610003
B2
100
1100
100-A
01/31/2011
75
10045610001 10045610003
B3
100
1100
100-B
02/28/2011
50
10045610001 10045610003
B3
102
1102
102-B
03/31/2011
100
LZ8-1
1001231234
113
113
1113
1113
102-F
102-F
05/31/2011
05/31/2011
50
1001231234
114
1114
102-G
07/31/2011
75
Bakermann
Co
Bakermann
Co
Bakermann
Co
Bakermann
Co
Lazy 8 Inc.
ChainSawz
ChainSawz
1 Wet Pl
Bill
Bay City CA (Finn)
H
13 Dry Creek
ptkahke@ bakermann
Patty Kahke
Yuma AZ
. Biz
13 Dry Creek
ptkahke@ bakermann
0007
Patty Kahke
Yuma AZ
. Biz
13 Dry Creek
ptkahke@ bakermann
0007
Patty Kahke
Yuma AZ
. Biz
13 Dry Creek
ptkahke@ bakermann
0007
Patty Kahke
Yuma AZ
. Biz
0088
QA@LZ8-x.Biz
0109 Wasilla AK
Sara Poulan
Recalls@Sawz .Biz
Blank Rows will cause CSV data load errors.
0109 Wasilla AK
Sara Poulan
Recalls@Sawz.Biz
0007
200
Finn Sea Food Inc.
xxxx
15
General Distributors
408 W. Idaho St. Boise ID
1/15/2011
5 cases
backordered
5
General Distributors
408 W. Idaho St. Boise ID
2/05/2011
P.O.
completed
100-555-1001
Bakermann Store #1
13 Dry Creek Yuma AZ
Bakermann Store #2
77 Wet Stream Rd Phx AZ
Bakermann Store #1
13 Dry Creek Yuma AZ
Bakermann Store #2
77 Wet Stream Rd Phx AZ
Lazy 8 Inc.
ChainSawz
ChainSawz
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx
General Distributors Inc. illustrates the spreadsheet file structure for recalls with the same P.O. but with subsequent Shipping Dates for that
one P.O. This can happen when a P.O. isn’t completed with just one Shipment, but with subsequent amounts & dates.
Bakermann Co. illustrates the spreadsheet Row structure for recall data with different UPC/CaseUPC, PO’s, Lot Codes & Sell By Dates; and
for reporting identical items by a Single Contact, but for different Ship-To Locations. Note the Contact data for Bakermann Stores is a Single
Corporate Contact with one ‘Login’ email address. That Single Contact must have the identical contact info, but then has separate Lines for
the separate ‘Bakermann’ Locations, plus all shipping POs / Ship Dates.
Text Format files: besides spreadsheets, a .txt format file if used, would have fields separated by commas with multiple “,” for empty fields,
plus an ending comma for each row. The Upload file requires a minimum of 10 ‘fields’ separated by commas, even if there is no data
(example of column fields with no data would be “,,,,”). Extra commas within the data fields (such as Company, Inc.; or Chicago, IL) cause
data field load errors.
Version 4/1/15
Other Notes:
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Company Name & Addresses must be without commas.
o
o
o
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A Company name entry is required, but Address is not required.
“Company, Inc.” would cause an error
i.e. Number Street City State Zipcode, with spaces
This is the most common cause of an upload error message.
The “Company” of Column “A” is usually the identifier for the “Reporting Contact”, not necessarily of the Ship-To Location (column
“P”). Important Note: with multiple lines for a Contact, the Column A, contact data must be the same including the Email Address of
the individual reporting for any location or for multiple locations.
Address column must be just one entry without commas, but is not required, and may be blank. Many databases will have an export
to multiple address element columns, and those will not work with this file format – you may leave the address column blank, select a
column, merge the columns or, move the Address Columns to separate “User-Defined” columns.
The “Ship-To Locations” lines and fields for a single reporting contact also must be a single column without commas, and must be
entered as a single field entry (e.g. Boston MA, Store #2, or ID112233, etc. without commas). A single Responder contact can report
amounts of Items for multiple “Ship-To” addresses on the 2nd Responder screen. These entries can be actual Addresses, or Store
Names, or any ‘distinct’ entries.
{If there is only one shipping location for a Reporting Contact, that field can be blank.}
Duplicate Lines: There must not be duplicate lines with identical Contact/Item Data of the ‘fixed columns’. UPC Items could be
distinguished as separate Lot Codes or SellByDates or separate Locations or even different P.O. numbers. If there are duplicates
(even if there is separate data in the “user-defined” columns), the ‘duplicate’ lines will not be loaded and an error message is generated
- click “Delete all”, correct the .csv file itself, and re-Upload.
Blank rows without any data are not allowed between data rows in the csv file. If the CSV file has any blank rows between data rows,
an error message will appear on the screen – click “Delete all”, correct the file, and re-Upload.
Uploading: Before upload, an Excel .xls file or other spreadsheet file with the proper column order, must be converted to .CSV
format by doing a “Save As” and then selecting the .CSV format as the file type. “.TXT” files can be uploaded directly.
Upload Time: Time to upload large files can depend upon your computer processor and the Internet connection speed.
Upload Error Messages: If an error message is generated - click “Delete all”, correct the entries or format of the original .csv file
used for upload, and then re-Upload.
Traceability Item distinctions & User-Defined Columns: Besides the several ‘Traceability” Item elements, there are an additional
10 “User-Defined” Column fields in the Distribution List which the Recipients can access through the Wizard with a “Shipping Info”
button report.
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Scientific Notation for numbers (x.xxE+xx): Editing of your Spreadsheet: if a file is being edited, the columns with UPC or any other
numbers that display as x.xxE+xx must have their columns expanded and the number format selected with no decimal places, or
with the proper number of decimal places. Then, Save the edited file after changing the number format. Each time the file is edited,
the number column must be ‘re-formatted’ before it is saved. Saving updated spreadsheet file information without re-formatting will
result in upload errors, and that numerical data will be lost even if the number column wasn’t edited. Note: When using Excel, and
browsing your directory for your csv file, select “all Files” on the “File Type”, otherwise your csv file will not display.
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Special Handling: To ‘exclude’ certain customers from a client company database Query for any special handling, the db export
could have an ‘exclude’ parameter as a part of a Query. But if the standard Query contains all Customers for those Items, then the
exported spreadsheet can be sorted ‘by-customer’, and the lines of data for that particular customer could be deleted or changed. The
special customer lines could also be moved to a separate spreadsheet for the special handling. An example would be special contact
data that needs ‘changed’ prior to upload into the Recall Wizard. Contact info columns could be moved or changed.
Ask Recall Support for assistance.
RecallSupport@RecallInfoLink.Com,
Version 4/1/15
(208) 890-9169.
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