Hints for a Successful Data Integration

Recently I took a webinar on Data Integration into Excel and found the hints there directly apply to Anaplan data integration.  Nothing fancy...just my notes.  Hope it can be used with you or your Clients.

 

Hints for successful data integration into Anaplan:

  1. Data format:
    • Text or csv
  2. Insure all column headers are unique and descriptive
  3. Use common formats for data
    • Do not mix text and numbers in the same column
  4. Avoid special characters that may not be recognizable
  5. Use consistent date formats
  6. Define any missing values
    • Differentiate between zero value and blank data
  7. Utilize attribute lists whenever possible to keep text data consistent
    • Example:  List of Job Titles for a Job Title field to avoid typos, inconsistent abbreviations
      1.       Sr. vs Senior
      2.       M vs Male, F vs Female

Best Answer

  • Hi hsich1020,

    Thank you for submitting this!

    One item I would add as an item 8 is to ensure that field headers in the Data module match the field headers in the integration file. This enables the import to match on names and not require a manual mapping.