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Overview

This reference guide provides detailed field specifications for all CSV import types in WorkSuite. Use this when preparing your CSV files to ensure proper formatting and validation.

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Customer Import Fields

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Customer Fields

Field NameRequiredData TypeMax LengthDescriptionExample
CustomerNameYesText255Unique customer name”Acme Gardens Inc”
CustomerDescriptionNoText1000Customer notes”Retail nursery chain”
CustomerTermsNoText100Payment terms name”Net 30”

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Location Fields

Field NameRequiredData TypeMax LengthDescriptionExample
LocationCodeYes*Text50Unique location identifier”ACME-MAIN”
LocationNameYes*Text255Location name”Main Store”
LocationAddressLine1NoText255Street address”123 Garden Way”
LocationAddressLine2NoText255Apartment/suite”Suite 100”
LocationCityNoText100City name”Portland”
LocationState/ProvinceNoText50State/province”OR”
LocationZipcodeNoText20ZIP/postal code”97201”
LocationCountryNoText3Country code (ISO)“USA”
LocationAddressToNameNoText255Recipient name”Receiving Dept”
LocationDescriptionNoText1000Location notes”Main retail location”
LocationTermsNoText100Location-specific terms”Net 15”
StoreNumberNoText50Store number”STORE-001”
GLNNoText13Global Location Number”1234567890123”
*Required if adding locations

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Contact Fields

Field NameRequiredData TypeMax LengthDescriptionExample
ContactFirstNameYes*Text100First name”John”
ContactLastNameYes*Text100Last name”Doe”
ContactEmailAddressNoEmail255Email address”[email protected]”
ContactPhoneNumberNoPhone20Phone number”503-555-0100”
ContactTitleNoText100Job title”Purchasing Manager”
ContactMobileNoPhone20Mobile phone”503-555-0101”
*Required if adding contacts

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Billing Address Fields

Field NameRequiredData TypeMax LengthDescriptionExample
BillingToNameNoText255Name on billing”Acme Gardens Inc”
BillingAddressLine1Yes*Text255Street address”456 Finance St”
BillingAddressLine2NoText255Suite/apt”Floor 3”
BillingCityYes*Text100City”Portland”
BillingState/ProvinceYes*Text50State/province”OR”
BillingZipcodeYes*Text20ZIP code”97202”
BillingCountryNoText3Country code”USA”
*Required if adding billing addresses

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Validation Rules

CustomerName:
  • Must be unique across all customers
  • Cannot contain only whitespace
  • Duplicates are skipped
Email Addresses:
  • Must match email format: [email protected]
  • Validated using regex pattern
  • Invalid emails cause row to fail
Phone Numbers:
  • Accepts various formats
  • Automatically formatted to standard format
  • Non-numeric characters allowed (dashes, spaces, parentheses)
Location Codes:
  • Must be unique within the customer
  • Can be reused across different customers
  • Required if specifying location fields

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Order Import Fields

WorkSuite supports two different order import formats depending on your tenant configuration:

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BPF Format (Ball Park Flowers)

Field NameRequiredData TypeMax LengthDescriptionExample
PoNumberNoText100Customer PO number”PO-12345”
CustomerIdYesText50Customer ID (must exist)“CUST001”
ExpDeliveryDateYesDate-Expected delivery date”01/15/2024”
TypeYesText1Order type: P (Purchase) or C (Credit)“P”
SalesPersonEmailYesEmail255Sales person email address”[email protected]”
OrderByFirstNameNoText100First name of person placing order”John”
OrderByLastNameNoText100Last name of person placing order”Doe”
OrderByPhoneYesPhone20Phone number of person placing order”(555) 555-0123”
OrderedByEmailYesEmail255Email of person placing order”[email protected]”
ItemIdYesText36Item ID (must exist)“ITEM001”
GroupYesText50Item group identifier”GRP01”
QuantityYesNumber-Order quantity (must be positive)10
OverridePriceNoDecimal-Override price per unit25.50

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MOIF Format (Mast of Iowa Farmers)

Field NameRequiredData TypeMax LengthDescriptionExample
PoNumberNoText100Customer PO number”PO-12345”
CustomerLocationNameYesText255Customer location name (must exist)“Main Warehouse”
ExpectedDeliveryDateYesDate-Expected delivery date”01/15/2024”
TypeYesText1Order type: P (Purchase), C (Credit), or R (Return)“P”
OrderByFirstNameNoText100First name of person placing order”John”
OrderByLastNameNoText100Last name of person placing order”Doe”
OrderByPhoneYesPhone20Phone number of person placing order”(555) 555-0123”
OrderedByEmailYesEmail255Email of person placing order”[email protected]”
ItemUpcYesText12Item UPC (must exist)“123456789012”
QuantityYesNumber-Order quantity (must be positive)10
OverridePriceNoDecimal-Override price per unit25.50

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Validation Rules

Order Grouping:
  • BPF: Orders grouped by CustomerId + ExpDeliveryDate
  • MOIF: Orders grouped by CustomerLocationName + ExpectedDeliveryDate
  • Each unique combination creates one order
  • Line items aggregated under each order
Customer Lookup:
  • BPF: Uses CustomerId to find customer
  • MOIF: Uses CustomerLocationName to find customer location and associated customer
  • Customer/location must exist or order fails
Item Lookup:
  • BPF: Uses ItemId to find item
  • MOIF: Uses ItemUpc to find item
  • Item must exist or line item skipped
Date Formats:
  • Accepted: MM/DD/YYYY, YYYY-MM-DD
  • Examples: “01/15/2024”, “2024-01-15”
  • Invalid dates cause order to fail
Order Types:
  • BPF: P (Purchase), C (Credit)
  • MOIF: P (Purchase), C (Credit), R (Return)
  • Invalid types cause row to fail
Quantities:
  • Must be positive numbers
  • Decimals allowed (e.g., 2.5)
  • Zero or negative quantities cause validation error
Prices:
  • Optional (uses customer pricing if blank)
  • Must be non-negative
  • Decimal format with up to 2 decimal places

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Item Import Fields

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Item Fields

Field NameRequiredData TypeMax LengthDescriptionExample
ItemNameYesText255Item display name”Geranium 4-inch”
SkuYesText255Stock keeping unit (unique)“GER-4IN-RED”
UpcYesText12Universal product code (12 digits)“123456789012”
ItemGroupYesText255Item group/category”Annuals”
RetailPriceYesDecimal-Suggested retail price4.99
DescriptionNoText255Item description”Red geranium in 4-inch pot”
ProgramNoText255Program/collection”Spring 2025”
CategoryCodeNoText255Category code identifier”ANN”
CategoryNameNoText255Category name”Annuals”

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Validation Rules

SKU Uniqueness:
  • Must be unique across all items
  • Duplicate SKUs within the CSV are flagged as errors
  • Case-sensitive matching
UPC Format:
  • Required field
  • Must be exactly 12 digits
  • Must contain only numbers (no dashes or spaces)
  • Invalid UPC format causes row to fail
Prices:
  • Required field
  • Must be a positive number
  • Decimals allowed
  • Cannot be negative or zero
Categories:
  • Multiple categories per item supported by using multiple rows with the same SKU
  • Each row with the same SKU creates or updates the item and adds the category
  • Both CategoryCode and CategoryName are optional
  • If category doesn’t exist, it will be created during import

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Location Import Fields

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Location Fields

Field NameRequiredData TypeMax LengthDescriptionExample
LocationCodeYesText50Unique location code”WH-A-01”
LocationNameYesText255Location display name”Warehouse A - Bay 1”
LocationTypeNoText50Location type”Bin”
ParentLocationCodeNoText50Parent location code”WH-A”
DescriptionNoText1000Location description”Upper shelf”
IsActiveNoBoolean-Active statusTRUE
CapacityNoNumber-Storage capacity100
ZoneNoText50Warehouse zone”Zone A”
AisleNoText20Aisle identifier”A1”
BayNoText20Bay identifier”01”
LevelNoText20Shelf level”Top”

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Validation Rules

Location Hierarchy:
  • Locations can have parent-child relationships
  • ParentLocationCode must reference existing location
  • Creates nested structure (Warehouse → Zone → Bin)
Location Types:
  • Common types: Site, Warehouse, Zone, Aisle, Bin
  • Type determines hierarchy level
  • Optional but recommended
Location Codes:
  • Must be globally unique
  • Case-sensitive
  • No special characters recommended
Capacity:
  • Optional numeric value
  • Represents storage capacity (units vary by use case)
  • Used for capacity planning

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Category Import Fields

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Category Fields

Field NameRequiredData TypeMax LengthDescriptionExample
CategoryNameYesText255Category name (unique)“Annuals”
DescriptionNoText1000Category description”Annual flowering plants”
ParentCategoryNoText255Parent category name”Flowering Plants”
SortOrderNoInteger-Display order1
IsActiveNoBoolean-Active statusTRUE
ColorNoText7Display color (hex)“#FF5733”

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Validation Rules

Category Hierarchy:
  • Categories can be nested (parent-child)
  • ParentCategory must exist before import
  • Creates tree structure for organization
Category Names:
  • Must be unique at each level
  • Siblings cannot have same name
  • Different levels can reuse names
Sort Order:
  • Numeric value for display sequence
  • Lower numbers appear first
  • Optional (auto-assigned if blank)

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Common Validation Patterns

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Email Validation

Pattern: ^[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}$
Valid: [email protected], [email protected]
Invalid: john@, @example.com, john@domain

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Phone Validation

Accepts: (503) 555-0100, 503-555-0100, 5035550100
Formats to: (503) 555-0100
Removes: Non-numeric except dashes and parentheses

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Date Validation

Formats:
- YYYY-MM-DD (ISO 8601, preferred)
- MM/DD/YYYY (US format)
- DD-MM-YYYY (European format)

Valid: 2025-01-15, 01/15/2025, 15-01-2025
Invalid: 15/30/2025, 2025-13-01, Jan 15 2025

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Boolean Validation

TRUE values: true, TRUE, 1, yes, YES, Y
FALSE values: false, FALSE, 0, no, NO, N
Empty/blank defaults to FALSE

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CSV File Formatting

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File Requirements

Encoding: UTF-8 (required) Line Endings: LF or CRLF (both supported) Delimiter: Comma (,) Text Qualifier: Double quotes (”) for fields containing commas Header Row: Required (first row must be column names) File Size: Recommended maximum 50MB per file

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Special Characters

Commas in Values: 
ItemName,Description
"Plant, Flowering","Red geranium, 4-inch pot"
Quotes in Values: 
ItemName,Description
"6"" Pot","Plant in six-inch pot"
Line Breaks in Values: 
ItemName,Description
"Multi-line item","Line 1
Line 2
Line 3"

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Empty Fields

  • Leave empty for optional fields: ItemName,,Description
  • Do not use “NULL” or “N/A” (treated as literal text)
  • Empty required fields cause validation error

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Example Well-Formatted CSV

Item CSV Example: 
ItemName,Sku,Upc,ItemGroup,RetailPrice,Description,Program,CategoryCode,CategoryName
"Geranium 4-inch",GER-4IN-RED,123456789012,Annuals,4.99,"Red geranium in 4-inch pot","Spring 2025",ANN,Annuals
"Petunia 6-inch",PET-6IN-MIX,123456789013,"Hanging Baskets",6.99,"Mixed color petunias","Spring 2025",HB,"Hanging Baskets"
"Tomato Seedling",TOM-SEED,123456789014,Vegetables,2.49,"Cherry tomato seedling","Summer 2025",VEG,Vegetables

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Error Messages Reference

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Common Import Errors

Error MessageCauseSolution
”Required field missing: CustomerName”CustomerName column empty or missingAdd customer name to all rows
”Duplicate SKU: ABC123”Item with this SKU already exists in CSVUse unique SKU for each item
”Customer not found: CUST001” (BPF)Customer ID doesn’t exist in systemImport customer first or fix ID
”Customer location not found: Main Warehouse” (MOIF)Customer location name doesn’t existImport customer location first or fix name
”Item not found: ITEM001” (BPF)Item ID doesn’t exist in systemImport item first or fix ID
”Item not found for UPC: 123456789012” (MOIF)Item UPC doesn’t exist in systemImport item first or fix UPC
”Invalid email format: johndoe”Email missing @ or domainUse proper email format
”Invalid date format: 15-30-2025”Invalid date (month 30)Use valid date (MM/DD/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD)
“Invalid type: X”Order type not P, C, or RUse valid order type
”Invalid UPC format”UPC contains non-numeric charactersUse 12-digit numeric UPC only
”Invalid UPC length”UPC not exactly 12 digitsEnsure UPC is exactly 12 digits
”Quantity must be a positive number”Negative or zero quantityUse positive numbers only

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Best Practices

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Data Preparation

  1. Use templates: Download templates from the import screens
  2. Test small batches: Import 5-10 records first
  3. Validate in Excel: Check for errors before importing
  4. Remove formatting: Plain text only, no Excel formatting
  5. Consistent naming: Use same spelling/capitalization
  6. Check encoding: Save as UTF-8 with BOM if needed

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Import Strategy

  1. Order of imports:
    • Locations → Categories → Items → Customers → Orders
  2. Break into batches: 100-200 records per file
  3. Import during off-hours: Reduce system load
  4. Verify each batch: Check results before next import
  5. Keep backups: Save original CSV files

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Troubleshooting

  1. Open CSV in text editor: Check for hidden characters
  2. Re-export from Excel: File → Save As → CSV UTF-8
  3. Check commas: Ensure values with commas are quoted
  4. Verify headers: Column names must match exactly
  5. Review error logs: Read specific error messages
  6. Test one row: Import single row to isolate issue

Customer CSV Import

Import customers with locations and contacts

Order CSV Import

Bulk create customer orders

Item CSV Import

Import your product catalog

Location CSV Import

Import warehouse locations