Create an import structure

Assets in Jira Service Management can store and execute multiple imports of different types. Each different type of import requires an Import structure - a package of information about where to find data and how Assets will manage a specific import task.

To create an Import structure:

1. From your service project, go to Assets > Object schemas.

2. Select an Object schema.

3. Select Schema configuration, then choose the Import tab.

4. Under the Import tab:

   1. If there is no import structure you will see the message No Import structure created. Click on Be the first to create one.

   2. If an import structure has already been created, click Create import to add a new import structure.

5. Select one of the following from the pop-up window:

   1. Discovery import - imports data from an Assets Discovery file.

   2. CSV import - imports data from a CSV (Content Separated Value) file.

   3. JSON import - imports data from a JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) file.

   4. External import - imports data from an external app. Learn more about how to develop an app to import data into Assets using the Imports REST API Guide, or view our tutorial about using Forge to import third-party data into Assets.

6. Next, use the Define import structure screen to configure your import structure. If you are creating an External import you can skip this step.

   1. Name (required) - enter a name for the import configuration.

   2. Description - enter a description for the import configuration.

   3. Drag or drop a file, or Browse (required) - drag and drop or browse for your source data file here.

   4. Automatically create object types and attributes - disabling this option requires you to manually map your data to your schema before importing data. Learn more about manually mapping your data.

   5. More options - modify the default values here to change how Assets will deal with delimiters, encoding, empty or unknown values, concatenation, and date formats.

      1. Delimiter (required) - Select the delimiter used in the file. A delimiter is the character that denotes where one value stops and the next one starts. Only delimiters of one character length are allowed, except for the “Tab” character which is indicated with “\t”. To include a delimiter or a double quote character, place each value between double quotes.

      2. Encoding (required) - Select the encoding used in the CSV file. The default encoding is UFT-8.

      3. Concatenator (required) - if you wish to join multiple values into one Assets attribute, you can use a concatenator. The default is a dash symbol “-”. You can enter “\s” if the data is concatenated with a space.

      4. Empty values - When an object is updated, choose if empty values from the external source should remove the existing value. Select from:

         1. Remove - remove the current value. If the attribute is a status, select, or reference type attribute with more than one value, all of the values will be removed.

         2. Ignore - keep the current value for this object type. If the attribute is a status, select, or reference type attribute with more than one value, all of the values will be kept.

      5. Unknown values (required) - choose if you want to ignore or add empty values.

      6. Date Format - Select a format to convert dates into Assets. Assets will automatically try to find the correct format if none is provided.

      7. Date/Time format - The date/time format to convert dates with time into Assets. Assets will automatically try to find the correct format if none is provided.

7. Select Create.

8. The Imports tab should now be populated with your new import structure.