Importers

Importing is the process of collecting external data or data from the client's organization, and bringing it into Medallia Experience Cloud. Importers allow you to manage how certain data flows into Medallia Experience Cloud including user data, feedback data, organization data, survey invitation data, and reference tables. They also allow you to erase personal data from Experience Cloud.

Once configured, each import process usually runs automatically, either on a schedule or when triggered by some event, such as as transactions or respondent touchpoints.

Importers is an interface to guide you as you build an importer. It provides instant error messaging and real-time previews, and it builds the underlying XML specifications, eliminating the need to write XML from scratch.

To use and access Importers, see Accessing Integrations.

Importers screen

The Importers screen allows you to manually configure importers. This screen lists all of the importers available for that particular company instance. Importers are sorted by the date of last import, but you can click each column to sort them based on a different attribute. Importers can be filtered by import type, status, and Experience Program where it is being used. Use the search bar at the top of the list to search for a particular importer. For example, if you follow a naming convention for importers based on their type, search can help you locate those importers more quickly.

Layer 1 1 2 3 4 5

  1. Details pane
  2. Details pane menu
  3. Details pane tabs
  4. Search bar
  5. Filters

Details pane

Click an importer to reveal its details pane, which shows the following:

Status
Status of the importer. This can be:

  • Active — Incoming files are processed and records are added to Experience Cloud.

  • Inactive — Incoming files are not processed.

  • Pretend — The feed is active, but records are not added to the system. Use this to test the feed.

Importer type
Data objects or types to import to Experience Cloud. This can be:

  • Feedback Invitations — Client's events, transactions or events.

  • Existing Feedback — Client's existing feedback in survey, conversations or audio format (audio transcription format should be considered as conversation feedback).

  • Opt Out — Existing customer's opt out preferences.

  • Users — Client's User and Role data that define access and privileges within Experience Cloud.

  • Organization — Client's Units and Unit Groups representing the Organization Chart that allows filters and aggregations in the consumption of VoC results.

  • Lookup Table — Client's enrichment data.

  • Goals — Client's CX Goals based on unit, and employee goals when used for Employee Experience Management.

  • Multiple — Multiple selection of the options above.

Method
Type of feed. This can be:

  • Pull a file via SFTP — Retrieves files from the company using secure file transfer protocol (SFTP).

  • Pull a file via Amazon S3 — The data are in a file received directly from a secure Amazon S3 bucket.

  • Import Data via Medallia API — Use HTTP to retrieve the file from a company's server. Use this method to process data in real time.

Used in
Experience program where it is being used. For more details, see Experience programs.
Created
Date the connector was created and the user who created it.
Last modified
Date the importer was last modified and the user who modified it.
Last import
Result, date and time, and processing time of the last import.
Note: DateTime is expressed in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) on Importer screens.

Details pane menu

For the selected importer, click More vertical icon. the details pane menu to view the import history of that importer, download its specification, do a manual import, duplicate, deactivate, or test the importer.

The options menu for an importer

View Import History

Shows all uploaded and processed files by the importer. It displays information such as the import type, method, data size, import date and processing results from the processing report.

Manual Import
Manually import data using pre-configured templates. For more details about this tool, see Manual Imports.
Activate
Activates the importer.
Deactivate
Deactivates the importer.
Duplicate
Duplicates the importer. Experience Cloud makes a copy of all the code from the base importer as well as the import history.
Test
Uploads files with pretend processing.
Download importer spec
Download a snapshot of the importer’s data dictionary. This immediately generates an downloadable file containing the full data dictionary for the importer and downloads it as an Excel file in your browser.
Tip: Experience Cloud does not store historical snapshots. The download reflects the current snapshot of the importer.
Note: When you click Download importer spec on the Importers pane of the Experience program editor, the downloadable file contain the specs of the Importers linked to the particular experience program.

Import history

Import history report shows all uploaded and processed files delivered to Medallia Experience Cloud. It displays information such as the import name, type, method, data size, import date and processing results from the processing report.

To access the Import history report, go to Importers screen and click More vertical icon. at the top of the screen.

The import system produces reports about the processing results. These reports are accessed from the Import history report, clicking on each process.

This report summarizes information about the processing, including the processing time and the result summary for manual imports and the results in the latest import for API imports; these provide more detailed information about counts of records processed and their resolutions, such as duplicates, discarded, and failures.

Create and manage importers

To create an importer, complete the following steps:

  1. From Importers screen, click New Importer. This opens the library of available import types.

  2. Select the type of importer from the list. This opens the Importer editor, where you can build your importer.

  3. In the Details and Settings tab, enter a name and a description.

  4. In the Import Methods tab:

    1. Specify the import methods that receive or collect data from the external, company source, and then pass the data to be processed.

    2. Configure the schedule for the importer.

    3. Tell the system what to do after the import is complete.

  5. In the Data Mapping tab, map input fields to data fields in the system and transform the input data to the format required for the output fields.

  6. Click Save.

Manage importers

To manage an importer, click Edit to modify its content.

The type of importer cannot change once an importer has been created.

Importer editor

The Importer editor is the building area where you configure your importer. The editor is divided into several tabs, each with specific settings that manage a different aspect of the importer.