Import cost codes

You can paste cost codes from a spreadsheet, up to 100 at a time, instead of creating them one by one. For a longer list, upload it to Milo instead. If you use Assignar Operations, the records you import from it arrive with their cost codes already made.

Owners, Admins and Managers can import cost codes.

Paste cost codes from a spreadsheet

1. Set up your spreadsheet with these eight columns, in this order, and no header row:

   Column	What goes in it
   Code	The code, for example SP-SURV
   Type	activity, role, rateitem, payitem, material, equipment or other
   Description	What the code covers
   Default Unit	Up to 20 characters, for example m2 or each. For role and equipment rows it must be hour, day or week; common spellings such as hrs, per day or wk are saved as Hour, Day or Week
   Default Charge Rate	The rate you invoice, as a number. A $ sign and thousands commas are fine
   Default Direct Cost Rate	What it costs you. Leave the cell empty if you don't track it
   Category	A category name. A new name creates the category
   Subcategory	A subcategory name within that category. A new name creates it

2. In the sidebar, select Settings, then Cost Codes, and select Import.

3. Copy the rows from your spreadsheet, paste them into Paste data from spreadsheet, and select Process Data.

4. Check the Preview. Each row shows Valid or Error, and the errors are listed under the table by row. Fix them in your spreadsheet, paste again and select Process Data again.

5. Under If cost code already exists:, choose Update existing item (the default) to overwrite a code that already exists with the same code and type, or Skip duplicate items to leave it as it is.

6. Select Import Items.

When the import finishes, the dialog shows Successfully imported with how many codes were Created, Updated and Skipped. Select Import More Cost Codes to paste another batch.

A role or equipment row with any other unit is not imported. The result lists it with the code and the unit you pasted, for example LAB001: Labor and equipment use Hour, Day or Week, not "each". Change the unit and import that row again.

Every imported code with the type activity, role, material or equipment also creates a matching activity, role, material or asset class under Resources, named after its description. To delete one of those cost codes later, delete that record first.

Fix rows with errors

Import Items stays greyed out until every row is valid. The errors you can see are:

If you paste more than 100 rows, Assignar Pay shows Too many items and Maximum of 100 items allowed per import. Split the list and import it in batches.

Import GL accounts from a CSV file

Use this to set the GL account on many existing cost codes at once. It changes only the GL account: it doesn't create cost codes or change anything else about them. You need permission to edit cost codes.

1. In the sidebar, select Settings, then Cost Codes, and select Import GL accounts.
2. Select Download template if you want a CSV with the right headers. The columns are code and gl_account_code.
3. Drop your CSV onto the dialog, or click to choose it. A file can have up to 5,000 rows and be up to 4 MB, and its first row must be the column headers.
4. Under Map columns, check that one column maps to code and another to gl_account_code. Only a column named gl_account_code is matched for you. To read the accounts from another column, such as external_id, choose it yourself.
5. Select Run dry run. Nothing is saved yet. Each row shows Update, Unchanged, Skipped or Error, with a count for each.
6. Select Start import of N rows, skip M.

Updated N, skipped M confirms it. Imported rows aren't undone automatically. To change an account afterwards, edit the cost code or import again.

Cost codes are matched on their code. Values are read as text, so leading zeros stay. If your spreadsheet program has already removed them, format the column as text and save the CSV again.

A row is an error when:

A blank GL account shows GL account is blank, skipped. An import never clears an existing account; do that on the cost code.

Select Download error report to get the rows that weren't imported, with the reason for each. Fix them and import the report again.

Import a file with Milo

Milo, the assistant built into Assignar Pay, takes up to 1,000 cost codes at a time, from a CSV or Excel file or a list pasted into the chat. The columns can be in any order, with a header row, and only Code and Description are needed. You check every row in a preview before anything is saved, and a row with the same code as an existing cost code updates it.

Unlike Import, Milo doesn't create categories or subcategories: a name that doesn't exist yet shows as an error in the preview. Create them on the Categories tab first. See Import data with Milo.

Bring cost codes across from Assignar Operations

When you import activities, roles, materials or asset classes from Assignar Operations, each arrives linked to a cost code. Timesheets imported from Assignar Operations bring the cost codes they use too.

You start those imports from the pages under Resources, not from the Cost Codes page. See Connect with Operations. Afterwards, filter the Cost Codes list by the source Assignar to find the new codes and move them into your own categories.