Patron Imports - Automatic Patron Import

If you are unsure about how meal plans work in our system or want to give a student a bundle of meal plans (ex: 10 meal units and $50 Dining Dollars) but don't know how to please read this first:

Our meal plan system doesn't work in bundles as it may in other systems (example: John Doe has the Senior Plan II), instead, each piece of the meal plan is its own building block. For example, Senior Plan II may have had ID # 45 in another system. In FIIT you would not say John Does has meal plan ID #45.

If the Senior Meal Plan II came with 50 meal swipes and $175 dining dollars then instead, would create a seperate "meal plan" for both the 50 meal swipes and the $175 DCB. You can name these whatever you want including "Senior Plan II $175 DCB" and "Senior Plan II 50 Meal Units".

It would then look something like this:
"Senior Plan II $175 DCB" meal plan id = 12
"Senior Plan II 50 Meal Units" meal plan id=13
The way this would look in the import is as follows

Name :John Doe
Meal Plan IDS: 12, 13

The way some have done did this is that they put together the file using all their current meal plan IDs then did a very simple "Find and Replace" function in Excel.

For example, find all numbers equal to 45 in the meal plan ID column and replace the number 45 with " 12, 13"

Automatic Patron Imports

We offer the capability to do automatic patron imports on a nightly basis whether you are starting from scratch or already have patrons imported. For a full step by step guide please refer to the documents below.

Step 1: Filling out the CSV

Imports are done by completing a CSV file and uploading it to a secure site. If starting fresh with no patrons, please fill out the template below. If you already have patrons please do an export first (see here and follow steps 1-4) and work off of that file, you only have to do this export once. There is also a file with sample date, this will give you an idea of which fields are mandatory and which are not. The blank fields in the template doc are not mandatory (for example: Home Town, Home Country, Major, Athlete, AhtleteSport, and dorm)

Patron Import Template

Patron Sample Data

Some very important information to note when compiling the CSV file:

Make sure you don't delete or edit any of the column names.
If a student has no new meal plans, do not remove any meal plans from the meal plan ID column. Leaving the meal plan ID column blank will cause that patron to be stripped of all of their meal plans. If there are no changes to their meal plans either leave the information the same or remove them from the import.
The meal plan IDs are found in FIIT, to locate them go to the Meal Plan tab on the FIIT home page, once on this page the meal plans will be listed. The meal plan IDs are found on the left hand side of the screen across from each meal plan.
For the column that asks for status, 0 means active while 1 and 2 mean the patrons have to contact financial aid or food services when they try and use their card.
The patron key would be the barcode/prox number while the student ID is the Patron company key.
For automatic imports the Patron ID column is ignored so you can leave it blank.
For your company ID, please reach out to Nōwn for this information if you are doing a first time import. If you already have patrons in the system then please do an export and the company ID will automatically populate there.
You can add multiple meal plans per person, you are not limited to one meal plan a patron. Please make sure you seperate each meal plan ID with a comma (example: 436, 289, 209).

Step 2: Instructions for SFTP site

i): You need to download a special program that you will use to upload the CSV file you completed in step 1. This program can be downloaded by searching "Filezilla" on Google.

The URL for their website is: https://filezilla-project.org/

Once you download this program, please use the following details to login:

host: ftp.lucovalabs.com

Username: Please reach out to support@nownpos.com to receive this information.

key: Please reach out to support@nownpos.com to receive this information.

Note: There are two ways to go about set up. First, we can generate a username and password for you and pass it on. However, the preferred solution is that you generate a private key based off of a public key pairing.

In order to generate a username for you, you have to first generate a private/public key pairing. You will then send us that public key and we will add it to the server in order to ensure you're able to get access.

port: 22

ii) Open the folder which is called "upload", this is where the csv file should be uploaded. There is no specific name required for the file and when uploading new files on a daily basis please overwrite the last file.

IMPORTANT: The template will provide context on the exact format that should be followed. Any changes to the file, including deleting empty rows, will result in a failed upload.

Step 3: Fine Tuning and turning on the automation.

Once you have done the upload you need to confirm some important information in order to make sure the uploads go smoothly. Once you do your first upload please reach out to support@nownpos.com immediately with the answer to the following questions.

Is this a one time import or are you going to be doing an import on a daily basis? If so, at what time should the import run?
Are there any balance rules you want to apply to these imports? What this means is that when you move someone from one meal plan to another, do you want anything to happen to the balance?

Summary of the available options for transfer rules:

Transfer: Transfers the balance from the old meal plan to the new meal plan

Deduct: Deducts whatever was spent on the old meal plan from the new meal plan

Archive: Archive the old meal plan completely and start with a brand new balance from the new meal plan. (Note: This is the default rule if you do not let us know otherwise.)

Would any of these be relevant to you? If so, please let us know which meal plans you want to have which rules.

Common Issues with Imports

It is very important to note that if there is one error in the import, the whole import file will fail and nothing will go through. While this is clear when using the website, it can be less obvious when the automatic import is done because when those fail you are notified via email. Those emails are sent even when the import was successful so please make sure to monitor them closely. You would receive these notifications on the email you gave us when you set up automatic importing.

The number one issue occurs with automatic imports and it revolves around human error when inputting the patron key and patron company key. The following information is very important, in the import file for each particular person, you may change their patron key or patrong company key, however, you may not change both of them at the same time. You can only change both of these value simultaneously in either the import on the website, or manually when editing a patron. If you edit both of them at the same time the system won't recognize the patron and it will cause the import to fail.