Customer import interface

The customer import interface, also known as the CAF or Customer Activation File, is used to import the details of (potentially) a large number of customers.  It will load customers, contacts, sites, postal addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, concession details, direct debit details all in one file. It does not load meters.

Important: The customer import interface cannot be used to do updates to existing accounts. Some fields can be updated via the Bulk Customer Update Interface, however for any other bulk updates, you will need to raise a support ticket.

 The "Interfaces\Customers Import" folder is polled at 12pm each day.

1. If the file is successfully processed it is placed in "Interfaces\Customers Import\Archive".
2. If it is not able to be processed it is placed in the "Interfaces\Customers Import\Error" folder with an error file explaining why.

This interface can also be manually run at any time from the Scheduled Tasks screen.

Format

Must be a CSV file with the following columns. The CAF format is a fixed format and must be in the format provided.

View the full CAF file range of columns.

Description

If you have a customer that has more than one site (power/water etc) load these as two rows. The CAF file will try and link customers being imported to an existing customer in Utilmate and also within rows as much as possible.

Tip: Ensure the customer first name, last name and date of birth are identical when loading.

Prior to loading a CAF it is a good idea to open the file in notepad to check that leading "0" haven't been stripped off phone numbers by Excel.

Ensure all codes you are using are valid, especially the price plan code, offering code and network node codes.