Factor can ingest customers’ files for orders, inventory, and boms in multiple different ways, including via upload in the Factor website. If this method is most convenient for your business, here’s how to do it.

Before you upload your open orders to Factor, make sure you have a Factor account created. Click here to set up a Factor account.

Custom or Default Format?

Now, determine the format with which you need to upload your file. Factor can accept your file with Factor’s column names or your own custom headers.  If you’re not sure which one is the best to use, here are some tips:

• Use Factor’s format if you do not already keep an open orders list and you need to create a CSV from scratch to get your orders into Factor
• Use Factor’s format if you’d like to upload your file directly into the Factor application using the Add items button without assistance from our team
• Use a custom format if you plan to export your data from another system and upload it to Factor
• Use a custom format if you have an existing open orders list that you would like to use to track orders in Factor

Factor accepts files in csv , xlsx, and xls formats.

Download Factor's format here.

We can work with you to intake data for both Plan and Track in other formats and/or capture more fields in Factor, if necessary for your business. For assistance creating a custom format or with custom fields, please contact support@factor.io or contact your customer success representative.

Factor Track - Upload Columns

Factor Track can accept the following columns to ingest your open orders using the Factor default template. Most Factor users choose to include a subset of the following fields based on their unique business needs. Please note that column headers are case-sensitive.

This CSV template contains all the fields that Factor accepts, if you’d like to use it as a starting point:  Factor Default CSV Template.

Required Fields

The Factor system will not work without these fields. If your file doesn’t include them, your upload will fail.

• Order Unique Name (required): A unique name for the order that contains this line item. Must be unique across your entire organization. If there is any possibility that PO numbers are duplicated in your org, we can help you generate a unique value for this field behind the scenes. Your PO number would then be included in the Order Title field, below. Let your customer success representative know if this condition applies to you so we can be sure your orders are imported correctly.
• Item Unique Name (required): A unique name for the line item, such as a part number, name, or line number. Must be unique within an order. Since this identifier must be unique, if your vendors will more easily recognize another, non-unique name, you may choose to provide Item Title as well, which does not have to be unique. If you include Item Title in your file, it will be shown in the application instead of Item Unique Name .
• Quantity(required): The quantity ordered of this line item. Please note Factor does support “split” line items, or items with multiple “shipments.” To include these, please see the information below for “Shipments.”
• A vendor identifier is required. Choose between including a column with the header of either:
• Vendor Name: The name of the vendor organization from which you are purchasing this line item OR
• Vendor Sid: The Factor organization sid of the vendor from which you are purchasing this line item. Note that most users will provide Vendor Name.

Recommended Fields

These fields are optional in the sense that the Factor system will accept your file without them. However, depending on your business and data management processes, excluding these fields may affect the way you and your vendors see information or otherwise adversely impact Factor’s functionality.

• Order Member: Email address(es) of people who will receive notifications, such as updates or update requests on this order. Without an order member from your vendor included, your vendors will not be aware of their obligation to provide updates in Factor. Order members can be either:
• Vendor contacts who need to update this line item AND/OR
• Contacts in your organization who would like to receive email notifications about this line item

If including multiple order members, use comma or semicolon separation to distinguish between the email addresses. If they are not already a Factor user, Factor will invite them using this email address. Please note, Factor emails these contacts on your behalf at the point of CSV ingestion, so make sure to double check these email addresses before you add your items to Factor.

• Due Date: The date by which the buyer is expecting this line item to be completed by the vendor. This date is how Factor tracks vendor performance metrics, like early and late delivery. If your organization does not track a specific due date, you can use any other date that makes sense here, such as an expected delivery date. Without this date, Factor vendor performance reporting will not work correctly.
• Item Title : A more recognizable, non-unique name for a line item. If you include Item Title in your file, it will be shown in the application instead of Item Unique Name . Use this field if the names your vendors will recognize are non-unique across your organization.
• If you are also using Factor Plan, Factor will use this field to match quantities and other information across your BOM files and inventory. In order for functionality to work as expected, this field must be consistent with Bom Unique Name, Bom Line Unique Name, and Inventory Item Title
• Shipments: If your system includes “split” line items or items with multiple shipments, you may want to include the following:
• Item Group Unique Name (optional): A unique name for the item group. Must be unique within an item. Optional because not all systems support item groups and if so Factor will make one
• Item Group Quantity (optional): The quantity of this item group. If item group level fields are not provided this will default to the item’s quantity
• Write Mode : Controls how the CSV is imported. Accepted values are createOnly and upsert. If this column is not provided, or is left blank, upsert is the default.
• upsert will create data if it does not exist in Factor and update data if it already exists. Use this method if you plan to upload data one time and then follow items in Factor until they are completed. If you upload a file using this method after your vendors have made updates, those updates may be overwritten.
• createOnly does not modify or overwrite any existing data. Use this method if you intend to continuously upload files on a rolling basis that may contain data that has been updated in Factor, to prevent overwrites of your vendor’s updates.

Optional Fields

These fields are completely optional and will not impact Factor’s functionality at this time. Some users choose to use these fields so they can keep consistent data flowing back and forth between their ERP system and Factor. In other cases, these fields may be needed depending on your organization’s unique business processes.

• Order Title (optional): A name for the order that contains this line item which does NOT have to be unique and can be reused. If Order Title exists, Factor will display it instead of Order Unique Name . Use this field if your PO numbers are not guaranteed to be unique, so Factor will show your vendors the order name they are expecting.
• Ship Date (optional): The estimated ship date of this line item. If this field is left blank, Factor will display it as Unknown and your vendors will be able to add a real date at any time. It is up to you whether you would prefer to provide a date to start with for your vendors to update as they go, or start with unknown dates and allow vendors to add initial estimated dates for their line items.
• Delivery Date (optional): The estimated delivery date of this line item. If this field is left blank, Factor will display it as Unknown and your vendors will be able to add a real date at any time. It is up to you whether you would prefer to provide a date to start with for your vendors to update as they go, or start with unknown dates and allow vendors to add initial estimated dates for their line items.
• Price Per Unit (optional): How much this item costs per each. Factor does not display this value, but some users include it so it can be carried back and forth between systems.
• Manufacturer Part Number (optional): Identifier assigned by the manufacturer of the item.
• Description (optional): A brief explanation or details about the line item, helpful for clarification and record-keeping.
• Line Number (optional): The sequence number of the line item within the order, useful for organizing and referencing specific items. Often generated with a PO.
• Revision (optional): The version or revision number of the line item, indicating updates or changes to the original item specifications.
• Confirmed Delivery Date (optional): The date an item group was delivered. This will set the delivery date on the item group and set delivered to true for the item group. If your ERP export or other system includes delivered or otherwise completed line items, include this field to ensure we don’t request updates from your vendors on completed line items.
• Confirmed Delivery Quantity (optional): The amount of an item group that has been delivered (or received). If this quantity is equal to the item group’s quantity, it will also set the item group’s delivered status to true. If your ERP export or other system includes delivered or otherwise completed line items, include this field to ensure we don’t request updates from your vendors on completed line items.
• Vendor First Name (optional): A first name of a vendor contact for a item. If not provided, Factor will generate a placeholder from the vendor’s email address when they register that they can modify at any time.
• Vendor Last Name (optional): A last name of a vendor contact for a item. If not provided, Factor will generate a placeholder from the vendor’s email address when they register that they can modify at any time.
• Vendor Organization Name (optional): The name of the company for the vendor contact
• Vendor Phone Number (optional): A phone number for a vendor contact. If provided, we may use this number for outreach to your vendor.

Factor Plan - Upload Columns

Bom Upload Columns

• Bom Unique Name (required): the bom’s name. This name should be consistent with Bom Line Unique Name, Inventory Item Title, and Item Title
• Bom Line Unique Name (required): the name of a line item in the bom. This name should be consistent with Bom Unique Name, Inventory Item Title, and Item Title
• Bom Line Required Quantity (required): how many of this bom line are required to build 1 instance of the Bom

Inventory Upload Columns

• Inventory Item Quantity (required): How many pieces are in inventory
• Inventory Item Title (required): The name of the object in inventory. This does not need to be unique across inventory counts and is usually the human readable part name / part number / item name. This name should be consistent with Bom Line Unique Name, Bom Unique Name, and Item Title
• Inventory Item Unique Name (required): A unique reference to this row in the inventory upload. This should uniquely refer to the row of the inventory file and must be unique across your organization.
  
  It is also possible to not provide this column if the file is uploaded with parameter inventoryUniqueNameHash . That is an alternate way to generate the inventory item unique name by hashing columns in the file to produce it.
• Inventory Item Recording Date (optional): The date the inventory recording occured. If missing will default to the time the file was uploaded

Upload your Files to Factor

Factor Track

• Log in to your Factor account.
• On the Track page, click the button in the top right-hand corner of the page: “Add items to track.”
• In the dialogue that opens, select the template you wish to use to import your items from the dropdown. If your organization has any custom templates, one will be selected as the default; otherwise, ensure your information is in Factor’s default format.
• Drag and drop the file that aligns with your selected format into the upload area.
• Click Add items to start uploading.
• Your items will appear on your Track page.

Factor Plan

• Log in to your Factor account.
• On the Plan page, click the button in the top right-hand corner of the page: “Add new data”
• In the dialogue that opens, select the type of data you wish to import - BOMs, inventory or open orders
• Select the template you wish to use to import your items from the dropdown. If your organization has any custom templates, one will be selected as the default; otherwise, ensure your information is in Factor’s default format for the data type you have selected
• Drag and drop the file that aligns with your selected format and data type into the upload area.
• Click Add data to start uploading.
• Please note, Factor uses open order and inventory data in the context of BOMs. If you upload inventory or open orders before you upload BOMs, you will not see anything in the system until you upload your BOMs. Just upload your BOMs and you will see their ordered and on-hand quantities populate from the open order and inventory data previously added.
  
  

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