Import Profiles

Owned by Jennifer Koerber (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 09, 2023 by Corinna Baksik



REMEMBER: Only designated staff members are permitted to run jobs. Refer to the matrix at Jobs & Batch Processes to see which staff members are approved to run which jobs.


Required reading

About Permissions

Alma login permissions are not granular. Any new authorizations added to your login will allow for other functionality, but we trust you will only perform actions for which you have been approved by LTS.  

Profiles for staff use

Contact LTS to have new Import Profiles created, EXCEPT for /wiki/spaces/ITSworkflows/pages/54821508 managed by ITS. 

Only staff with pre-approval from LTS should run the existing profiles:


Best Practices

General Process

The basic steps for importing records into Alma is:

  1. Get or create the file of records to import.
  2. Validate the file as thoroughly as possible.
  3. Use the existing load profiles  or work with LTS for a vendor-specific or project-specific profile.
  4. Run the load.
  5. Check the results.

Guidelines

In addition, these guidelines should be followed for every type of record load:

  • Harvard should not accept records from vendors or partners that have redistribution restrictions. See the Harvard Policy On Records.
  • The encoding and validity of records should be confirmed prior to load.  
    • For MARC files, use MARCedit to validate and edit records before loading.
    • For Excel/CSV files, confirm correct column headers are used and that data is as clean as possible. 
  • Files should be named in a consistent manner for each load.  We suggest one of the following conventions:
    • [librarycode]-[vendorcode]-[invoice#].mrc 
    • [librarycode]-[vendorcode]-[YYYMMDD].mrc
    • It is okay to append suffixes as well for multiple files received in a day, e.g. wid-weinberg-20180545b.mrc
  • No more than 500 records should be loaded in a single batch. 
    • If your vendor file is larger than this and is in the MARC binary format, you can use the MARCedit Split tool to break it into smaller files. 
  • After a set is loaded, a sample of records should be checked to ensure:
    • That bib validates in Alma (Tools > Validate)
    • That holding validates in Alma
    • That item was created and can be re-saved without errors


Pre-Load Verification of Data

MarcEdit Verification of Records

If you are working with a MARC file, use MARCedit to validate the data you're working with. If needed, download MARCedit from https://marcedit.reeset.net/ and, for Windows users, choose the 64-bit Windows/Non-Administrator version.

  1. Open MarcEdit

  2. Click the MARC Tools icon



  3. With MarcBreaker highlighted under Functions:

    1. Use the file folder icon on the end of the Input File line to find your MARC file. 

    2. Use the file folder icon on the end of the Save As line to choose a location for the file you will examine. The Output filename will end in .mrk

    3. Make sure your Default Character Encoding at the lower left of the screen reads UTF8. The default value for this option can be set from the main MarcEdit window by going to Tools > Preferences > MARCEngine.

    4. Click the box for Translate to UTF8.

    5. Click Execute.

  4. A Results box at the bottom of the screen confirms how many records were extracted and elapsed time.

  5. Click Edit Records.

  6. You will see a text editor with your records in it. Be aware that the MARCeditor control keys are non-standard.

  7. Review records. If the file does not meet the requirements for load, update the file or ask the vendor to issue a new file.  

  8. You can add, modify, or delete fields using the Tools menu.

  9. When all updates are complete, compile the file back to MARC.

    1. Make sure that the encoding drop-down in the menu bar is set to UTF8. 
    2. From the MARCedit menu choose File > Compile File to MARC or use the Compile Files icon. 
    3. Choose a filename and a location to save it to.
    4. Click Save.
    5. This step of re-compiling the file will help ensure the encoding is correct. 


Note: If you have associated .mrc files with MARCedit, you can double-click the file to open it in the editor view rather than following steps 1 - 5 above.

Create an Excel/CSV Record File

See the specific Import Profile page for an example file. 


Loading on Sandbox 


  1. Log Into Alma Sandbox

    1. Go to Resources >> Import

      If you are using "Upload Single Record from File", go to Resources >> Upload Single Record From File

      Otherwise: 


  2. Search for your profile, e.g.
  3. Choose Run from the row action item menu.
  4. Click on Select File and find the file you saved, either MARC or Excel/CSV.
  5. Fill in the Label and Notes fields. These will show up after the load in the Monitor & View Imports >> Job History >> View File Details page. 
    • Best Practice: Alma already captures a history of the file name and user who loaded the file, so use the Label and Description to help you keep track of what you loaded. For example, you could include invoice number, date of vendor shipment, box number, etc.  Click on View file details from the row action item menu to see the label/notes details.

  6. Click Add. Confirm that the correct import profile and file are listed in the import screen.
    1. In some cases Alma will not be able to use the file and it will give this error: Failed during parsing record. 
    2. If this occurs, return to MARCedit and run the file through the MARC validator tool. You can Remove Invalid Records for troubleshooting purposes to identify the cause of the problem. 
    3. MARCedit may not catch all errors that prevent a file being parsed by Alma, such as the presence of duplicate LDR fields.
  7. Click Submit.
  8. On sandbox, if you are loading items, you can /wiki/spaces/LibraryTechServices/pages/59104937 them after the load in order to load the same file again. 


Check the Results of the Import

After you import the records, it's critical to review the new records and confirm that all fields imported correctly and that any related records (holdings and items on an imported bib, for instance) were created properly. You can review these results immediately after you submit the job for a small import, or later on for a larger one.

Immediately after you click Submit, you will be brought to the Monitor and View Imports page.

  • Click Refresh to see progress. If you have a large job or your job is queued after another import, you may want to copy the Job ID and return to this screen later.
  • Alma will send you a confirmation email with a load report once the job has completed. PDF example confirmation email from Alma.

Later on, go to Resources >> Monitor and View Imports to get to that page. Filter by profile name and other attributes, or search for your job using the internal search box at the top of the list.

  1. If there were errors, the Status column will say Completed with Errors in red text. The confirmation email from Alma will also indicate whether there were errors. 
  2. From the row action item list for the import job click on:
     
    • Report to view a report of what was loaded or any errors.
    • Events to view any MMSIDs for records in Alma that matched records you were trying to load.
    • Imported Records to review records. This will bring you to a search result with the loaded records.
      • If there are no records, go back and review the Report for the load. Review a sample of loaded records per best practices. 
      • If any records failed, you can can to the Records Not Imported section and click on the Action Menu to download the record and review it for errors. The record can be corrected in MARCedit, recompiled, then loaded again.
    • View File Details to see the file names, operator who ran the job, and the Label and Notes fields for the job.
    • Imported PO Lines to view any related PO Lines imported as part of the job.


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