How to Schedule an Import?

Source

Under the Source tab, you will find all the settings specific to the data source, along with the name of the job. This section contains configuration options such as URLs, credentials, and system settings that are specific to this connection.

Settings

Under the Settings tab, you will find all the Forsta Visualizations settings related import. This includes features such as Meta Data transformation and settings for how answer blocks are created

Activation

Under the Activation tab, you will find optional options related to the activation process.

Schedule

Under the Schedule tab, you will find options for scheduling your import. You can specify the frequency of imports and choose whether to receive notifications. These options are not mandatory.

Logs and Data

The download data and show logs option is available within the task view. This enhancement simplifies access to imported files and improves overall usability.

Connecting Import Schedulers Overview

Connecting import schedulers allows multiple scheduled import jobs can be executed in a specific order. This is useful for projects that require importing multiple files in a sequence. Rather than setting a specific time for each import, users can specify that import 2 should occur once import 1 is finished, import 3 should occur once import 2 is finished, etc.

This feature ensures that errors in imports due to previous tasks not finishing on time are eliminated. Additionally, users can specify that the system should not import the second file if the previous one failed; important when the order of files is critical.

Step-by-Step Guide of how to connect import schedulers

Once a scheduler is saved, all additional schedulers have the option to be connected to other schedulers via the "Scheduled Type" dropdown menu. Once selected, two new dropdowns appear:

Existing Schedulers - This drop-down shows all unconnected schedulers or schedulers that are at the end of the chain in the project, allowing users to select the scheduler that should be executed before the current one.
Behavior - This drop-down determines the logic for the connection, offering two options: Run on previous successful import and Run always

Note: Schedulers that are in the middle or beginning of the chain cannot be deleted, only end-of-chain schedulers and stand-alone schedulers can be deleted.

List of Created Import jobs

All created scheduled import jobs are displayed as cards at the top of the data page. Each card provides information such as the data source, job name, last import status, and any errors encountered during the last import.

The below image shows an example from a project with two scheduled import tasks.

To make adjustments or changes to an existing task, use the corresponding card to edit it:

There are five options available in this menu:

Import now: This option allows you to rerun the import without needing to enter the card again.
Show import logs: Use this option to display the logs for the job.
Copy: Choose this option to make a copy of the job.
Edit: Selecting this option will allow you to enter the job and edit all available options.
Remove: This option enables you to delete the scheduled job.

Prior to starting the setup process it’s important to stress that the Scheduler will search for a file in an FTP site, so you need to have the data file on the FTP; either placed automatically by your data collection tool or you just need to export the .sav file to a FTP site to be able to start using the automated data uploads. Forsta Visualizations supports number of Data sources which can be found in a Data source dropdown menu.

The Scheduled import process is preset with mandatory information such as source of the file, time for import and actions to be taken by the system. You may set up more scheduled import activities and save them as active. Avoid time overlap and make sure the details imported are corrected. The “Show logs” button placed at the end of the page, contains the description of all actions performed by scheduled import.

Scheduling imported data

Hover over the arrow at the bottom of Import data icon to access Scheduled import setup.
Assign a name for the Scheduled import. Check Active, to enable it after completing the setup.
Select the import tag from the dropdown menu or Press Edit tags to create new import tag.
Select the type, date, and time of import: Single import, Weekly, Monthly, or Hourly import. Once you use the timer, it will try to squeeze in as many uploads as possible. If you set the timer to every 6 hours from 00:00-23:00 it will do 4 uploads (at 0.00/6.00/12.00/18.00). Please notice it behaves a bit different first day. In case you start at 16:00. Then you will have one upload 16:00 and one 22:00 but from midnight it would start using the schedule you mentioned before.
Select the Data mapping from the dropdown menu.
Select the data source from the dropdown. Notice the various data sources available.
Write the path of the file on the FTP server (include folder names in the path if the file is placed inside any folder in the FTP server). Write username and password for the FTP.
Define the name of the SPSS file that system will be looking for. Use * as wildcard. For example if the SPSS file is named like [project name]_[time stamp].sav just enter the project name followed by the (“[project name]”) and the file will be imported every day, if the data collection tool exports a .sav file to the FTP with the same naming logic.
Select the Multichoice separator.
Enter a contact email address the status emails will be sent to. Define which events should trigger an email send out to the defined email address.
Click Save.

Note: The Secure FTP check-box needs to be unchecked if your FTP server does not support encrypted (SSL) FTP transfers. When an automated data import is performed the project will be undistributed automatically during the data load. All the reports that were Distributed when the import job started will be distributed when the job is completed.

Forsta Visualizations Support

Articles in this section

In this article