Import activities from CSV file

You can import multiple activities from an external source into Maintain by uploading a text file in the CSV format containing activity data and ingest the file into activities. The activities can be visualized and modified as activities created in Maintain.

Download the CSV file template

The imported CSV file needs to conform to your project-specific template. To download maintain-import-template.csv:

1. Navigate to Activities and select Add activity.
2. Select Import activities.
3. Select Download template.

Populate the CSV file template

The CSV template will only contain a single row of values representing the possible values you can provide for an imported activity. This row is called the header row and shouldn't be removed when populating the template.

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While the header row must not be removed, you can remove specific values from the header or change the order of the values. For example, if a certain field isn't relevant to import in a specific scenario, you can remove it from the header and the subsequent rows. This will result in the field being left blank on all imported activities.

To import a single activity, add a new row to the template and enter the appropriate values separated by commas. Each value in the new row should contain the value you want to populate on the respective header row that was provided in the template.

For example, if your template contains the following header row: title,status,department, create a CSV file with an additional row:

title,status,department
Erect scaffolding,Done,Rigging

You'll create an activity with the title "Erect scaffolding", status "Done," and department "Rigging" when imported.

Format date fields

Some activity fields in Maintain represent dates and must have a specific format to be properly imported. Date fields can be identified in the CSV template by a special header value in the form startTime (DD/MM/YYYY). In this example, startTime is the name of the field, while DD/MM/YYYY is the date format that needs to be used in subsequent rows of the CSV file.

For example, importing the follwoing file will result in the activity being created with startTime set to December 10th 2023.

title,startTime (DD/MM/YYYY)
Erect scaffolding,10/12/2023

Format boolean fields

Some activity fields in Maintain represent boolean values,such as true or false. Date fields can be identified in the CSV template by a special header value in the form isActive (true/false). These fields only have two valid values, true or false.

For example, importing the following file will result in the activity being created with isActive set to false.

title,isActive (true/false)
Erect scaffolding,false

Format values containing commas

Due to the CSV format separating values using commas, be careful when an activity field also needs to contain a comma. Maintain processes CSV files according to the RFC 4180 standard, which requires values containing commas to be wrapped in double quotes.

For example, importing the following file will result in the activity being created with city set to Boston, MA.

title,city
Erect scaffolding,"Boston, MA"

Unset values

You can leave the field blank on non-required activity fields to represent missing or irrelevant values for the specific activity.

For example, importing the following file will result in the activity being created with state set to New York, but it will have no value in the city field.

title,city,state
Erect scaffolding,New York

Connect an activity to an asset

Maintain supports linking activities to CDF assets, which is used to contextualize the activity in 3D models, documents, PSN, and more. For Maintain to create the appropriate link to an asset in CDF, you must provide the CDF asset's external ID in the import template.

If you have asset contextualization in your project, there will be a special assetExternalId field in the template that you need to populate with the external ID of the activity's asset.

For example, when importing the following file and assuming a CDF asset exists with external ID NY_BUILDING_23, the activity will be contextualized to this asset when ingested into Maintain.

title,assetExternalId
Erect scaffolding,NY_BUILDING_23

If the provided external ID doesn't export, the user will see an error during import.

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End-users may not know the external ID of the asset to which the activity is linked. If it's necessary to provide end-users with a list of the possible assets and their external IDs, we recommend retrieving this data using CDF's asset API or other data extractors.

Import a populated CSV file

Once you have a populated CSV template, you can import it into Maintain:

1. Navigate to Activities > Add activity.
2. Select Import activities.
3. Select the Click to select CSV file to import field.
4. Select and upload the populated CSV file from your computer.
5. Verify that you imported the file by checking the File Inspector section. A green message should show the number of rows to be imported and if you have any warnings or errors.
6. If there are no errors, select Import to start the import process.
7. When the import succeeds, you'll see a green success message with the Show activities button.
8. Optional. Select Show activities to navigate to the imported activities and check that they look correct according to the CSV file.