Data Load utility best practices for Inventory

The following best practices are recommended when using the Data Load utility to load inventory data.

ATP inventory

Loading RA and RADETAIL data
There are two options to initially load your RA and RADETAIL data:

• Load the RA and RADETAIL data together in a single CSV file.

• Load the RA and RADETAIL data separately. After you load your RA data, you then load your RADETAIL data.

The first option might cause your RA data to be loaded multiple times, slowing down performance. Here are some guidelines to assist you in making a choice:

• If the data to be loaded is large, and there are many RADETAIL records under a RA record, it is better to use the second option. Using the second option avoids loading the RA data multiple times.

• Otherwise, use the first option for better manageability.

Load your data to one store at a time
To load inventory data for multiple stores, it is better to load it per store.

Fulfillment center unique ID
If you know the fulfillment center unique ID, use it instead of the fulfillment center name. Performance is improved when the fulfillment center unique ID is used instead.

RA and receipt data creation time
It is recommended to specify the creation time in your input file during the initial load of your RA data and receipt data. If you do not specify the creation time, the current system time is used.

Adoption of the FulfillmentPropertiesMediator
The FulfillmentPropertiesMediator is designed to populate an ATP inventory that is related to the configuration data separately (without the catalog entry data). So, IBM recommends to use this mediator if we want to update only inventory-related configuration. RA.CREATETIME/RECEIPT.CREATETIME/RADETAIL.EXPECTEDDATE
When you update the RA.CREATETIME, RECEIPT.CREATETIME, or RADETAIL.EXPECTEDDATE data, delete the record in the target first and then insert a new record with the wanted date. For example, to update RA.CREATETIME, two records of data are needed in the input file.

Example: Updating RA.CREATETIME

VendorName	CreateTime	OrderDate	ClosedDate	OpenIndicator	ExternalId	LastUpdate	Delete
J and J Company	2008-05-15 00:00:00.0	2008-04-15 00:00:00.0	2008-12-24 00:00:00.0	False	ATP-1301 Record 1	2009-01-12 00:00:00	1
J and J Company	2008-06-16 00:00:00.0	2008-04-15 00:00:00.0	2008-12-24 00:00:00.0	False	ATP-1301 Record 1	2009-01-12 00:00:00	0