Interfacing asset attribute values

Use this procedure to import non-Lawson attribute value records into the Asset Management application and associate them with interfaced assets.

Note: If you are interfacing attribute value files simultaneously as you are interfacing the associated asset, asset item, and asset book files, perform steps 1 through 4 of this procedure after you perform steps 1 through 6 of the procedure on interfacing assets, asset items, and asset books.

Interfacing assets, asset items, and asset books

Tips about interfacing

If you are interfacing an attribute value file by itself, you must interface the asset records the attributes are associated with before you perform this procedure. Attributes for which you are interfacing values must be defined with the type ASSET in the Attribute Matrix application, and the values you are interfacing must be compatible with the data type, size, and value ranges defined for the attributes.

Interface asset attribute values

  1. Prepare the non-Lawson attribute file. The file must be in an importable format such as a comma-separated value (CSV) file and the file fields must match the order, size, and file type of the fields in the AMASTMXCNV, DBAMMCV interface file. The file layout is available on the Web. See your Lawson representative for more information.
  2. Transfer the non-Lawson file to the machine that contains the Lawson environment.

    You can use a standard transfer utility such as ftp or the Lawson program winptxfr. You may have to rename the file to match your machine's requirements.

    For example, to transfer file Attr-Interface.csv on your c: drive to your environment and rename it attrinterf, use this command:

    winptxfr -u attrinterf c:\\ pathname \\Attr-Interface.csv

  3. Load the transferred file into the AMASTMXCNV, DBAMMCV file, using this command from the environment prompt:

    importdb productline AMASTMXCNV attrfilename

    where attrfilename is the name of the non-Lawson attribute value file transferred to your machine in step 2.

  4. View and edit the records in AMASTMXCNV, DBAMMCV, using Attribute Interface Adjustment (AM94.1).

    Specify this information:

    Conversion Number

    This field is required.

    If you interface the attribute records simultaneously as the asset, asset item, and asset book records are interfaced, this field must match the conversion number assigned to the associated asset.

    If you interface the attribute records after you interface their associated assets, this field can be the alphanumeric conversion number identifying the interfaced asset that the attribute is associated with, or the numeric asset number automatically assigned to the asset when it was interfaced.

    Note: If the asset number is used in this field, it must be zero-filled to 10 characters so it is processed as a right-justified numeric field.
    Attribute

    You must specify the attribute to be interfaced.

    The attribute must be defined an an ASSET attribute in the Attribute Matrix application.

    Value

    You must specify or select a value for this attribute.

  5. Run Asset Management Interface (AM500) to interface the asset attribute records into the Asset Management application.

    Specify this information:

    Release

    Use Y (Yes) in this field to interface asset attribute records. Records that contain data incompatibility errors are not interfaced. Records that are interfaced are removed from the interface files.

    It is strongly recommended that you first run AM500 with the Release field set to N (No) to generate a report of interfaced and rejected records, before you interface the records and modify the Asset Management data. This step may save you extensive rework.

    Company, Company Group, Company, Lease

    You must specify a company, a company group, or a lease (with its associated company). Only one of these fields can have a value.

    Error Limit

    You can specify the maximum number of errors the program can encounter before it stops processing. The default number is 100.

    Files to Convert

    Select 3 (Attributes Only) to interface this file alone.

    Conversion

    If you are interfacing this file alone, you can convert by conversion number or by asset number, depending what number you specified in the Conversion Number field of the interface file.

    Note: If you are converting by asset number, asset numbers specified in the Conversion Number fields must be zero-filled to 10 characters so they are processed as numeric values.
  6. View the report generated by AM500. If it contains errors:
    1. Correct the non-interfaced attribute values, using AM94.1.
    2. Run AM500 again.
    3. Repeat this step until the report shows no errors.

Follow-up tasks

  • Use Asset Attributes (AM23.1) to review and edit the interfaced attribute values for an asset or Values By Asset Attributes (AM23.2) to review and edit the values assigned to a single attribute and multiple assets.