Create Entities from Existing Data

This article will walk you through how to create entities from existing data.

 

Supported Scenarios

These instructions apply to the following scenarios:

1. Counterparty data in Ironclad as properties on a record – Companies using properties such as “counterparty name” to store entity data.
2. Counterparty data in Ironclad as Related Records – Companies using records to store counterparty data, often syncing via API from an external source.
3. Counterparty data in an external system that can be exported – Companies using external systems to store counterparty data with the ability to export.

 

Import Limits for Optimal Performance

To ensure import performance, please follow these guidelines:

• During 6am-6pm local time, please import entities in batches of <20k entities
• Outside of 6am-6pm local time, please import entities in batches of <100k entities

 

Establish a Source of Truth for Entity Data

Before creating entities, determine your source of truth for counterparty or entity data.

• Do you already have a system you want to import from or sync via API?
• Or do you need Ironclad to serve as your primary source of truth?

If you don’t have an existing system, consider using counterparty data from Ironclad records as a starting point.

 

Step 1: Define Your Entity Schema and Relationship Types

To utilize entities, you must first configure your relationship types. A relationship type defines how you interact with your entities. Ironclad comes preconfigured with three types of relationships:

• Customer: Used for companies you sell goods or services to.
• Partner: Used for companies that you partner with.
• Vendor: Used for companies you buy goods or services from.

You can also create additional relationship types in Data Manager.

Next, configure the properties you want to include for each relationship type. Entity properties are data points you want to collect and track. These are shared with your team and can be reused throughout Ironclad. Core fields (name, status, business type) are included by default and do not need to be added manually. For each relationship type, you can set required properties, remove properties, or view property details. Data Manager provides a central location to manage all your entity properties.

To learn more about entity properties and relationship types, refer to Create/Manage Relationship Types and Entity Properties.

 

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Step 2: Create Your Spreadsheet

If Counterparty Data is Stored in Ironclad as Properties or Related Records

1. On the Ironclad Dashboard in the Repository view:
   1. Filter records by type to show only records containing entity data.
   2. Configure columns to display only necessary counterparty data (e.g., name, address).
   3. Save this view for future use.
2. Export record metadata from the Repository. Select Visible columns to be included in the export.
3. Continue to Step 3.

If Counterparty Data is Stored in an External System

Export the counterparty data from the external system in spreadsheet format. Include an ID from the external system so the entities can be cross-referenced. If given a choice, export the addresses into multiple columns (street, city, state, etc).

 

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Step 3: Clean Up Your Spreadsheet

Now that you’ve exported or created your spreadsheet, we recommend cleaning it up before you import it to Ironclad. The goal is to ensure you have a clean list of data without duplicates. This will ensure you don’t create multiple entities for the same counterparty. As you follow the steps below, it also offers a good opportunity to validate data is correct (such as verifying addresses are up to date).

1. Remove unnecessary columns: Only keep data required for import.
2. (Optional) Name columns correctly: Name your columns in the spreadsheet to match the naming of your entity properties that you are using in your relationship type templates. This makes the import process easier by auto-mapping if the name matches.
3. (Optional) Trim whitespace.
4. (Optional) Remove exact duplicates.
5. (Optional) Identify and remove near duplicates: We recommend using highlighting techniques to find similar records. Manually merge or delete unnecessary duplicates.

 

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Step 4: Format Addresses

If you are using the “address” question type in your workflow templates and you want to populate those properties with data from your entity profile, you will want to make sure that your addresses are formatted correctly in your entities.

In order to do this, you need to ensure your address data is split in individual columns for each part of the address. Then, when you are mapping the data during the import process, you need to map the data to the correct part of the relevant address property (ie. “Address - street 1”, “Address - street 2”, “Address - city”)

If your address data is currently in a single column, you can manually use an address parsing tool to clean-up the data for you.

 

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Step 5: Enter the Relationship Type Key (Optional)

If you want to define the relationship type (ie. vendor) of an entity during the import process, each entity must have a relationship type key in your spreadsheet. The key is displayed on the relationship types page and is always a single word without spaces that starts with a lowercase. Note: The key can be different than the relationship type name.

During import, map the column to the Relationship Type Key property.

 

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Step 6: Import Your Spreadsheet into Ironclad Entities

Import Limitations

Review these before starting:

• Status: You can’t set the status via import. Imported entities default to “Active.”
• Business Type: You can’t set the business type via import. Imported entities default to “Company.”

Import Your Spreadsheet

1. Click on the Entities tab.

2. Click the three stacked dots located in the top right corner, and then click Import entities.

3. Click New Import and upload your spreadsheet.

4. Map your spreadsheet column headers to entity properties. If the column name matches a property, it is automatically mapped. Otherwise, you must manually map your columns during the import process.

   1. Select the appropriate entity property for each column.

   2. If a property is missing, add it via Entities Properties in Data Manager.

   3. Important: Map the entity name to the system “Name” property; otherwise, imported entities will be labeled “Imported.”

      

5. In the Merge duplicates using dropdown located at the bottom, select the property you would like duplicates to be identified by. You can also select Create all new entities to create duplicates. If you are updating or adding entities to an existing dataset, you should use Merge duplicates using and choose either Name or ID as the matching criteria to prevent creating duplicate records.

   

6. Click Next: Preview to view a summary of how many entities are being imported. Review errors and re-upload if needed.

   

7. Click Start Import.

8. Complete upload.