Automatically sync reference data files
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29 comments
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Official comment
Hey ya'll!
We have an announcement straight from our product team!
Get your spreadsheets ready because our integration with Google Sheets is released! Admins and designers can now manage reference data by importing from Google Sheets instead of saving & uploading a .CSV file. Any account that has access to the out of the box integrations has access to use Google Sheets for reference data.
When new changes are made to a Sheets file, just click the re-sync button. So simple! Google Sheets reduces a few steps from the .CSV process and is an easier way to maintain your data. It also allows you to better collaborate within your organization! So often we hear that one person saves a file on his/her computer where no one else has access. If they use Google Sheets, multiple people can update data!
However, it's not a dynamic integration. The integration does not support sending data to Google Sheets; however, that is something you could configure using Zapier.
Please visit the Help Center to learn more about this Reference Data update and view step-by-step instructions for How to use Google Sheets with Reference Data.
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We do have a paid feature called Dynamic Reference data, which gives you the ability to update your Reference Data with information entered in a previous Submission. To Nathan's point, it relies on SQL for those updates, so I think you can hook it into other things as well.
This is a feature that is currently available through our Professional Services team. They’ll be able to give you a quote specific to your needs and configuration, but here are some general guidelines:
- Professional Plan and above only
- Monthly costs (including maintenance and hosting) are typically around $250
This is currently through Professional Services but is definitely something we're exploring incorporating into the core of the product. Thanks for the feedback!
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Yes, direct API integration into SQL (dynamic reference data) is definitely possible. Getting your IT Security and legal departments to agree to it, next to impossible.
However, we have done a few things recently with GC Professional Services (and the company agreed) to allow GC to host some of our data on their servers.
All things are possible. You just need to talk to the right people.
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So far the way it worked for me is using c# visual studio to upload the csv document with the information we need to the web service for gocanvas for the reference data, basically we upload the list of all our employees daily that way we have our list of employees, employee number branch and all the information update it.
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Agreed, for companies that are scaling quickly, the ability to seamlessly update reference data within a Google Sheet without the need to constantly upload a CSV file is critical to both onboarding and offboarding users.
Additionally, when using workflow along with reference data, we need the ability to temporarily reassign specific reference data users for a set period of time. When someone is on vacation, sick or out of the office for any other reason, we need the ability to reassign that user for a specific period of time that would have an expiration date attached to it. If someone is going on vacation for a week, that user should have the ability to either reassign their responsibility for a set period of time or allow someone administratively to update the temporary reassignment.
The new "Reassignment" feature is going in the right direction, however it is not possible for users like us that utilize both "Workflow" and "Reference Data", in that instance the "Reassignment" feature is disabled.
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The way I fix the reference data without using Zapier basically is using c# and send the reference data through the API into GoCanvas I update the employee's data every day at a specific time since I use visual I created an executable and that is what is run on my computer with the task scheduler of the computer.
Instead of connecting to SQL, you can change your source Data to what you need, not sure if this is helpful for you guys.
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Lauren Sunday, Community Manager WOO! This is a BIG one! So exciting.
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Danielle Thompson I know right?!?! Cannot stop smiling, today is a big day at GoCanvas!
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This is sounding good and might hopefully be a milestone along a path to being able to use multiple types of sources for reference data. It sounds like it would still be a manual process though. Are there any thoughts around not having to click the button in order to sync (like run on a schedule or run on change)?
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Nathan H Thanks for chiming in! Any ideas about other sources for reference data are welcome and appreciated by the product team! If your idea for a reference data source does not have a post in the Feature Requests topic, please feel free to make one.
Automatic syncing does not have a planned date but it has been discussed for the future. We are hoping to hear feedback on auto-sync now that this integration is released; more feedback means better chance they will build it sooner.
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Hi Lauren Sunday, Community Manager
There are already mentions of other sources above and in other threads.
The improvements are great to hear about though! (especially after the mess of a year 2020 was)
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