About the Import Engine¶

The Import Engine is a core component of the Integration Engine suite. It enables integrations to seamlessly load data into Arena through the API. It works alongside the Event Engine and Export Engine (API Export) to facilitate bidirectional data flow.

Note: The Import Engine is ONLY available in workspaces with Access Policies enabled.

Components¶

The engine consists of two main components:

Import Definition: A reusable configuration object that dictates how data is imported (mappings, modes, options).
Import Run: The execution of a definition using specific source content (files or data).

Supported Resources¶

Resources are the Arena objects (or views) that are the focus of an import. A single import definition manages one specific resource type.

Resource	Description	Key Attributes (for lookup)
`ITEM_SPECS`	Item specifications (Header data)	Number
`ITEM_BOM`	Bill of Materials	Parent Item number / Child Item number
`ITEM_FILES`	Associations between Items and Files	Item number / File Number
`FILE_SUMMARY`	File object records	File Number

Note: To create a BOM with new items, you typically run an ITEM_SPECS import first to create the items, followed by an ITEM_BOM import to structure them.

Import Modes¶

The mode determines how the engine handles incoming data relative to existing data in Arena.

Mode	Behavior
`CREATE`	Creates new resources. Returns an error if the resource already exists.
`EDIT`	Edits existing resources. Returns an error if the resource does not exist.
`OVERWRITE`	Edits the resource if it exists; otherwise, creates a new one. (Recommended if unsure).
`REPLACE`	Item BOM Only: Deletes all existing child resources within the specified parent, then creates the new resources.
`DELETE`	Deletes resources. Returns an error if the resource does not exist.