NAME

RT-Extension-Import-CSV

DESCRIPTION

This extension is used to import data from a comma-separated value (CSV) file, or any other sort of delimited file, into RT. The importer provides functionality for importing tickets, transactions, users, and articles.

Some common uses of this functionality include:

Migrating data to RT from another ticketing system (JIRA, ServiceNow, etc.): This is the most common method of dumping ticket data from another system. Whether it be a CSV, TSV, or Excel file, this extension provides the flexibility needed to get that data into RT.
Syncing data from a non-ticketing system (billing, lead generation, etc.) with RT: For example, users might create sales leads in a lead-tracking system, then sync them to RT to create tickets for later follow up and conversation tracking.
Importing user accounts from another system: In the above lead generation example, having the same users in both systems may be convenient. Exporting users from that system and importing them into RT reduces the amount of administrative work necessary to make that happen.
Importing articles from another knowledge management system (KMS): RT allows you to include article content in comments and correspondence. An organization may have a library of this content already available. By exporting that content and importing it into RT, you can easily include it on tickets without having to copy/paste from a KMS.

This guide explains how to configure the import tool, and includes examples of how to run the import with different options. The actual import is run by rt-extension-import-csv - there is no web-based component for the import process. Please see the documentation for rt-extension-import-csv for more in-depth documentation about the options that the importer can be run with.

RT VERSION

Works with RT 5.

INSTALLATION

perl Makefile.PL

make

make install

May need root permissions

Edit your /opt/rt5/etc/RT_SiteConfig.pm

Add this line:

Plugin('RT::Extension::Import::CSV');

Clear your mason cache

rm -rf /opt/rt5/var/mason_data/obj

Restart your webserver

CONFIGURATION

The following configuration can import a three-column CSV and illustrates the basic functionality of the CSV importer:

Set( @TicketsImportUniqueCFs, ('Purchase Order ID') );
Set( %TicketsImportFieldMapping,
    'Created'              => 'Ticket-Create-Date',
    'CF.Purchase Order ID' => 'PO-Number',
    'Subject'              => 'name',
);

When creating a column mapping, the value to the left of => is the RT field name, and to the right is the column name in the CSV file. CSV files to be imported must have a header line for the mapping to function.

In this configuration, the custom field Purchase Order ID must be unique, and can accept accept a combination of values. To insert a row with this config, RT must find no existing tickets, and for update RT must only find a single matching row. If neither condition matches, the CSV row is skipped.

Excluding Existing Tickets By Status

In the example above, when searching for an existing ticket for a PO, it may be necessary to skip certain existing tickets involving this PO that were previously resolved. To instruct the importer to exclude tickets in some statuses, set the following option:

Set( @ExcludeStatusesOnSearch, ('resolved', 'cancelled'));

Constant values

If you want to set an RT column or custom field to the same value for all imported tickets, precede the CSV field name (right hand side of the mapping) with a slash, like so:

Set( %TicketsImportFieldMapping,
    'Queue'                => \'General',
    'Created'              => 'Ticket-Create-Date',
    'CF.Original TicketID' => 'TicketID',
    'Subject'              => 'name',
);

Every imported ticket will now be added to the 'General' queue. This feature is particularly useful for setting the queue, but may also be useful when importing tickets from CSV sources you don't control (and don't want to modify each time).

Computed values (advanced)

You may also compute values during import, by passing a subroutine reference as the value in the %TicketsImportFieldMapping. This subroutine will be called with a hash reference of the parsed CSV row. In the following example, the subroutine assigned to the 'Status' field takes the value in the 'status' CSV column and replaces underscores with spaces.

Set( %TicketsImportFieldMapping,
    'Queue'                => \'General',
    'Created'              => 'Ticket-Create-Date',
    'CF.Original TicketID' => 'TicketID',
    'Subject'              => 'name',
    'Status'               => sub { $_[0]->{status} =~ s/_/ /gr; },
);

Using computed columns may cause false-positive "unused column" warnings during the import; these can be ignored.

Dates and Date Formatting

When importing tickets, the importer will automatically populate Created for you, provided there isn't a column in the source data already mapped to it. Other date fields must be provided in the source data.

The importer does a fairly good job at guessing the source datetime format; if the source datetime format can't be parsed, Perl can help you out.

If you have to munge dates, we recommend converting them to the ISO datetime format (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm::ss and other accepted variants). For example, if the source data has dates in YYYY-MM-DD format, we can write a function to append a default time to produce an ISO-formatted result:

Set( %TicketsImportFieldMapping,
    'id'               => 'Ticket No',
    'Owner'            => 'Assigned To',
    'Status'           => 'Status',
    'Subject'          => 'Title',
    'Queue'            => \'General',
    'CF.Delivery Date' => sub { return $_[0]->{ 'Delivery Date' } . ' 00:00:00'; },
);

If you have other date columns you'd like to default to the date/time the import was run, Perl can help out there, too:

use POSIX qw(strftime);
Set( %TicketsImportFieldMapping,
    'id'               => 'Ticket No',
    'Owner'            => 'Assigned To',
    'Status'           => 'Status',
    'Subject'          => 'Title',
    'Queue'            => \'General',
    'CF.Project Start' => sub { return strftime "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", localtime; }
);

Mandatory fields

To mark some ticket fields mandatory:

Set( @TicketMandatoryFields, 'CF.Severity' );

In this example, rows without a value for "CF.Severity" values will be skipped.

Extra Options for Text::CSV_XS

By default, the importer is configured for a most common variety of text files (comma-delimited, fields in double quotes). The underlying import module (Text::CSV_XS) has many options to handle a wide array of file options, including unquoted fields, tab-delimited, byte order marking, etc. To pass custom options to the parser, use the following config:

Set( %CSVOptions, (
    binary      => 1,
    sep_char    => ';',
    quote_char  => '`',
    escape_char => '`',
) );

Available options are described in the documentation for Text::CSV_XS.

Special Columns

Roles and Custom Roles

For RT's built-in roles (Owner, Cc, AdminCc, Requestor) and any custom roles, the import will first assume the value provided is a user name, and will attempt to look up a user with that name, followed by email address. Failing that, the importer will try to create a privileged user with the provided name.

Should a user exist with the name provided and the target RT has external auth configured, the import will attempt to update the user with the latest information from the auth provider.

Comment or Correspond

To add a comment or correspond (reply) to a ticket, you can map a CSV column to "Comment" or "Correspond". When creating a ticket (--insert) you can use either one and the content will be added to the Create transaction.

For more information, see the section for importing transations.

TicketsImportTicketIdField

If the CSV data contains the ids of existing RT tickets, you can set this option to the name of the column containing the RT ticket id. The importer will then search for that ticket id and update the ticket data with CSV values.

Set($TicketsImportTicketIdField, 'RT ticket id');

Only one of TicketsImportTicketIdField or @TicketsImportUniqueCFs can be used for a given CSV file. Also, this option is only valid for --update or --insert-update modes. You cannot specify the ticket id to be created in --insert mode.

TicketTolerantRoles

By default, if a user can't be loaded for a role, like Owner, the importer will log it and skip creating the ticket. For roles that do not require a successfully loaded user, set this option with the role name. The importer will then log the failed attempt to find the user, but still create the ticket.

Set(@TicketTolerantRoles, 'CR.Customer');

IMPORTING TRANSACTIONS

The importer can be used to import transactions for existing tickets. This is useful for bringing the entire ticket history into RT instead of just the most current ticket data.

TransactionsImportFieldMapping

Set the column mappings for importing transactions from a CSV file. A 'TicketID' mapping is required for RT to add the transaction to an existing ticket. The 'TicketID' value is mapped to the custom field 'Original Ticket ID'.

Attachments can be included by providing the file system path for an attachment.

Set( %TransactionsImportFieldMapping,
    'Attachment'     => 'Attachment',
    'TicketID'       => 'SomeID',
    'Created'        => 'Date',
    'Type'           => 'Type',
    'Content'        => 'Content',
    'AttachmentType' => 'FileType'
);

ADVANCED OPTIONS

Operations before Create or Update

The importer provides a callback to run operations before a ticket has been created or updated from CSV content. To run some code before an update, add the following to your CSV configuration file:

Set($PreTicketChangeCallback,
    sub {
        my %args = (
            TicketObj   => undef,
            Row         => undef,
            Type        => undef,
            CurrentUser => undef,
            @_,
        );
        return 1;    # to continue processing current row
    }
);

As shown, you receive the ticket object(only for "Update" type), the current CSV row, and the type of update, "Create" or "Update". CurrentUser is also passed as it may be needed to call other methods. You can run any code in the callback.

The Row argument is a reference to a hash with the values from the CSV file. The keys are the columns from the file and match the CSV import configuration. The values are for the row currently being processed.

Since the Row argument is a reference, you can modify the value before it is processed. For example, to lower case incoming status values, you could do this:

if ( exists $args{'Row'}->{status} ) {
    $args{'Row'}->{status} = lc($args{'Row'}->{status});
}

If you return a false value, the change for that row is skipped, e.g.

return ( 0, "Obsolete data" );

Return a true value to process that row normally.

return 1;

Operations after Create or Update

The importer provides a callback to run operations after a ticket has been created or updated from CSV content. To run some code after an update, add the following to your CSV configuration file:

Set($PostTicketChangeCallback,
    sub {
        my %args = (
            TicketObj   => undef,
            Row         => undef,
            Type        => undef,
            CurrentUser => undef,
            @_,
        );
    }
);

As shown, you receive the ticket object, the current CSV row, and the type of update, "Create" or "Update". CurrentUser is also passed as it may be needed to call other methods. You can run any code in the callback. It expects no return value.

RUNNING THE IMPORT WITH A NON-DEFAULT CONFIGURATION

You can explicitly pass a configuration file to the importer. This is often used in conjunction when specifying an import type other than ticket. Use the --config option to specify the path and filename to the configuration file to use; --type indicates the type of import to run (article, ticket, transation, or article):

rt-extension-csv-importer --config /path/to/config.pm --type user /path/to/user-data.csv
rt-extension-csv-importer --config /path/to/config.pm --type ticket /path/to/ticket-data.csv
rt-extension-csv-importer --config /path/to/config.pm --type ticket --update /path/to/ticket-data.csv
rt-extension-csv-importer --config /path/to/config.pm --type transaction /path/to/transaction-data.csv
rt-extension-csv-importer --config /path/to/config.pm --type article --article-class 'VM-Assessment' /path/to/article-data.csv

EXAMPLES

Import an Excel file

Create a file in Excel, choose File / Save as from the menu, and select CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (.csv) from the File Format dropdown. Save it to a file named my-excel-test.csv. Do not change any additional options.

Create a new file called ExcelImport.pm with the following:

Set($TicketsImportTicketIdField, 'Ticket No');

# RT fields -> Excel columns
Set( %TicketsImportFieldMapping,
    'id'      => 'Ticket No',
    'Owner'   => 'Assigned To',
    'Status'  => 'Status',
    'Subject' => 'Title',
    'Queue'   => \'General',
);

# Default Excel export options
Set( %CSVOptions, (
    binary      => 1,
    sep_char    => ',',
    quote_char  => '',
    escape_char => '',
) );

Then run the import:

/opt/rt5/local/plugins/RT-Extension-Import-CSV/bin/rt-extension-import-csv \
    --type ticket \
    --config ExcelImport.pm \
    --insert-update \
    my-excel-test.csv

Import a tab-separated value (TSV) file

To generate a sample TSV file, select Search / Tickets / New Search from your RT menu. Pick some criteria, and don't change the default display format or column selections. Click Add these terms and search. On the resulting search result page, select the Feeds / Spreadsheet option.

The following configuration (saved as TabImport.pm) should match the resulting TSV file:

Set($TicketsImportTicketIdField, 'id');

Set( %TicketsImportFieldMapping,
    'Queue' => \'General',
);

Set( %CSVOptions, (
    binary      => 1,
    sep_char    => "\t",
    quote_char  => '',
    escape_char => '',
) );

The double-quotes match the interpolated tab value, rather than a literal \t. Other columns automatically align with fields in RT, so no additional mapping is required.

Importing is similar to the previous example:

/opt/rt5/local/plugins/RT-Extension-Import-CSV/bin/rt-extension-import-csv \
    --type ticket \
    --config TabImport.pm \
    --insert-update \
    Results.tsv

Import users from another system

An example application exports users to the following file (users.csv):

Login,Name,Email,Where At
support_user,Generic Support User,support_user@example.com,Call Center
admin_user,Generic Admin User,admin_user@example.com,HQ
end_user,Generic End User,end_user@example.com,Production Floor

If you wanted to import those users into RT, create a new file called UserImport.pm containing the following:

Set( %UsersImportFieldMapping,
    'Name'            => 'Login',
    'RealName'        => 'Name',
    'EmailAddress'    => 'Email',
    'UserCF.Location' => 'Where At',
);

Set( %CSVOptions, (
    binary      => 1,
    sep_char    => ',',
    quote_char  => '',
    escape_char => '',
) );

(this assumes you have created a User Custom Field named Location)

Then run the following:

/opt/rt5/local/plugins/RT-Extension-Import-CSV/bin/rt-extension-import-csv \
    --type user \
    --config UserImport.pm \
    --insert \
    users.csv

Importing articles

An example knowledge management system contains articles your organization would like to include on RT tickets. The export is delivered as such:

Title,Synopsis,Content
"Reset Password,"How to Reset a Password","This article explains how to reset a password in detail"
"Create User","How to Create a New User","Instructions on how to create a new user, in excruciating detail"

Since there are commas in the content, fields in this CSV need to be quoted, so this needs to be accounted for in the import configuration. Create ArticleImport.pm with the following:

Set( %ArticlesImportFieldMapping,
    'Name'    => 'Title',
    'Summary' => 'Synopsis',
    'Content' => 'Content',
);

Set( %CSVOptions, (
    binary      => 1,
    sep_char    => ',',
    quote_char  => '"',
    escape_char => '',
) );

You need to add --article-class when running the import:

/opt/rt5/local/plugins/RT-Extension-Import-CSV/bin/rt-extension-import-csv \
    --type article \
    --article-class General \
    --config ArticleImport.pm \
    --insert \
    articles.csv

Putting it all together: migrating from Zendesk

It's possible to migrate from Zendesk to Request Tracker using multiple imports defined above. Starting with a Zendesk trial site as a basis, the following steps are necessary before a migration can begin:

Users must be exported via API: Unfortunately, Zendesk only provides an export for what RT considers to be privileged users. To get all users, you'll need to access Zendesk's API. See this forum post for more information.
Tickets must be exported to CSV: Any of the default lists of tickets in Zendesk can be exported to CSV. See the Zendesk documentation for more information.

Exporting user information via the Zendesk API includes a bunch of unnecessary values. For this import, the only columns that matter are name and email.

Create a new file called ZendeskUsers.pm:

Set( %UsersImportFieldMapping,
    'Name'            => 'name',
    'RealName'        => 'name',
    'EmailAddress'    => 'email',
);

Set( %CSVOptions, (
   sep_char    => ',',
   quote_char  => '"',
   escape_char => '',
) );

Assuming the user export above produced a file named zendesk_users.csv, run the import:

/opt/rt5/local/plugins/RT-Extension-Import-CSV/bin/rt-extension-import-csv \
    --type user \
    --config ZendeskUsers.pm \
    --insert \
    zendesk_users.csv

For tickets, create ZendeskTickets.pm using the following configuration:

Set($TicketsImportTicketIdField, 'ID');

Set( %TicketsImportFieldMapping,
    'Queue'          => \'General',
    'Status'         => 'Status',
    'Subject'        => 'Subject',
    'Requestor'      => 'Requester',
    'Created'        => 'Requested',
    'LastUpdated'    => 'Updated',
    'CF.Ticket Type' => 'Topic',
    'CF.Channel'     => 'Channel',
);

Set( %CSVOptions, (
   sep_char    => ',',
   quote_char  => '"',
   escape_char => '',
) );

(you'll need to create two ticket custom fields: Ticket Type and Channel)

If tickets were exported to a file named zendesk_tickets.csv, the following command will import tickets into your RT instance:

/opt/rt5/local/plugins/RT-Extension-Import-CSV/bin/rt-extension-import-csv \
    --type ticket \
    --config ZendeskTickets.pm \
    --insert-update \
    zendesk_tickets.csv

For a production instance of Zendesk, you'll need to adjust the columns in the ticket import configuration to match your configuration.

AUTHOR

Best Practical Solutions, LLC <modules@bestpractical.com>

All bugs should be reported via email to bug-RT-Extension-Import-CSV@rt.cpan.org or via the web at rt.cpan.org.

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

This is free software, licensed under:

The GNU General Public License, Version 2, June 1991

To install RT::Extension::Import::CSV, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm RT::Extension::Import::CSV

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install RT::Extension::Import::CSV

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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