What you can import, and in what order

Bring the records you keep in spreadsheets into Kerno instead of typing them in. Kerno has six importers, one for each kind of record, and each one reads a CSV or Excel file.

The six importers

• Materials: ingredients, packaging and components with the stock you have now. One row per item; repeat an item on more rows to record more lots.
• Suppliers: the vendors you buy from, one row per supplier.
• Opening stock: stock lots for materials that already exist, one row per lot.
• Supplier SKUs: what each supplier sells you, with the purchase unit and price per material.
• Bills of materials: recipes as drafts, one row per BOM line.
• Soap recipes: from a spreadsheet or another soap calculator, as drafts in the Soap Calculator.

Open an importer

1. Go to Settings, then Import data.
2. Click the import button for the list you want, such as Import materials.

Each importer lists its columns, which ones are required, and how Kerno matches rows to records you already have. Excel template and CSV template give you a file with the right columns to start from. The Materials, Materials Inventory and Suppliers pages also have an Import button of their own.

Import in this order

Some lists need others to be in Kerno first.

1. Import your suppliers first if you want their contact details, payment terms and lead times in Kerno. If you skip this, the materials import creates suppliers from the names in your file.
2. Import your materials with the stock you have now.
3. Import opening stock to add more lots to materials you already have.
4. Import supplier SKUs once both the material and the supplier are in Kerno.
5. Create your products in Kerno, then import their bills of materials. A BOM names its product, and products can't be imported.
6. Import soap recipes at any time.

Good to know

• Nothing is saved until you confirm the preview. You see every row, with any problem, before you import.
• A row matches a record you already have (for materials, by SKU first, then by name and category). Matches are skipped unless you choose to update them, so nothing is overwritten by default.
• Each imported soap recipe opens as a draft in the Soap Calculator, matched to Kerno's ingredients and yours, for you to check and approve. See The ingredient library.
• Kerno matches column names without case or punctuation and understands common spellings such as Vendor, Qty, Item Type, Reorder Point and Expiry. You can change any match before the preview.
• The exports of these lists import back, so an export of one workspace imports into another.
• Not built yet: importing products, customers and orders. Tell us if you need it.

Related articles

• Import materials from a spreadsheet
• Export your data