Importing Customers and Vehicles from MAM Autowork Online

Summary

Torqueflow recognises the customer exports from MAM Autowork Online and imports your customers and their vehicles. You upload two CSV files at Settings > Import Data, one after the other. Torqueflow works out what each file is, shows you a preview and runs the import in the background. Every import can be rolled back if something looks wrong. Job history, invoices and MOT dates don’t come across from Autowork, so read “What doesn’t come across” before you start. If you’d rather not run the import yourself, Torqueflow can run it for you when your account is set up.

Prerequisites

• You’re signed in as the owner, or your role has the Import Data permission (settings.import.manage). Other built-in roles can’t open the import page.
• You have two CSV files from the customer export in MAM Autowork Online:
  • The customer list. One row per customer. Its heading row includes a Created column and no vehicle columns.
  • The customer and vehicle list. One row per vehicle. Its heading row includes Reg, make, model and vin columns.
• The files are exactly as Autowork produced them. Torqueflow reads the heading row to recognise each file, so don’t rename, retype or reorder the column headings.

Steps

Get both files from Autowork

1. In MAM Autowork Online, export your customer list as CSV.
2. Export your customer list with vehicles as CSV.
3. Open each file and look at the heading row to check which is which. The customer list has a Created column. The vehicle list has Reg, make, model and vin columns.
4. Close the files without saving any changes.

You need both files. The customer list includes customers who have no vehicle on record. The vehicle list includes some customers who aren’t in the customer list. Torqueflow matches customers across the two files by their Autowork account code, so a customer who appears in both is only created once.

Import the customer list first

1. Go to Settings > Import Data.
2. Drag the customer list onto the upload area, or click the area to browse for it. Upload this one file on its own.
3. Click Upload & Detect 1 File. The detection results recognise the file as an Autowork customers file and show its row count.
4. Click Proceed to Import. The import run page opens.
5. Click Review & Import next to the file. The preview opens.
6. Check the preview (see “Check the preview” below).
7. Click Start Import. The import runs in the background.
8. Wait until the import run page shows Import completed successfully. You can leave the page and come back. The status updates on its own.

Then import the customer and vehicle list

1. Go back to Settings > Import Data.
2. Upload the customer and vehicle list on its own and click Upload & Detect 1 File. The detection results recognise it as an Autowork customers and vehicles file.
3. Click Proceed to Import, then Review & Import.
4. Check the preview, then click Start Import.
5. Wait for Import completed successfully.

In Import History this second import is labelled Refresh rather than Initial. That’s expected. Torqueflow has recognised the customers from the first file, and that’s how it links the vehicles to them.

Never import the two files at the same time. Don’t upload them together, and don’t start the second import while the first one is still running. If both run at once, customers who appear in both files are created twice. If that happens, roll back both imports and start again (see data-import/reviewing-and-rolling-back-an-import).

Check the preview

The preview has three cards and three tabs.

• Will Import counts the customers that will be imported, along with their vehicles.
• Needs Review counts customers that will still be imported but have something worth a look, such as a customer with only a surname or an address with no postcode.
• Invalid records are left out of the import.

Use the Valid, Needs Review and Invalid tabs to look through the records, 50 to a page. Expect a big Needs Review number. Autowork often holds just a surname for a customer, and Torqueflow flags every one of those. In a real Autowork export we tested, most customers landed in Needs Review. They all imported normally.

Check the result

1. Open Customers and compare the number of customers with Autowork.
2. Search for a customer by their old Autowork account code. The code shows in the Ref column of the customer list and in the header of the customer’s record.
3. Open a few customers you know well and check their vehicles, phone numbers and address.
4. If anything looks wrong across the board, roll back both imports, fix the cause and import again. See data-import/reviewing-and-rolling-back-an-import.

Set up trade and fleet customers

Autowork’s export has no account flag, so every customer imports as a Standard customer who pays on collection. That includes fleet customers with dozens of vehicles.

1. Open the customer’s record.
2. In the Account Status card, click Request Account Upgrade.
3. Approve the request. The owner can approve their own request.
4. Set payment terms if the customer needs something other than your default.

There’s no bulk option, so repeat this for each trade or fleet customer. See customers-vehicles/account-types-and-payment-terms for the full workflow.

What comes across

From Autowork	In Torqueflow
Account code (Code)	The customer’s Ref. It’s searchable, and it’s how Torqueflow links the two files.
Title, forename, surname	The customer’s name, kept exactly as typed in Autowork. Torqueflow doesn’t change capitals. A customer with only a surname imports with only a surname.
Business names	If the surname includes a word such as Ltd, Limited, Motors, Garage, Autos, Services or Transport, the customer imports as a business. Everyone else imports as an individual.
Address lines and postcode	The address. With two or three lines filled in, the last line becomes the town. With four, the third becomes the town and the fourth the county. An address with no postcode is flagged for review.
Mobile	The main phone number.
Home and work phone	The landline. If both are filled in and different, the second is saved as an extra phone number.
Email	The email address. If a cell holds more than one address, the first becomes the main email and the rest are saved as extra emails.
Registration, make, model, VIN	The vehicle, linked to its customer. Two-word makes such as Land Rover or Mercedes Benz stay whole.

Registrations that look wrong in Autowork (such as 123 or NA) still import, with a warning. Vehicle lookups won’t find details for them, so correct them on the vehicle record when you next see the car.

What doesn’t come across

• Job, invoice and service history. Only customers and vehicles import from Autowork. On day one a returning customer shows no past jobs and no spend in Torqueflow. Autowork’s invoice list comes out as a PDF report with no line items, so there’s nothing Torqueflow can import from it. Keep that report, or your Autowork login, for looking up older work.
• MOT expiry dates. Autowork’s MOT dates are often years out of date, so Torqueflow ignores them. It fills in MOT expiry from the official vehicle record instead. That happens gradually in the background, a batch of vehicles at a time. To get a vehicle’s date straight away, open the vehicle and click Refresh DVLA Data. MOT reminders only go out for vehicles that have an expiry date.
• Service and timing belt due dates. These aren’t imported. Set up service reminders in Torqueflow instead.
• Marketing consent. Every imported customer starts with marketing consent switched off. Autowork’s contact ticks say how a customer can be reached. They aren’t permission to send marketing. Ask again before you send any marketing. MOT and service reminders aren’t marketing.
• Contact preference ticks. Autowork’s SMS, phone, fax, email and post ticks aren’t used by Torqueflow. Fax numbers aren’t imported.
• Account status. See “Set up trade and fleet customers” above.
• Other columns. The named contact for a business (Customer Contact), Custom 1, Custom 2, a fifth address line and the date the customer was created in Autowork aren’t imported.
• Vehicles with no registration, make or model. A row with only a VIN is skipped.

Expected Outcome

• Every customer from both files is in Torqueflow once, with their Autowork account code as their Ref.
• Each vehicle is linked to the right customer.
• Both imports are listed as completed in Import History, and either can be rolled back.
• Trade and fleet customers are set up as Account customers after you’ve flagged them.
• MOT expiry dates start appearing as Torqueflow checks each vehicle.

Troubleshooting

Problem: A file shows as Unrecognized. Cause: The heading row doesn’t match an Autowork export. Usually a column has been renamed or removed, or the file was re-saved from a spreadsheet. Fix: Export the file again from Autowork and upload it without opening and saving it first.

Problem: The file is recognised but far fewer records import than expected, or none at all. Cause: The column headings have been changed, for example retyped in capitals. Torqueflow still recognises the file but can’t read the columns. Fix: Roll back the import, export a fresh copy from Autowork and import it again without editing it.

Problem: There are about twice as many customers as there should be. Cause: The two files were imported at the same time, so customers in both files were created twice. Fix: Roll back both imports. Then import the customer list on its own, wait for it to finish, and import the vehicle list.

Problem: Some customers are missing. Cause: Only one of the two files was imported, or some records were Invalid in the preview. Fix: Check Import History for both imports. If one is missing, import that file. Check the Invalid tab of each preview for records that were left out.

Problem: A customer I’d already added by hand now appears twice. Cause: The import merges into an existing customer when the email address matches. With no email match, it creates a new record. Fix: Check customers-vehicles/duplicate-suggestions and merge the pair.

Problem: The second import is labelled Refresh in Import History. Cause: Torqueflow has spotted the customers from your first import. That’s how it links the vehicle list to them. Fix: Nothing to fix. This is how a two-file Autowork import is meant to run.

Problem: A vehicle has no MOT expiry date. Cause: MOT dates don’t import from Autowork. Torqueflow hasn’t checked that vehicle yet, or the registration is wrong. Fix: Open the vehicle and click Refresh DVLA Data. If nothing is found, check the registration.

Notes

• A customer or vehicle record you’ve changed in Torqueflow since the import is flagged in the rollback confirmation, so you can see what a rollback would lose.
• After a rollback you can import the same files again. They import as a fresh first import. See data-import/reviewing-and-rolling-back-an-import.
• If your Autowork export has only one of the two files, import it anyway. You get whatever it holds. Customers with no vehicle on record only come from the customer list.

Permissions

• settings.import.manage: required to open Settings > Import Data, run imports and roll them back. The owner has it by default. Other built-in roles don’t.