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Enhancement of CSV import feature
Today I tried to import a CSV from a different bank and found out that I was not able to import it correctly, because the bank had an interesting CSV format:
One seperate column for account increase and one seperate columns for account decrease.
Trying to import it with the CSV import feature did not work because the "amount" data could only be applied to one column. In this case I would have needed "amount" selectable for both the increase and the decrease column.
What I found strange was that in the CSV the amounts from the increase column were positive, the amounts from the decrease column were all negative. So my suggestion would work here (allowing to select "amount" for multiple columns).
Any idea how to achieve the import of this unusual CSV file?
One seperate column for account increase and one seperate columns for account decrease.
Trying to import it with the CSV import feature did not work because the "amount" data could only be applied to one column. In this case I would have needed "amount" selectable for both the increase and the decrease column.
What I found strange was that in the CSV the amounts from the increase column were positive, the amounts from the decrease column were all negative. So my suggestion would work here (allowing to select "amount" for multiple columns).
Any idea how to achieve the import of this unusual CSV file?
I’m undecided
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Inappropriate?I'm aware of this type of CSV file, I think it's only this one bank (Deutsche Bank, if I recall correctly) doing this. One thing that could have been possible to do is to have "Increase" and "Decrease" columns, but the fact that the decrease column has its amounts negative makes things fuzzy (the column would have to invert the amounts, which is probably not what people using the column would expect).
The workaround for this type of file is to import it twice: once with the amount on Increase, and once with the amount on Decrease. Since there's no transaction with both columns filled, the imported transactions will not overlap.
As for allowing 2 amount columns, I'm not sure. I feel it might introduce awkwardness in the usage of the panel for what is essentially a single exception. Now, if it turns out it's not an exception, I'll reconsider my position, of course. -
Inappropriate?In my case it's another bank - Bank Austria (part of the UniCredit Group). So maybe there are some other banks out there that do this...
I therefore would consider all companies from the UniCredit Group, like the Hypovereinsbank, but that's just a wild guess, and I don't know if they ever merged their IT departments or strategies.4 Comments
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This is one of the best points
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Taken as example from another bank, there I can customize my CSV so that I define which columns it should contain - but I don't know if they allow separate columns for increase and decrease, since their default behaviour is just one amount column. -
Oh... I'll try to think of an easier solution to this problem then, since it seems to be more widespread than I first thought (*sigh*, those lazy banks... Not content enough to misplace our money in CDOs, they can't even produce a sensible CSV file...)
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I'm 100% of the same opinion - I also wondered why they did it in this strange way. And I see your concern about the dual selectable "amount" column. I would'nt allow it either in my own software.
The next question would be: what if the CSV out of a sudden allowed amounts in both increase and decrease columns (would not make sense, but why not)? The only solution would be to import the transaction twice, even if there were numerical columns, which could have been treated in a mathematical way.
However, your first suggestion, importing twice is not very user-friendly (and even relies on two import profiles). -
I haven't given this issue a lot of thoughts yet, but the way I'd do it is with an Increase/Decrease column. However, rather than inverting the amounts it it, it would just make them positive (so if they're positive, don't touch them. if they're negative. invert them). That would be a big problem though, in a case where it's not *all* amounts of that column that are negative.
However, I don't think that a bank would produce such a strange CSV file, so I think it can be assumed that the negativeness of the amounts of a increase/decrease column would be consistent for all amounts. -
Inappropriate?That's a problem we discussed in one of the first threads about CSV files and yes, Virgil, it is the Deutsche Bank which provides such strange CSV file too.
I agree with Michael that importing twice isn't really user-friendly but this problem was one of the reason Virgil has introduced the import layouts. That allows the user to use one layout for the decrease column (German: "Soll") and one for the increase column (German: "Haben"). To split the columns in two columns for increase and decrease isn't that strange, I believe. But to use a decrease column with negative amounts... that is strange indeed; however, the Deutsche Bank does so.
Probably the two "amount columns" solution for increase and decrease (as Michael mentioned and we have already discussed the first time) will be the best way to fix this issue. However, to avoid confusion of other users (which don't know about the two columns CSV files) it might be worth to consider a "third" column which works in the same way as the amount column currently. In addition you could give a short explanation if someone hovers over the different columns. Just a thought...
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