Import channels

Background

When it is untenable to serve a default set of cars and rates to a salary sacrifice employer, the Gensen Salary Sacrifice platform will allow a limited number of custom ratebooks to be operated simultaneously.

Within the platform, we call these import channels. Each import channel will hold a set of ratebooks until a new set is uploaded and published. The new set will replace the old set, and the old set will be archived.

The “default” import channel is used by all employers who do not require a custom ratebook and this is the default setting for all new employers.

Each employer can be assigned to one import channel.

When you are uploading ratebooks using this method you will see a set of subfolders that match each import channel.

Using the scenario in example 1, the following folders would be visible on the FTP server:

ratebooks/
├── default/
└── custom-123/

Compare with the standard method of uploading ratebooks, where you would only see a single folder called ratebooks:

ratebooks/

What you need to get started

• We assume you’re already familiar with the Gensen Salary Sacrifice platform and have access to the FTP server.
• We assume you’re familiar with the uploading ratebooks in the standard method.

Instructions

1. Prepare ratebooks for each import channel in the normal way. You can use the ratebook data specification to ensure you have the correct format.

2. Upload the ratebook to the appropriate folder on the FTP server.

3. The usual import process will take place sending you an email notification when the import has started, followed by an email report detailing the results of the import.

4. When the import successfully completes, the old ratebooks in the channel will be archived.

5. Salary sacrifice employers can be assigned to a specific import channel once the first import is complete.

Special offers

You may need to rotate special offers, stock vehicles or other volatile offers on a more frequent basis.

On request, we can configure an offers channel to which you can upload ratebooks (in other words you will see an offers folder in your FTP upload area).

Any rates in the offers channel will take precedence over other rates provided for any given car (as identified by the vehicle_id field).

Caveats and limitations

1. Our platform currently uses heavy use of memory caching to improve performance on queries, filtering and calculations. This means that we can’t currently support more than 10 import channels at any one time.

2. Rates and vehicles in the offers channel (if used) will persist until replaced. If you need to remove all offers, please send us a support request and we will remove them for you.

3. Uploaded ratebooks will be queued and processed in the order they are received. If you upload a ratebook while another import is in progress, the upload will be queued and processed once the current import completes.