How do I auto-export object data from Pacific Timesheet a third party system?

Question

How do I auto-export object data from Pacific Timesheet a third party system?

Answer

Background

Pacific Timesheet allows you to automatically export its object data to third party systems using its auto-export tool. This method utilizes the FTP credentials of the receiving network to send to the data securely.  

Setup

As a Pacific Timesheet administrator, you can find the auto-export setup page:

• Navigate to System > General > Data Integration
• The Data Integration page will display options to setup auto-exports of object data
• Object data, depending upon your system setup, might be:
  • Employees (which could be setup as Employees or Equipment Resources in a Construction system)
  • Groups (which can be crews, departments, etc.)
  • WBS items, e.g., jobs, phase codes, cost codes, equipment

The main data integration page will look like this, varying according to your system setup:

Note:
The area of the page with objects available for auto-exports are highlighted above. For this article, we will provide instructions for employee object. The same principles apply to other object auto-exports.

1. Click on the Employee Export link to go to the Employee Export Options page:
2. Click on the Edit button to make the page editable.

The Employee Options Page has five sections:

1. Schedule enabled
2. Export to
3. Exported fields
4. Custom header
5. Status filters (employee status and timesheet status)

Schedule enabled:

• The Schedule Enabled checkbox enables the auto-export process
• Schedule feature allows you to run the auto-export process once per day at a set time. You can select from 1 to 7 days per week. 
• Next Run shows, given your settings above, the next date/time the process will run.

The next section includes settings on the location to where you will export the employees file, and key settings on the file's configuration. 

Export To:
You have the option of exporting to an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server, to a Dropbox folder or a Microsoft OneDriver folder.

• FTP Server option
  If you choose "FTP Server" the following properties must be configured by clicking the settings button that appears to the right of the menu:
  
  

  FTP Server

  The host name or IP address of the FTP server.

  Login

  The user account or login name for the FTP server.

  Password

  The password for the login, above.

  FTP Directory

  The directory where export files will be created, e.g. "/" or "/tmp". FTP server paths start with a forward slash, and backslashes are not valid. If blank, the root directory will be used, which is equivalent to "/".

  FTP Port

  The port number for the FTP server, where 21 is the default value for most FTP servers.

  FTP Mode

  Check this option to enable passive mode, which aids when transferring files through firewalls.

  Security

  If the FTP server has connection security enabled you will need to set the appropriate value here. Your options are:

  None	No connection encryption
  Implicit SSL	Implicit Secure Socket Layer encryption (FTPS)
  Explicit SSL	Explicit Secure Socket Layer encryption, also known as (FTPES)

  
  
  
• Dropbox option
  
  Once you sign into Dropbox and authorize Pacific Timesheet within Dropbox, you should see your account name in the list above within a few seconds.
  
  
• Microsoft OneDrive 
  
  Once you sign into Microsoft OneDrive and authorize Pacific Timesheet within Microsoft OneDrive, you should see your account name in the list above within a few seconds.

Directory:
Directory is where the export file will be sent. If the "Export To" property is set to "FTP," then this is the directory on the FTP server where you want the export file sent. FTP server paths start with a forward slash, and backslashes are not valid.If the "Export To" property is set to "Dropbox" then this will be the optional sub-folder within the Dropbox account to upload the export files to.  The sub-folder will be created directly under the /Apps/PacificTimesheet folder of the Dropbox account.  If left blank then export files will be uploaded to the /Apps/PacificTimesheet folder of the Dropbox account.

The same holds true if the "Export To" property is set to :"Microsoft OneDriver."  

File Name:
The name of the export file, e.g. "employees." The "Append timestamp" option will add the date and time of the export to the file name, e.g. "employees.200908150831". Note that the file extension will automatically be added when the export file is created, based on the Format property, described below. For CSV format, the file extension ".csv" will be added to the file name. For MS Excel format, the file extension ".xls" will be added to the file name.

 

Format:
The format of the export file, either comma-separated-values (CSV) or Microsoft Excel (XLS).

File Encryption:

You can optionally encrypt the export file using PGP (Pretty Good Privacy). If you choose this option you need to specify the following options:

Encryption Key	The public encryption key to use when encrypting the export file. Click the settings button to the right of the menu to import and manage your encryption keys. An encryption key is required.
Armor	Check this option to output the encrypted file in armored ASCII format, rather than binary format. The file will have the '.asc' file extension appended to it.

When the file encryption is set to PGP the export file will have the '.pgp' file extension appended to the file name. If the armor option is selected then the file will also have the '.asc' extension added to  it, so the export file will end in '.pgp.asc'.

Exported Fields:

Select the data fields to export, as well as their order.

Custom Header:

For some external systems you may want a special header at the beginning of the export file, rather than the standard list of field names.

Status Filter:

Select a value if you want to only export objects that are active or inactive.

Timesheet Filter:

This appears only for Employee exports. Select a value if you only want to export employees who have a timesheet (that is, the Timesheet property in their employee profile is not blank).