The key to importing data into Fast-Flex Plus lies almost entirely in being able to export data in text (ASCII) format from the program where it currently resides. We won't be of any help in telling you how to get data out of your other program(s) - you'll have to contact that program vendor.

Once you have the text files ready, and in the proper formats (comma-delimited for the employee records and fixed-length for the withholdings) getting it into Fast-Flex Plus is easy. Refer to the manual for specifics. (pages 119 and 131)

For your practice or as an example, here are two small files that can act as a guide for you in building your own import files. After you download them, view them by first starting WORDPAD (Start/Programs/Accessories/Worpad) and then opening each file with wordwrap turned off.

WHDIMPRT.DAT is an example of a fixed-length withholdings import file. (Use the built-in guide at the top of the page to identify column numbers.)

HERCULES.CSV is an example of a *.CSV employee record file. It also has a guide at the top of the page, but instead of column numbers, this one numbers the fields (separated by commas) in each record.

Note that the import files do not require you to have data for all of the fields in our employee and transaction databases - just enter what you have available from your payroll or HR system.

Finally, please note that you can hold the mouse over our Employee Import File Layout form field labels for a more detailed description of the data format that is required. For example, the date field require the slashes in the MM/DD/YY format.

Below is how you would set up the importation of the HERCULES.CSV employee record file using our Import File Layout tool:

One final suggestion: Depending on the number of employees you have, often it is best to get as much data as you can via the import tool and then use the Batch Update Employee Records (p.48) to hand enter the rest of the employee information.