How Catalog Uploads Work

When you upload a CSV to your catalog, Altana reads each row and decides whether to create a new record or update one that already exists. This page explains how that matching works, how to update records you have already loaded, and how to structure a multi-tier supply chain file. To walk through the upload screen itself, see Uploading Products via CSV.

When to use this

You are uploading product and supplier data and want to know whether it will create new records or change existing ones.
You need to add or change a field on products, suppliers, or their locations you have already loaded.
You are uploading a supply chain that goes beyond your direct suppliers and need the right file structure.

Before you start

Format your data using the Supply Chain Data Template (SCDT). For the required columns and the download link, see Uploading Products via CSV. For the concepts behind the template, see Getting Data In.
Save your file as a CSV encoded in UTF-8. UTF-8 ensures accented characters and other special characters load correctly.
The field names in this guide (for example, Product Name or Supplier) describe the records Altana builds. The exact column headers come from the template you download and differ by format — the wide template prefixes each column by tier (such as (T0 Product) or (T1 Supplier)), while the tall template uses plain headers (such as Supplier and Product). Use the headers exactly as they appear in your downloaded template.

Create or update: how Altana matches your rows

For every row, Altana looks for an existing record using a business key — the combination of fields it uses to recognize a record. If it finds a match, it updates that record with any new or changed values in your file. If it does not, it creates a new record.

Record	How Altana identifies it
Product	Product Name + Product Description. If you also provide a Product Internal ID, Altana uses that stable ID to recognize the product.
Supplier (organization)	Supplier Name.
Supplier location (a specific address)	Supplier Name + Address.

A supplier and its locations are different records. A supplier is the company itself — an organization, matched by name. A supplier location is a specific address that belongs to that organization, such as a factory or warehouse, and one supplier can have several. When you upload, Altana finds or creates the supplier first, then finds or creates each location beneath it. In the Catalog, companies appear under Suppliers and their addresses under Sites — the same Sites view that also holds your own organization's locations.

Updating records you have already loaded

To change something on an existing record, include the fields that identify it plus the column you want to change. You do not need to re-send every field — only the identifiers and what is changing.

To update a…	Include these identifying fields	Plus
Product	Product Name and Product Description	The column with the new value (for example, an HS code or a custom field)
Supplier	Supplier Name	Altana reuses the existing supplier by name
Supplier location	Supplier Name and Supplier Address	The column with the new value (for example, city, country, or a custom field)

Blank cells never erase existing data. A new value in your file overwrites the old one, but leaving a cell empty does not clear a value that is already in your catalog. To change a value, provide the new value; to leave a value untouched, you can omit its column entirely.

Two changes create a new record rather than editing the old one, because Altana no longer recognizes the record:

Changing a Product Name creates a new product — unless you include a stable Product Internal ID for that product, in which case Altana applies the new name to the existing product.
Changing a Supplier Name or Address can create a new supplier or supplier location rather than updating the existing one.

If you need to rename a record and keep its history, contact your account manager.

Adding your own fields

You can attach your own fields — such as a color, a category, or a purchase order number — by adding a column for each one in your CSV. If a column name does not already exist in your catalog, Altana creates that field on the matching record (a product, a supplier location, or a supply chain relationship) and fills in the value from your file. Fields you have already created do not need to be re-sent; include only the columns you are adding or changing.

Re-uploading the same file

Uploads are designed to be repeatable. Re-uploading the same file with no changes makes no changes to your catalog — Altana recognizes each record and reuses it. Only rows with a new or changed value result in an update, so it is safe to re-run an upload.

If the same product appears more than once in a single file with conflicting values (for example, two different HS codes), Altana uses the value from the last matching row and shows a warning.

Uploading a multi-tier supply chain

You can capture a multi-tier supply chain — your suppliers' suppliers and beyond — in either format the upload accepts. In the wide format, a single row describes a full path from your company through each tier. In the tall format, each supplier-and-good pair sits on its own row and a Tier column records how far up the chain it is. Both are accepted; for deeper or evolving chains the tall format is often easier to build and maintain, and the rest of this section covers it.

Tier 0: Your company and the finished good.
Tier 1: Your direct suppliers and the goods they supply to you.
Tier 2 and beyond: Your suppliers' suppliers — the indirect, upstream part of your chain.

The tall format is built on order. Altana reads the file from top to bottom and links each supplier to the most recent buyer above it, so a buyer must appear before the suppliers that feed it. Sort your file so that each supplier (Tier N) follows its buyer (Tier N−1).

Tier	Supplier	Product	Relationship Type
0	My Company	Finished Widget	Site
1	Supplier A	Metal Casing	Supplier
2	Sub-Supplier B	Raw Aluminum	Supplier
1	Supplier C	Plastic Wrap	Supplier

Supplier C (Tier 1) appears after Supplier A's chain is complete; Altana still knows My Company is the buyer for both. If a row names a tier whose buyer has not yet appeared, Altana skips that row and reports it in an error file — the rest of the upload continues — so keep the file in tier order.

Constraints and caveats

Files must be CSV, encoded in UTF-8.
A blank cell never overwrites an existing value; provide a new value to change one.
When the same record appears more than once in a file, the last row wins.
Changing a Product Name (without a stable Product Internal ID), or a Supplier Name or Address, creates a new record rather than editing the existing one.
In the tall format, rows must be ordered so each buyer appears before its suppliers; out-of-order rows are skipped and reported.

Uploading Products via CSV — the step-by-step upload walkthrough.
Getting Data In — the concepts behind the Supply Chain Data Template.
Adding Products Manually — entering products without a file.
Value Chains — what happens after your data is loaded and matched.