Import - Record already exists?

[peterraeves]

I am trying to import an excel file. I created all manufacturers and vendors and after trying to upload again I got the following error

Manufacturer, a record with the same reference name already exists in the table

Is having the reference available, not a good thing? What does this error mean?

[Chuck Tomasi]

Hi Peter,

In your import set transform map, are you coalescing on any particular field? This is how the system determines if it should update an existing record or create a new one. If you are not coalescing (see the field map related list at the bottom of the transform map record) then it is going to try and create all new records. Depending on how that table is set up, there may be a field with a 'unique=true' value on the dictionary stating that all values in that field must be unique. If you already have a manufacturer with a name "Dell" and you try to import it again, you'll have issues. Hope that helps.

Create a transform map

Using the Coalesce Field - ServiceNow Wiki

[peterraeves · Accepted solution]

I'm not using any transform map. I'm just using the easy (excel) import functionality directly from the table.

Manufacturer is a reference field btw. I'm trying to import laptops.

Though I already found the answer, which is not completely what I would have expected. I had 'Dell' defined as a manufacturer, but it seemed like it was defined more than once. So because there were multiple reference records with the exact same name, it got confused and stated that error. After deleting the additional copies, it worked fine. Let's hope they don't sneak in again.

[Chuck Tomasi]

Thanks for sharing Peter. In the future, the additional details (like using Easy Import) might help us provide an answer quicker.