Creating records in bulk in an ERP that has no import

Month-end, a new price list, a supplier migration: three hundred records to create, an Excel sheet that holds all of them, and a creation form that takes one at a time. Here is how to get through it without retyping.

Before anything: prepare the sheet

• One row per record, one column per field, with a header that uses the same words as the form labels. It makes the mapping obvious, whatever tool you use next.
• Values in the form's own format. If the form expects a date as 31/12/2026, or a drop-down value spelled "Key account", the sheet must say exactly that.
• Mandatory fields filled everywhere. Sort each mandatory column and look at the top: empty cells are the first cause of failed rows.
• A test batch of five rows before the real one, then check the five records in the ERP by hand.

Ask once for an import

Many ERPs can import customers or items, but the feature is reserved for an administrator. A ten-minute request to IT or to your ERP partner can save the whole afternoon, and an import is the most reliable path. If the answer is no, or "next quarter", read on.

Type it with a form filler

A form filler reproduces what you do by hand: open the creation form, type each value, save, repeat. With Rowfill:

1. Open the creation form and fill it once by hand, with the first row of your sheet. Rowfill records the fields and the save button.
2. Copy the other rows in Excel, header included, and paste them in the side panel.
3. Check the column-to-field mapping and the preview of the first row.
4. Start with the five-row test batch, check them in the ERP, then run the rest.
5. At the end, export the CSV log: it lists every row that failed and why, so you fix only those.

Rowfill works inside your own session, visibly, at the pace you set, and nothing leaves your browser. It handles one form on one page: if creating a record takes several screens, it is not the right tool yet.

The mistakes that cost the most

• Running the full batch first. A wrong mapping repeated three hundred times is three hundred records to fix.
• Duplicates. If the ERP does not refuse an existing code, check your sheet against an export of existing records first.
• Going too fast. Some apps need time to save each record. A slower delay between rows avoids half-saved entries.