Using Insight Asset Management plugin for JIRA, to upload CSV files and replace duplicates.

[argen mousesian]

Hey everyone, I am working at a company that uses the Insight Asset Management plugin for JIRA to handle their assets. What we do is update the asset inventory every time there is a change. For instance, every week we get 10 new assets that need to be added to the inventory. Let's say the week after we get 5 new assets. What I'd like to do is to upload the CSV file with the data in it and have Insight go through the data and see if there are duplicates already in the inventory, and if there is, i'd like it to replace the one already in the inventory. 

How would I go about achieving this goal?

Thank you in advance!

[PJ Wysota]

FIrst things first:

1. I wouldn't go for REPLACING objects already in Insight inventory - due to regardless of other data corrected - when replacing (A.K.A. Deleting old object and creating new) You will drop all references between object and JIRA tickets (every imported object is given not only a key but also UID - regular thingy for JIRA-like DBs, and if UID or Key does not match - boom, you are doomed).

2. I would rather go for synchronization. It is pretty simple, and you can use two methods (of course some testing with your particular files is required to get it right but... it will work eventually:

Setup no. 1
Have your original file mapped into Insight correctly, e.g. using Valiantys blog-post as a guidance: https://blog.valiantys.com/en/expert-tips/insight-for-jira

Then map at least 2-3 attributes as Identifiers, so Insight will "understand" external IDs and with next imports treat updated objects as updates to existing ones.

Setup No. 2

D the export from within the Insight - unfortunately You would need to do that for each Object Type You want to sync. In Export file You will find all inside attributes. If You fill the new objects into that skipping Key column - and setup synchronisation - they will be created, while those with Key column filled in - updated.

The only point here is that once you import data - you would need to repeat exports, and rename files to have the same location and name as previous one - to match imports setting. 

I assume first approach is better, but seen some configurations that would not work this way.