Map a source

Biosphere needs to know who issued incoming records, what they describe and what each field means. The same review works for integrations, APIs, files, email and documents. Approved layouts remember what the data means. Sources can override individual choices without changing another source’s imports.

Review Scout’s plan

Open an arrival in Inbox. Follow Understand, Match and Review. Scout is selected first; recognized arrivals can open directly on Review. Preparation may be queued or in progress. Open Details, then History and select View processing progress for its background job. A failed plan offers Try again; select Manual to continue yourself. Scout’s note, progress, failure and retry stay in Scout. A small attention marker on the Scout tab shows when its plan failed.

Read the plan and inspect the proposed changes. Scout selects confident choices in the draft without asking you to confirm each one. Only unresolved choices appear under Needs you. Open Details, then What Scout understood to see the source, record type, record IDs and all selected fields, with examples and reasons. Scout selected names a choice Scout made; Scout suggestion needs your answer. Choose Edit in Manual to open a choice in its ordinary editor. Use Ask Scout to explain or edit the plan in place. Saving a choice never approves an import. Scout and Manual both show Needs you choices, which must be confirmed or changed before approval. Confirm accepts a choice Scout proposed, Confirm all accepts several at once and Change opens the field that needs attention. When Scout is unsure of the record type, its choice is already selected with Scout’s reason. One field choice can resolve the same missing value for several records; the question shows how many. Scout’s note describes business changes in a few plain sentences and never blocks approval. The changes table counts new, updated and unchanged records. A set-aside count appears when some records are left for later. Approve import applies the reviewed changes when all choices are ready. To deliberately replace an existing plan, open Import options and choose Prepare a new plan.

Choose fields manually

Open Understand and select Manual. Switching between Scout and Manual keeps your current step and unsaved field choices. Match and Review use the same screens either way.

1. In Understand, check what the records describe and where they came from. A trusted connection or an upload from a source page already has its source. Otherwise confirm the suggested source, choose another, or leave it unassigned for a one-off import. Tags and project choices classify the records.
2. The original stays on the left. The right side lists our fields, grouped together: for example Order, Lines, Customer and Ship-to. Required fields come first, followed by mapped or suggested fields. The rest are under More fields, with their count.
3. For each field, choose a source column or nested path. The picker shows sample values. Choose Fixed value to use one value for every included record, or Leave empty for an optional field. One column can fill several fields.
4. Mapping the identifier, such as Order number or SKU, also identifies the source’s record. If it has another stable ID, select Another field identifies these records beside that field. Advanced holds the source ID series.
5. A field with fixed choices offers Map values. Match incoming values to our choices; values you haven’t matched stay visible for review.
6. In Use these choices, choose this source, everyone using the layout, or just this import, then select Save fields. A change for everyone previews the affected sources. Errors name their field and source rows.

Selecting a field highlights its source column. Column menus can choose the field to fill. Unused columns remain part of the original evidence; their count opens the list.

Rows with the same order number become one order with its lines. Conflicting order values identify the rows to fix and hold that order only. If every row is one order and no order number is supplied, explicitly choose that grouping; Biosphere generates the number on approval. Catalog items with variants and contacts with addresses use the same grouped review. Linked API records and nested lists use these same cards.

When one arrival contains several connected record sets, each keeps its own field and match choices. Review complete import brings their changes together after reading finishes. Every record set must be ready before one approval applies the arrival. You cannot set aside individual problem groups from that complete review yet.

Match shows the incoming name, existing record and matching reason. A unique exact email or international phone match links a contact. Possible duplicates need a decision. An item name collision never creates an automatically renamed second item. Match choices remain proposals until approval.

Match source wording to choices

For a field with fixed choices, such as delivery status, open Map values. Choose the value to use beside each incoming word. For example, map “S” and “Shipped” to Shipped, “BO” to Backordered and “Rec’d” to Warehouse received. Matching ignores surrounding whitespace and letter case. Saving the mapping keeps these choices for later arrivals from that source.

A new word stays in the original and holds only its affected field for review; other eligible fields can update. Use Map values in the field editor to update the saved choices and review the next version. Review the corrected source choice before replacing a held value. A status that moves backward after shipping also needs review, including a late backorder, damage, cancellation or exception.

Review shows what will change, keeping related records and lines together. A known layout can fill the meanings for a new source and open Review directly. It never assigns the source or borrows another source’s record IDs. On a phone, use Source and Review tabs to move between the original and decisions.

Review and remember

The preview shows new, updated and unchanged records. Under Details, check This arrival lists every record of this type only for a complete list. Review the future-arrivals statement. Approval enables automatic processing after validation unless Sources already requires review each time. Approval saves the reviewed field choices, matches and business changes together. You never need to name a template. See Review and approve changes.

Later arrivals process automatically only with a known source, approved layout and overrides, its automatic policy, trusted attribution, validation and ownership. Similar field names can suggest meanings but never grant automatic processing or establish record identity. Documents and email follow the same checks.

Change or undo choices

Open Details, then History to see each saved choice, actor and reason. Undo this edit reverses one change; Undo this agent run reverses that run’s draft work. Later unrelated human choices survive. A conflicting later edit prevents the whole undo. Approved business records are not reversed by draft undo.

Configure → Sources shows Activity, Mappings, Records and Settings for each source. Mappings marks its overrides and lets you reset a field to the shared layout. Retiring choices prevents future use while retaining earlier records and history. Connection settings describe delivery, not meaning.

Include related records

Map the Customer, Supplier, Product or address fields in the same workspace. Review lists new related records with their order or contact. An exact email match links the contact. A possible name match needs your decision. Missing required facts hold that family until they are filled or set aside.

An unassigned import still uses the layout’s meanings and duplicate checks. Choose who sent it to match their order numbers and import future files automatically. Without a source, those sender IDs are not remembered and future arrivals always need review.