Importing Reports to eLandings

Landing and production reports can be generated by seafood processors' business systems and imported into eLandings, to reduce data entry effort. The eLandings system provides both web pages and fully automated web service methods to allow the import of reports. Report XML documents must be produced in accordance with the eLandings XML schema. The data elements required for landing reports are documented on Landing Report Data and those required for production reports are documented on Production Report Data.

The eLandings system provides two means of importing reports. The eLandings web application has a Report Import page that allows import of both landing and production reports. It can be reached by clicking on the "Import Report" menu link on the main Report Menu page. The eLandings system also provides web service methods that allow seafood processors' business systems to automatically import reports to eLandings. The web service methods are documented on Public+Web+Service+Documentation.

Attributes

When preparing an XML document for import, no attributes should be specified. Only data elements are read when the report is imported into eLandings. The attributes contain additional data that is associated with the element values in the eLandings database. The eLandings system populates the attributes with the associated data when it creates documents for users, but does not need to read attribute data when receiving reports.

Considerations for Using the Report Import Page

The Report Import page allows users to import landing and production reports, one at a time. Reports are imported in the unsubmitted status. Once the report has been successfully imported, users must review it and submit it. Imported landing reports must be initially submitted, and finally submitted, just like reports created directly in eLandings. Production reports do not have a distinction between initial submit and final submit, they just need to be submitted after they are imported. As a consequence, the XML document for reports does not have to specify the status element. If the status element is specified, it must have the unsubmitted status value.

The report id element should be omitted from the XML document. When the document is imported a new, unique, report ID will be generated and assigned to the report. When the report is displayed after importing the report ID can be read off of the web page. It can also be obtained by downloading the XML from eLandings, which can be done from the report display page that is displayed after a successful import.

The Report Import page has some flexibility in the use and assignment of fish ticket numbers on landing reports. The fish ticket numbers identify what parts of the harvest documented on the landing report are assigned to which CFEC permits. The fish ticket numbers can be handled in several ways.

• If the landing report has only one CFEC permit, the fish ticket number can be omitted from the report. The eLandings system will generate a new fish ticket number for the report, and will populate it on the permit worksheet and line items.
• If the landing report has more than one CFEC permit, but the line items are not allocated to the permits, then the fish ticket numbers can be omitted, and the eLandings system will fill them in on the permit worksheet. In this case, the user will need to use the Allocate Permits function on the eLandings web application to allocate the line items to permits.
• Place holder fish ticket numbers can be assigned to the CFEC permits, and line items if desired. In this case, the eLandings system will replace each unique placeholder fish ticket number with a new, generated fish ticket number. The placeholder fish ticket numbers should start with a letter other than "I".
• Importable fish ticket numbers can be obtained from the eLandings system prior to creating the report XML document. This allows the seafood processor's system to obtain the fish ticket number prior to the landing, and to use them as key data in their internal records. When importing the landing report, the eLandings system will recognize the fish ticket numbers as importable numbers, and will not replace them with newly generated ones. Importable fish ticket numbers always begin with the letter "I". Importable fish ticket numbers can be obtained using the Importable Numbers page. It is accessible from the Operation Information and User Maintenance page by clicking on the "Importable Fish Ticket Numbers" button.

Considerations for Using Web Service Methods

The eLandings public web services provide a means for seafood processor and third party systems to interface directly with the eLandings system. Landing and production reports can be imported and submitted directly, without requiring user action on the eLandings web application. Reports should be constructed according the the XML schema documentation. Both report IDs and fish ticket numbers must be specified. The report IDs and fish ticket numbers must be reserved on eLandings before they can be used. The getReportNumbers() page documents using the web service method to reserve and retrieve report and fish ticket numbers.