What Is an Upsert (Create-or-Update)?

An upsert is a create-or-update operation: for each row in an import, EDGEBIC looks for a matching record by a business key, then creates a new one if none exists or updates the existing one if it does. The word blends update and insert. It is what makes re-running an import safe: rows are matched, not blindly added, so a corrected file or a repeated scheduled load never spawns duplicates.

EDGEBIC by User Solutions performs an upsert on every reconcilable import row and reports the outcome as Created, Updated, or Reused. This article defines the term. For the full outcome vocabulary, see the sibling term import row status.

How It Works

For each row, the import first identifies the record's business key: a product name, a work center name, and so on. It then looks for an existing record with that key.

Three outcomes follow from two questions, is there a match and does the mask allow updates:

• No match: the row is a new record, created and saved. Outcome: Created.
• Match, updates allowed: the existing record is updated with the row's values. Outcome: Updated.
• Match, updates turned off: the existing record is recognized but left untouched. Outcome: Reused.

The "updates allowed" switch is a mask option on the record types that reconcile this way, so you can choose whether an import is allowed to change existing records or only to fill in new ones. That switch is the Update Existing Records import option, and it is off by default.

Upsert has one more careful behavior on updates: a blank cell in the file is treated as leave-as-is, so it keeps the current stored value rather than overwriting it with nothing. That lets you send an update file containing only the columns that changed, without fear of blanking the rest. On a create, by contrast, a blank cell simply saves as empty or a default, because a brand-new record has nothing to preserve. Actuals imports carry a blunter relative of this idea, Replace Existing, which clears logged days the file does not mention rather than leaving them alone.

A Concrete Example

Think of updating a contact in your phone. When someone texts you a new number, your phone does not create a second entry for them; it finds the existing contact by name and updates the number, leaving their email and photo alone. If the name is brand new, it offers to create a contact. That is an upsert.

In EDGEBIC, a weekly product file behaves the same way:

Run the same file again next week and nothing duplicates: M8-Bolt updates again if its cost moved, M8-Nut is reused, and Frame-B, now existing, updates or reuses rather than being created a second time.

How EDGEBIC Uses It

Upsert is the default behavior for the reconcilable import types, the master and demand records matched by a business name. It is what makes imports repeatable: because rows reconcile against existing records, you can re-import a whole catalog every cycle and only real changes move. The three outcomes, Created, Updated, and Reused, appear in the import result so you can see exactly what each row did.

The blank-cell preservation on updates is a deliberate safeguard, but zeros and spaces count as real values, so verify your update files hold genuine blanks where you mean to leave data alone. For a step-by-step look at that exact pitfall, read a blank cell in my import wiped a value, and for the surrounding mechanics see how EDGEBIC handles import masks. Browse more definitions in the manufacturing glossary.