Manual

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Structuring the CSV files for import

Our philosophy is to keep sanctions list screening as simple as possible. That is why the CSV file does not have to follow any particular structure. You can import any CSV or TXT file – the only thing that matters is that it really is one. The separator must be a semicolon or a comma; tabs and other separators are not supported. Please also make sure the file is encoded in UTF-8, otherwise you may see artefacts and broken characters, especially with umlauts and other accented letters.

Importing XLS, XLSX or other files from spreadsheet or database applications is not possible. As a rule, though, every such program can produce a CSV file. In Excel, for example, use "Save as" → "File format" → "Comma Separated Values (.csv)".

For a manual import our import assistant guides you through the process – all you have to do is pick the right columns. For an automated import we set things up for you; from then on the structure of the file must not change – only new records (rows) may be added, no new columns.

IMPORTANT: Please make absolutely sure your files are OWASP-compliant.

What does the CSV file have to contain?

Depending on your situation, customers, suppliers and employees can all be held in a single CSV file. You can just as well generate a separate CSV file per area, for example business-customers.csv and private-customers.csv.

Example for business-customers.csv:

"Company name"; "Customer number"
"Testfirma GmbH"; "12345"
"Musterfirma AG"; "12346"

Example for private-customers.csv:

"First name"; "Last name"; "Customer number"
"Max"; "Mustermann"; "1111"
"Inge Marta"; "Musterfrau"; "1112"

Note: first name and last name may also sit in a single column.

During the import, the import manager is where you select the relevant columns and rows. Any other data in the CSV file is ignored. Contrary to widespread belief, addresses are not part of sanctions list screening: most entities on the sanctions lists have no address at all, which follows from the purpose of these lists – they are anti-terror lists. Screening by address would only distort the results or create additional manual review effort.

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