Data Import: Charges and Payments

Buildium gives you the ability to import two types of financial information - charges and payments from residents, and checks and deposits that occur in your bank account.

If you’re just getting started with Buildium but would like to track full financials from prior months, importing this information is the best way to get it into the system.

In this article, you’ll learn about importing resident charges and payments.

To import charges and payments received from residents:

1. Navigate to Settings > Import data.
   
2. Click Upload data file and choose Charges and payments.
   
3. Download the excel template from the Before you start section of the pop up window.
   
   
   
4. There are several required fields, which are indicated by an asterisk:
   
   
   • Date
   • Transaction type (charge or payment)
   • Property name
   • Unit number
   • Payment method (for payments only)
   • Paid by (for payments only)
   • Amount
   • General Ledger Allocation
   
   
   
5. Enter memos, additional general ledger allocations, and check numbers for payments, too. Each line item entered represents a separate charge or payment.
6. Once you’ve completed and saved the charges and payments import template, navigate to Settings > Import data
   
7. Click Upload data file and choose Charges and payments.
   
8. In the pop-up window, scroll down to the Upload section. From here, click Upload, then choose the completed template file.
   
9. Once uploaded, click Save.
   

Buildium will validate the file, and let you know if there are any errors. You can click on the error message to view a report that indicates exactly what errors occurred so you can go and make any necessary updates to the template.

If all fields have been validated, a button will appear for you to import the data.

It’s important to know there is NO going back once you’ve hit the “import data” button after validating the files. We do not have the ability to correct any information in bulk once it’s been imported, so you want to double or even triple check the files before you import.

Validations

If you're having any issues with errors when you validate the file, check the following validation requirements to see if something in your template was entered incorrectly:

• Date
  • Accepted format MM/DD/YYYY.
• Transaction type
  • Accepted values are Payment and Charge.
• Account number
  • Account number must match an existing account number.
• Property name and unit number
  • Property and unit number must match an existing property and unit.
• Account
  • Account must match an existing liability or expense account. Sub-accounts can be prefixed with their parent account separated by a colon. E.g. “Fuel” sub-account under “Auto” can be specified as “Auto:Fuel”.
• Payment method
  • Payment method must match one of the allowable values.
• Paid by
  • Paid by must match one of the residents associated with the property and unit, or with the account number.