This article explains how to upload data files, process them, map attributes to OWL fields, and attach imported records to existing Cases or Subjects using OWLimport.
Overview
OWLimport allows you to bring external data into OWL by uploading structured files (CSV, Excel, JSON) or creating individual records manually. Imported data is stored in OWLVault under a datasource and can be attached to Cases and Subjects for investigation purposes.
OWLimport supports three methods:
- File Import with Immediate Processing — for small datasets; records are available immediately after processing.
- File Import with Batch Processing — for large datasets; records are processed in batches and available after completion.
- Single Record Entry — for manually creating individual records directly in OWLVault.
Steps to perform OWLimport
Step 1: Prepare Your File
Before uploading, ensure your source file meets the following requirements:
- Supported formats: CSV, XLS, XLSX, JSON.
- Use a single header row with clear, descriptive column names.
- Remove merged cells, multi-row headers, or complex formatting.
- Ensure consistent data types within each column.
- Save CSV files with UTF-8 encoding and consistent delimiters.
- Remove blank rows at the beginning or end of the file.
Step 2: Upload the File
- Navigate to OWLdocs from the main menu.
- Select the Folder/create a new Folder where the data should be uploaded.
- Click on Upload File(s) button and browse and upload your file.
- Enter correct datasource name.
- Click on preview icon to preview the uploaded file.
- Click on Upload button. The file is Uploaded successfully after the Malware scanning. You may need to refresh the page to see the new file.
Step 3: Perform OWLimport
After the file is uploaded, you must perform OWLimport on the file and map your source file columns to OWL attributes:
- Once the file is uploaded, go to the file, click the action menu under the Action column and click OWLimport.
- OWL displays your source file columns alongside available OWL fields.
- For each source column, select the corresponding OWL attribute.
- Click on Consider for Deconfliction checkbox, if you need this field to be considered for deconfliction.
- Click on Link Analysis checkbox on the fields, if you need this field to be considered for Link Analysis.
Once all fields are mapped, you have the option to save this configuration as a mapping template. This allows the system to auto-select matching fields when similar files are uploaded in the future. To do this, click the Save Mapping Template button. A pop-up will appear prompting you to enter a unique template name. After entering the name, click Save to store the template. The saved template will then be available in the Mapping Template dropdown. Note that saving a template is optional and can be skipped during the OWL import process.
- Click on the Next button to complete the mapping.
Step 4: Attach to Case or Subject (Optional)
Before processing, you can optionally select a Case and/or Subject to automatically associate the imported records upon completion:
- Select the target Case from the available list.
- Optionally also select a Subject linked to that Case.
- Records will be attached to the selected Case/Subject after processing completes.
Step 5: Process the Import
After mapping and configuration are complete, click Finish to submit the file for processing:
- For small files, the processing completes quickly and records are available in OWLvault right away.
- For large files, the processing takes longer depending on the file size. You will receive an email notification when OWLimport processing is complete.
Step 6: Auto-Deconfliction Runs After Processing
If deconfliction was configured during Step 3 and is set to run automatically:
- After all records are processed, the auto-deconfliction engine runs against the configured scope.
- Only newly imported records (identified by their batch ID) are compared — existing records are not re-compared.
- Once deconfliction completes, the file's deconfliction status updates (e.g., "Completed 12 Matches" or "Completed 0 Matches").
- If matches are found, a "View Deconfliction Results" option appears in the file's action menu.
To view deconfliction results:
- Click View Deconfliction Results from the action menu.
- The system navigates to OWLvault, filtered to the import batch with the deconfliction column visible.
- Records with matches display the match count and confidence score.
- Click View Result on any record to see the side-by-side comparison of the imported record vs. matched records.
Step 7: Verify and Attach Imported Records
After processing completes:
- Navigate to OWLvault or Databases by Datasource.
- Select the datasource used during import.
- Verify that the expected number of records appear.
- Spot-check individual records to confirm attributes were mapped correctly.
Attaching records to a Case or Subject after import:
If records were not attached during import, you can do so now:
- Select the imported records you want to attach.
- Use the Attach to Case/Subject option.
- Select the target Case or Subject from the list and select Save.
- Select Finish.
Requirements for attachment:
- The target Case or Subject must be in an Open or Pending status.
- You must have edit permissions on the target Case or Subject.
- Attached records become visible in the Case/Subject's record management views.
Single Record Entry
To create a record manually without uploading a file:
- Go to the OWLdocs page.
- Click on the Add Single Record Entry button present in the right-hand corner.
- This will open the Single Record Entry page with all the required fields like Attributes, Record metadata, and Compliances.
- To add attributes to the Single record entry, first select a category from the category dropdown. Once the category is selected then select an attribute.
- After selecting the attribute, the Value field will be enabled. Enter the data into the Value field as per the field type and click on the save button to partially save it.
- Each attribute can be edited and removed from the action menu of each attribute
- Similarly, multiple attributes can be added to the Single Record Entry with respective value information.
- You can save the mapping attributes as a template for future use easily by clicking on the Save Mapping Template button.
This will open a pop-up to enter the Template name. Enter the unique template name and click on the save button.
- The saved templates can be used to create a new single record entry, which is available under the Select Mapping Template button.
This will show a pop-up with available templates. Select the template to auto-select all the attributes without a value. These attributes can be edited or removed during creating a single record entry.
- After adding the attributes, add the Record Metadata information.
- Provide the required fields - Single Record Entry name, Data Source, Record owner, and Department.
- The Single Record Entry can be linked to a Case/Subject by selecting them from the case and subject dropdown.
Click on the +Add Keyword button, which will show the field to add keywords. Enter keywords with a separate comma. Click on Save keyword.
- Add the compliance data based on the requirement. For a Single Record entry, the compliances that can be applied are from OWLdocs only.
After adding all the compliances, click on the Create button to create the Single record entry.
Once the record is created, it can be viewed from the OWLdocs & vault page. The Record Status will be OWLimport PROCESSED by default.
To view the attributes and the file metadata information, simply click on the file name from the OWLdocs or Vault page, and it will redirect to the Import record page.
Import Status Monitoring
To check the status of your imports:
For Immediate Processing: records appear immediately after the success message.
For large file Processing: check the import status in OWLVault.
You will receive an email notification when OWlimport processing is complete.
Summary of the Workflow
- Prepare source file (correct format, clean data, single header row)
- Upload file under the correct datasource
- During OWLimport, Map source columns to OWL template attributes
- Configure deconfliction fields and scope (optional)
- Attach to Case/Subject before processing (optional)
- Submit for Immediate or Batch processing
- Auto-deconfliction runs and results are available
- Verify records in OWLvault and attach to Cases/Subjects
Tips
- Always verify the datasource selection before uploading.
- Save your field mappings for reuse on future imports with the same file structure. Saved templates retain deconfliction fields and scope settings.
- Enable deconfliction on key identifying fields to prevent duplicate records.
- Select the appropriate deconfliction scope — "Current File Only" for internal dedup, "Entire Database" or broader for cross-referencing against existing records.
- If you need to associate records with a Case or Subject, you can do this during import or after processing.
- When appending data to an existing datasource, only newly imported records are deconflicted — existing records are not re-processed.