Skip to content

CSV Import and Export

OpenEA provides separate governed workflows for object and relationship CSV imports under Management → Import.

Only Architects and Architecture Administrators can import. Any authenticated user can export repository objects.

Limits

Both import workflows enforce:

  • CSV format
  • UTF-8 content
  • Maximum file size of 5 MB
  • Maximum 5,000 data rows
  • Validation and preview before commit

Object import workflow

The object workflow is:

Upload → Choose object type → Map → Validate → Preview → Commit

A Name mapping is required. Columns can map to common repository fields or valid properties for the selected object type.

Object matching is deterministic:

  1. Supplied UUID
  2. Exact case-insensitive Name within the selected object type

Preview classifies rows as:

  • New
  • Update
  • Unchanged
  • Error

Boolean cells accept common forms such as true/false, yes/no, 1/0, and y/n. Multi-select values use | inside the CSV cell.

Relationship import workflow

Relationship import is intentionally separate from object import.

Endpoint resolution order is:

  1. UUID
  2. External ID when the object's governed properties expose one
  3. Exact case-insensitive object name
  4. Exact case-insensitive alias

Ambiguous matches remain errors. OpenEA does not silently choose among several candidates.

A typical file looks like:

source_type,source_name,relationship_type,target_type,target_name,criticality,confidence
Application,Customer Portal,uses,Technology,PostgreSQL 17,High,Confirmed
Application,Customer Portal,supports,Business Capability,Customer Management,High,High

Object type values can use either metamodel keys such as application or exact display names such as Application.

The importer validates relationship vocabulary, source/target applicability, and relationship properties before commit.

Audit behavior

Committed relationship rows go through the normal RelationshipService, including server-side validation, audit events, and recalculation jobs. Relationship CSV batches use audit source CSV Import and a batch correlation ID.

Export

Filtered object export is available from /exports/objects.csv. Export honors supported query, object type, record status, and criticality filters across the full result set, not only the current UI page.