Understanding Failed Revenue Files in the Activity Log

There may be occasions that you notice a Failed status for your revenue upload files in the Activity Log section of the platform. You may also see a variation of one of the error messages below:

Error: Unparseable date

 

Error: Expected header row was not found

 

Note that the second error listed above, normally shown as [Error: ERROR_GENERIC, [Error: Expected header row was not found], en_US] usually means that a third-party revenue source (such as Adobe SiteCatalyst) has made a change to their file format. You can check this by comparing incoming data files with previously successful data files.

What Causes The Issue?

Failed revenue uploads can occur for one of the following reasons:

  • The most common reason is incorrect use of column headers in the upload file. You can see an example of the standard revenue upload format by navigating to the Activity Log, then clicking on the Upload Revenue link on the left-hand side.
  • The third-party revenue source (such as Adobe SiteCatalyst) fails to deliver a file containing any rows for the platform to process.

How To Fix The Issue?

Because the reasons for failed revenue uploads can be so diverse, it may be more useful to run through a checklist of things to ensure a successful upload.

If one or more of your revenue uploads have failed, double-check each of the following. It’s a good idea to download both your failed revenue file and one that has succeeded in the past. This will help you diagnose the issue:

  • File naming convention: Is the file name in the same format as those that have succeeded in the past? Generally speaking, the first section of the file name, along with the date, should be the same.
  • Column header names and order: The columns of your revenue file should have the correct names (as per your successful uploads). Likewise, the order of the columns should remain unchanged.
  • The row on which data begins: Is the row that your data begins on the same for the failed upload as for the successful one?
  • Data format: Is the data formatted in the same way in each of the cells in the file?

If you use a third party revenue integration, it is also a good idea to check that the provider has not changed the format of their revenue files.

If you still cannot locate the source of the file’s failure, please get in touch with our Customer Support department.

Written by Marketing @ Marin Software

Last published at: June 30th, 2023