Introducing Content Onboarding: A Smarter, Scalable Way to Bring Product Data into Your PIM

We’re excited to announce that Content Onboarding is now available in all Inriver environments. A select group of customers has already tested this powerful new tool, and now it’s time for everyone to enjoy a smarter, more efficient way to get high-quality product data into Inriver at scale. Try it now and get ready for the availability of AI-powered data mapping via Inriver Inspire as an optional add-on following an upcoming release. 

Content Onboarding is built to help you streamline and accelerate product data onboarding at scale with a more intuitive user interface and greater scalability than ever before.

Here’s a glimpse of the validation step, where you can see auto-suggested values and clearly flagged errors before onboarding begins:

What Is Content Onboarding? 

Content Onboarding is the next-generation method for bringing product data into the Inriver PIM. It replaces the need for complex workarounds or custom-built import tools with an intelligent, standardized, and scalable interface for uploading and transforming product information via spreadsheet.

At launch, Content Onboarding matches and extends the capabilities of the current Excel import function—but with dramatically improved efficiency and ease of use.

It’s available now to all Inriver customers, at no extra cost. There are some limits on the number of mappings you can save and the number of SKUs you can upload per month with the free version. Please speak to your Inriver Account Manager or Customer Success team to find out more increasing these limits for your business to get the most from Content Onboarding. 

Note: The current Excel import tool remains available for use in parallel as you get used to Content Onboarding. 

Key Features of Content Onboarding Available Today 

Here’s what you can start using immediately: 

1. Upload: Drop in .xls, .xlsx, or .csv files via the Inriver Portal.
2. Map: Field headers are auto mapped using fuzzy logic to your PIM’s data model. You can edit, preview, and save mappings for reuse.
3. Transform: Use Excel-style formulas and IntelliSense suggestions to clean or standardize your data.
4. Validate: See your transformed data on-screen. Errors are clearly flagged for fixing, and onboarding is blocked for problematic rows to safeguard your data quality.
5. Onboard: Following review, the data is added to the PIM with automated creation of linked entities and organization into products. 

Why Use Content Onboarding? 

• Operate at Scale. Onboard more data in a single upload. No more juggling multiple files or looping the same file through multiple processes.
• Speed Time to Market. Cut the time spent on manual mapping and transformation using saved schemas and automated transformations, so products reach your PIM faster.
• Reduce Costs. Ditch custom-built import tools and interfaces. With Content Onboarding, you’re in full control of data imports.
• Boost Data Quality. Catch errors before they enter your PIM. Preview and validate transformed values to block bad data at the source. 

What’s Coming Next? 

We’re just getting started. Later this year, you can expect AI-powered content mapping and validation capabilities to become available in Content Onboarding if you have licensed Inriver Inspire. These optional features will further automate the process of interpreting, transforming, and validating incoming data, dramatically reducing manual effort and time to market. 

Additionally, upcoming releases will support: 

• New APIs for onboarding validated and unvalidated data
• Direct data ingestion from ERP systems
• Interfaces for external contributors and suppliers

Stay tuned for more announcements as we continue to evolve this functionality! 

Ready to Try It? 

Content Onboarding is now enabled in all customer and partner environments. To see it when you login, you’ll need your PIM administrator to assign the necessary permissions to your user role. 

There’s also a one-time PIM administrator setup step to configure your organization’s integration model, defining how products, variants, and entities relate within your unique data structure. You can start using Content Onboarding before this is configured, but you’ll see the biggest benefits once it’s in place. 

Learn More 

Check out the detailed information about Content Onboarding here in Community. You can also speak to your Customer Success Manager. We can’t wait to see how you’ll use it to accelerate your product content journeys.