Patent ID: 8819084

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a computing device at a client site, a selection of a service application from a plurality of service applications, the selected service application managing an operation for importing data from a database external to the computing device to a database local to the computing device; executing, by the computing device, the selected service application, the executing comprising: identifying a plurality of entries in the external database selected for importing to the local database, each entry including a plurality of fields of the external database and an associated status indicator; identifying one or more rules for mapping the external database to the local database, the rules specifying a mapping for each field in the external database to a respective field in the local database, the local database including at least one custom field having been received from a user of the computing device at the client site; copying, using the identified one or more rules and for each of the identified plurality of entries in the external database, data included in each of the plurality of fields in the identified entry of the external database to respective fields in a receiving entry of the local database; and updating, upon completion of the copying of data included in each of the plurality of fields in the identified entry of the external database to respective fields in a receiving entry of the local database, the status indicator associated with the identified entry of the external database; and providing, by the computing device, a table of the local database, the table including the imported data from the external database.