Goal: Bulk approve your Shopify B2B companies for ordering by assigning a customer a location role at each company location. New companies show as Ordering: Not approved until at least one customer has a role at one of their locations. This guide walks you through the spreadsheet you need to flip every company to Ordering: Approved in a single import.

Sample file: Companies_Sample_Approve_Ordering.csv - a ready-to-edit template with the columns described below.

Prerequisites:

You have Altera installed on your Shopify store
The companies you want to approve already exist in your store (created manually or via a previous import)
The customers you want to link as location contacts already exist in your store
You know which customer should be the location contact for each company

Step 1 - Decide on a location role

There are two valid values for Customer: Location Role. Either one will set the company to Ordering: Approved:

Ordering only - the customer can place orders but cannot manage the location
Location admin - the customer can manage the location and place orders

Pick the one that matches the access you want each customer to have.

Step 2 - Build your spreadsheet

You have two ways to build the file. The export-based approach is easier when you already have companies and locations in Shopify, because you do not have to type names by hand.

Option A - Start from a Companies export (recommended)

In Altera, click New Export and select Companies as the data type.
Under field selection, include the General and Locations field groups. You do not need Linked Customers or Metafields. Click Start Export and download the file when ready.
Open the file in your spreadsheet app. You will see one row per company location, already populated with the correct Name and Location: Name values.
Rename the Main Contact: Customer Email column to Customer: Email. (The two columns serve different purposes - see the warning below - but for this workflow we want the email tied to the location, so renaming the column is the quickest way to repurpose its values. Replace the values with a different customer's email per row if the main contact is not the right person to hold the role at that location.)
Add a new column called Customer: Location Role and fill it with Location admin or Ordering only on each row.
Set the Command column to MERGE on every row that has a value.
Delete every other column except Name, Command, Location: Name, Customer: Email, and Customer: Location Role. Keeping extra columns is harmless, but a slim file is faster to review.
Delete any rows for companies or locations you do not want to update.

Option B - Build from scratch

Create a spreadsheet with one row per company location you want to approve. The minimum columns are:

Name - the company name (used to match an existing company)
Command - set to MERGE to update existing companies
Location: Name - the location to assign the role at (or use Location: ID if you have it)
Customer: Email - the customer who will hold the role (or use Customer: ID if you have it)
Customer: Location Role - Ordering only or Location admin

Make sure the customer email matches an existing customer in your store. If the customer does not exist, the role will not be assigned and the company will stay as Ordering: Not approved.

Warning: Do not use Main Contact: Customer Email as the column header in your import file. That column only sets the company's main contact and does not assign a location role. Use Customer: Email instead.

Example

A minimal file that approves three companies for ordering. This matches the sample CSV:

Name	Command	Location: Name	Customer: Email	Customer: Location Role
Altera Demo Coffee Roasters	MERGE	Altera Demo Coffee Roasters	[email protected]	Location admin
Altera Demo Outdoor Supply	MERGE	Altera Demo Outdoor Supply - Warehouse	[email protected]	Ordering only
Altera Demo Outdoor Supply	MERGE	Altera Demo Outdoor Supply - Showroom	[email protected]	Location admin
Altera Demo Stationery Co	MERGE	Altera Demo Stationery Co	[email protected]	Location admin

Notice that Altera Demo Outdoor Supply has two rows - one per location. If a company has multiple locations, add a row for each one. If you want more than one customer to have a role at the same location, add a row per customer.

Step 3 - Import the file in Altera

In your Shopify admin, go to Apps > Altera, then click New Import. Upload your file and select Companies as the data type. Review the analysis preview. If you see warning COMP028, your customer or location identifier is missing on at least one row - go back to Step 2 and fix it before importing. Click Start Import when the preview looks correct.

Step 4 - Verify in Shopify admin

Once the import finishes, open Customers > Companies in your Shopify admin. Each company you imported should now show Ordering: Approved. Click into a company to confirm the customer is listed under the correct location with the role you assigned.

Outcome

Every company in your spreadsheet shows Ordering: Approved in Shopify admin, and the customer you specified is assigned to the matching location with the role you chose.