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Append (Feature Service/Layer)

Description

ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise feature service layers support an append operation, a high-performance API capable of handling large volumes of data that has the ability to upsert data.

Upsert

Upsert is a combination of insert and update, driven by the featureId. Upsert is used to add new features and update existing features at the same time. If a feature in the source data matches an existing feature in the destination layer, the existing feature is updated with the values from the source. If there is no match, a new feature is created based on the values from the source.

The append operation supports featureId of type ObjectId and GlobalId. The target layer must have a destination field of one of these types.

Unique index on source data featureId

The destination objectId or globalId fields do not need to be mapped to source fields of the same data type. The source featureId can map to a different field type, as long as the values can be converted to an acceptable destination value for featureId. For example, the destination globalId can be mapped to the GlobalId, Guid, string field types; the objectId can be mapped to the short or long field types.

Note:

When upsert is set to true, the append operation checks for uniqueness in the source featureId. It is not acceptable to append two source rows to the same destination row, as the append operation would return an error if more than one source feature shares the same featureId.

Enable and disable append capabilities

Note:

This functionality is supported in ArcGIS Online and in ArcGIS Enterprise at 11.1.

Feature service Append capabilities must be enabled for the append operation to be used by nonadministrative users. Organization administrators, or the service owner, can use the append operation without having the Append capability enabled on the feature service. The Append capability needs to be added to the service capabilities only if the service owner or organization administrators need to allow nonadministrative users to append data to a feature service. Organization administrators or the service owner can enable or disable the Append capability for an existing feature service using the updateDefinition operation. For more information on how to configure Append and other capabilities on a feature service layer, see Update Definition.

The Append capability does not require any editing capabilities to be enabled. Features will be inserted or updated when upsert is set to true through the append operation without the administrator adding either the Create or Update capabilities to the feature service.

Supports append

A feature service layer can return the supportsAppend metadata property. When this property is absent or returns as false, the Append capability cannot be added and the feature service layer does not support the append operation, even for the organization administrators of the feature service owner.

Append sources

The source of the append operation can be one of three parameters: edits, appendItemId, or appendUploadId. edits is a literal feature collection string. appendItemId references the itemId of a file currently stored in the geowarehouse. appendUploadId references the itemId of a file uploaded to the server through the uploads operation. The itemId of a file in the geowarehouse is completely independent from the itemId of a file stored in the server uploads. Unless a file is needed in the geowarehouse, using the uploads API is the recommended method. For ArcGIS Enterprise, appendItemId is supported with 10.9 and later.

Supported append formats

A feature service that supports append returns the supportedAppendFormats metadata property. This property lists the supported appendUploadFormat values for this operation.

The append formats are as follows:

  • sqlite: sqlite database
  • geoPackage: geopackage
  • shapefile: shapefile
  • filegdb: file geodatabase
  • featureCollection: feature collection
  • geojson: GeoJSON
  • csv: Comma separated values
  • excel: Microsoft Excel format

Sync and Change Tracking

The upsert parameter is not supported if the feature service has sync or changeTracking capabilities enabled. When sync or changeTracking are enabled, the upsert parameter is blocked for the following reasons:

  • The Esri sync engines might not be able to support syncing the changes from the upsert parameter. The append operation might be using a very low level database API that might prevent the use of triggers to track the changes from the upsert parameter. ArcGIS Online feature service sync engines rely on triggers to track the edit changes.
  • The volume of changes from upsert might be quite large for the syncing process, and it will be better for the client to re-create the replica after upsert.
  • Attempting to set the upsert parameter to true will return an error if sync or change tracking are enabled.

Feature service layer views

The append operation can be used to enable feature service layer views.

Preserve featureId

The source featureId (ObjectId or GlobalId) is only preserved when upsert is true. When upsert is false, all new rows created will have their new objectId or globalId allocated by the system.

Feature service metadata

The metadata for a feature service is updated after adding or updating data using the append operation. The lastEditDate of the feature service will be updated. The extent will also be updated for ArcGIS Online feature services.

Spatial references

The source data is projected to the layer spatial reference when appending data to the destination layers. Data from CSV, Geojson, and Excel is defaulted to GCS spatial reference (4326). If the source data from these data sources is in a different spatial reference than 4326, the source spatial reference can be passed in the appendSourceInfo parameter (sourceSR).

Geocoding (ArcGIS Online)

The append operation supports geocoding geometry from CSV and Excel data. The cost and billing of geocoding is the same cost and billing of geocoding when publishing data as a feature service.

Editor tracking and ownership-based access control (OBAC)

Editor tracking is supported with feature service append API. The CreationDate and EditDate, Editor, and Creator fields are populated based on the user who is calling append. Editor tracking fields are set when inserting or updating existing features. The creator and the editor fields will be set to the append user.

Service owner and administrators will bypass any OBAC set on the feature service. For nonowners, if allowsUpdateToOthers is set to false on the feature service, the append user can only update their features or the features owned by anonymous users.

Time zone (ArcGIS Online)

Source data timeZoneInfo can be specified in the appendsourceInfo json object similar to the TimeZoneInfo passed in when publishing new feature service.

Example

{"dateFieldsTimeReference": {"timeZone": <"timezone">,"respectDaylightSaving": true}}

Appending multipatch data (ArcGIS Online)

Appending/upserting data to a multipatch feature service is supported. For ArcGIS Online feature services, the client can turn on the Append capability on multipatch feature services using the updateDefinition admin API. Similar to a nonmultipatch feature service, objectId, globalId, or any other fields with a unique index can be used to upsert data to multipatch feature services. The append operation returns an error when a client tries to append nonmultipatch geometry data into a feature service that stores multipatch geometries.

New at 11.2

A new parameter, truncateExisting, has been added, which allows existing rows to be removed prior to appending new rows.

New at 11.1

The updates and enhancements below have been added to hosted feature services running on a relational data store in ArcGIS Enterprise:

  • The Append capability can now be set for qualifying hosted feature service layers to allow non-service owners and non-organization administrators with access to the feature service to run this operation. In prior releases, the Append capability could not be set for hosted feature services, limiting the scope of those who could use this operation on a given hosted feature service.
  • The esriFieldTypeBlob field type is now supported.
  • A field's default value is now applied when a row is added with no provided value when using either this operation or Apply Edits.
    Note:

    This enhancement matches behavior already present for ArcGIS Online hosted feature services and ArcGIS Enterprise non-hosted feature services.

Request parameters

ParameterDetails
sourceTableName

Required only when the source data contains more than one table.

Example

sourceTableName= "Building"
fieldMappings

(Optional)

Maps source data to a destination layer. The append default behavior is to match by name; the operation tries to find fields in the source data that match the destination fields.

The fieldMappings parameter can be used as an input to define mappings for fields in the source that do not match the destination layer fields. There is no need to define mappings for fields that match the destination layer fields. The default behavior is to match fields by name even if they are not specified in the field mapping parameter. To prevent the default mapping fields behavior, the appendFields parameter can be used with append to restrict the list of fields that will be updated or inserted when using append API.

Syntax

fieldMappings=[{"name": <"targetName">,"source": <"sourceName">}, ...]

Example

fieldMappings=[{"source":"FACILITYID","name":"FACILITYID"},{"source":"FLOW","name":"FLOW"},{"source":"DESC","name":"DESC"}]
edits

A literal feature collection JSON string to be used as the source data.

Example, formatted for readability


edits={
  "layers": [
    {
      "layerDefinition": {
        "id": 0,
        "name": "appendOrig",
        "type": "Feature Layer",
        "geometryType": "esriGeometryPoint",
        "hasM": false,
        "hasZ": false,
        "objectIdField": "objectid",
        "globalIdField": "globalid",
        "fields": [
          {
            "name": "objectid",
            "type": "esriFieldTypeOID",
            "alias": "OBJECTID",
            "domain": null,
            "nullable": false,
            "defaultValue": null,
            "modelName": "objectid",
            "editable": false
          },
          {
            "name": "data1",
            "type": "esriFieldTypeInteger",
            "alias": "data1",
            "domain": null,
            "editable": true,
            "nullable": true,
            "defaultValue": null,
            "modelName": "data1"
          },
          {
            "name": "string1",
            "type": "esriFieldTypeString",
            "alias": "string1",
            "domain": null,
            "editable": true,
            "nullable": true,
            "length": 8000,
            "defaultValue": null,
            "modelName": "string1"
          },
          {
            "name": "date1",
            "type": "esriFieldTypeDate",
            "alias": "date1",
            "domain": null,
            "editable": true,
            "nullable": true,
            "length": 29,
            "defaultValue": null,
            "modelName": "date1"
          },
          {
            "alias": "globalid",
            "name": "globalid",
            "length": 38,
            "domain": null,
            "nullable": false,
            "type": "esriFieldTypeGlobalID",
            "editable": false
          }
        ],
        "geometryField": {
          "name": "shape",
          "type": "esriFieldTypeGeometry",
          "alias": "Shape",
          "domain": null,
          "editable": true,
          "nullable": false,
          "defaultValue": null,
          "modelName": "shape"
        }
      },
      "featureSet": {
        "geometryType": "esriGeometryPoint",
        "spatialReference": {
          "wkid": 102100,
          "latestWkid": 3857
        },
        "features": [
          {
            "attributes": {
              "objectid": 1,
              "data1": 12,
              "string1": "mystring",
              "date1": 1293840000000,
              "globalid": "{E716381A-C731-4EC8-be6D-C999BC6308F0}"
            },
            "geometry": {
              "spatialReference": {
                "wkid": 102100,
                "latestWkid": 3857
              },
              "x": 11131.949099998921,
              "y": 122458.96290000156
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}
appendSourceInfo

This is only needed when appending data from Excel or CSV. The appendSourceInfo can be the publishing parameter returned from analyzing the CSV or Excel files. Appending data from the CSV or Excel files requires the appendSourceInfo parameter that identifies the locationType of the geometry in addition to how to parse the content of the CSV and Excel files. The appendSourceInfo parameter is designed to be the same as analyzing publishing parameters returned from CSV or Excel files by the analyze operation.

Example, formatted for readability


appendSourceInfo={
  "type": "csv",
  "name": "StarbucksClosures",
  "useBulkInserts": true,
  "sourceUrl": "",
  "locationType": "coordinates",
  "maxRecordCount": 1000,
  "latitudeFieldName": "y",
  "longitudeFieldName": "x",
  "columnDelimiter": ",",
  "qualifier": "\"",
  "sourceSR": {
    "wkid": 4326,
    "latestWkid": 4326
  },
  "targetSR": {
    "wkid": 102100,
    "latestWkid":3857
  },
  "editorTrackingInfo": {
    "enableEditorTracking": false,
    "enableOwnershipAccessControl": false,
    "allowOthersToQuery": true,
    "allowOthersToUpdate": true,
    "allowOthersToDelete": false,
    "allowAnonymousToUpdate": true,
    "allowAnonymousToDelete": true
  },
  "layerInfo": {
    "currentVersion": 10.51,
    "id": 0,
    "name": "",
    "type": "Table",
    "displayField": "",
    "description": "",
    "copyrightText": "",
    "defaultVisibility": true,
    "relationships": [],
    "isDataVersioned": false,
    "supportsAppend": true,
    "supportsCalculate": true,
    "supportsTruncate": false,
    "supportsAttachmentsByUploadId": true,
    "supportsAttachmentsResizing": true,
    "supportsRollbackOnFailureParameter": true,
    "supportsStatistics": true,
    "supportsAdvancedQueries": true,
    "supportsValidateSql": true,
    "supportsCoordinatesQuantization": true,
    "supportsApplyEditsWithGlobalIds": false,
    "advancedQueryCapabilities": {
      "supportsPagination": true,
      "supportsPaginationOnAggregatedQueries": true,
      "supportsQueryRelatedPagination": true,
      "supportsQueryWithDistance": true,
      "supportsReturningQueryExtent": true,
      "supportsStatistics": true,
      "supportsOrderBy": true,
      "supportsDistinct": true,
      "supportsQueryWithResultType": true,
      "supportsSqlExpression": true,
      "supportsAdvancedQueryRelated": true,
      "supportsCountDistinct": true,
      "supportsReturningGeometryCentroid": false,
      "supportsQueryWithDatumTransformation": true,
      "supportsHavingClause": true,
      "supportsOutFieldSQLExpression": true
    },
    "useStandardizedQueries": false,
    "geometryType": "esriGeometryPoint",
    "allowGeometryUpdates": true,
    "hasAttachments": false,
    "htmlPopupType": "",
    "hasM": false,
    "hasZ": false,
    "globalIdField": "",
    "typeIdField": "",
    "fields": [
      {
        "name": "x",
        "type": "esriFieldTypeDouble",
        "alias": "x",
        "sqlType": "sqlTypeDouble",
        "nullable": true,
        "editable": true,
        "domain": null,
        "defaultValue": null,
        "locationType": "longitude"
      },
      {
        "name": "city",
        "type": "esriFieldTypeString",
        "alias": "city",
        "sqlType": "sqlTypeNVarchar",
        "length": 256,
        "nullable": true,
        "editable": true,
        "domain": null,
        "defaultValue": null,
        "locationType": "city"
      },
      {
        "name": "y",
        "type": "esriFieldTypeDouble",
        "alias": "y",
        "sqlType": "sqlTypeDouble",
        "nullable": true,
        "editable": true,
        "domain": null,
        "defaultValue": null,
        "locationType": "latitude"
      },
      {
        "name": "matchaddr",
        "type": "esriFieldTypeString",
        "alias": "matchaddr",
        "sqlType": "sqlTypeNVarchar",
        "length": 256,
        "nullable": true,
        "editable": true,
        "domain": null,
        "defaultValue": null,
        "locationType": "unknown"
      },
      {
        "name": "street",
        "type": "esriFieldTypeString",
        "alias": "street",
        "sqlType": "sqlTypeNVarchar",
        "length": 256,
        "nullable": true,
        "editable": true,
        "domain": null,
        "defaultValue": null,
        "locationType": "address"
      },
      {
        "name": "score",
        "type": "esriFieldTypeInteger",
        "alias": "score",
        "sqlType": "sqlTypeInteger",
        "nullable": true,
        "editable": true,
        "domain": null,
        "defaultValue": null,
        "locationType": "unknown"
      },
      {
        "name": "locname",
        "type": "esriFieldTypeString",
        "alias": "locname",
        "sqlType": "sqlTypeNVarchar",
        "length": 256,
        "nullable": true,
        "editable": true,
        "domain": null,
        "defaultValue": null,
        "locationType": "unknown"
      },
      {
        "name": "st",
        "type": "esriFieldTypeString",
        "alias": "st",
        "sqlType": "sqlTypeNVarchar",
        "length": 256,
        "nullable": true,
        "editable": true,
        "domain": null,
        "defaultValue": null,
        "locationType": "state"
      },
      {
        "name": "no",
        "type": "esriFieldTypeInteger",
        "alias": "no",
        "sqlType": "sqlTypeInteger",
        "nullable": true,
        "editable": true,
        "domain": null,
        "defaultValue": null,
        "locationType": "unknown"
      }
    ],
    "indexes": [],
    "types": [],
    "templates": [
      {
        "name": "New Feature",
        "description": "",
        "drawingTool": "esriFeatureEditToolPoint",
        "prototype": {
          "attributes": {
            "x": null,
            "city": null,
            "y": null,
            "matchaddr": null,
            "street": null,
            "score": null,
            "locname": null,
            "st": null,
            "no": null
          }
        }
      }
    ],
    "supportedQueryFormats": "JSON, geoJSON",
    "hasStaticData": false,
    "maxRecordCount": -1,
    "standardMaxRecordCount": 32000,
    "tileMaxRecordCount": 8000,
    "maxRecordCountFactor": 1,
    "capabilities": "Create,Delete,Query,Update,Editing"
  }
}
upsert

(Optional)

Specifies whether the edits needs to be applied as updates if the feature already exists. The default value is false.

Values: true | false

skipInserts

(Optional)

Skips inserts if the value is true. The default value is false.

Note:

This parameter is only used when upsert is true.

Values: true | false

skipUpdates

(Optional)

Skips updates if the value is true. The default value is false.

Note:

This parameter is only used when upsert is true.

Values: true | false

useGlobalIds

(Optional)

Specifies whether upsert needs to use GlobalId when matching features. The default value is false and ObjectId is used by default.

Note:

If using upsert, either useGlobalIds or upsertMatchingField must be included in the request. If the request includes both parameters, upsertMatchingField will be override any value set for useGlobalIds.

Values: true | false

truncateExisting

(Optional)

Specifies whether existing rows should be truncated prior to appending new rows. The default value is false.

Values: true | false

updateGeometry

(Optional)

Skips updating the geometry and update only the attributes for existing features if they match source features by objectId or globalId (as specified by the useGlobalIds parameter). The default value is true.

Note:

This parameter is only used when upsert is true.

Values: true | false

appendFields

(Optional)

Restricts the list of destination fields that are appended, instead of automatically matching names. This is supported when upsert is specified.

Example

appendFields=["FACILITYID","FLOW","DESC"]
upsertMatchingField

(Optional)

The layer field to be used when matching features with upsert. ObjectId, GlobalId, and any other field that has a unique index can be used with upsert.

Note:

If using upsert, either useGlobalIds or upsertMatchingField must be included in the request. If the request includes both parameters, upsertMatchingField will be override any value set for useGlobalIds.

Example

upsertMatchingField="MyfieldWithUniqueIndex"
appendUploadId

The itemId of the source file returned from the uploads operation. Used in conjunction with editUploadFormat. This ID can be passed to the append operation if analyzing the data is not needed. Any uploaded items are temporary items and will be cleaned by the system. The uploads operation supports single-item uploads to 10M and multipart uploads for files larger than 10M.

Example

appendUploadId=0c6b928f590f49ebac04761bab413e49
appendItemId

The ID for the geowarehouse item that contains the source file. This parameter is used in conjunction with editsUploadFormat.

This ID may also be used for CSV and Excel files to get information using the analyze operation. Analysis can be done to learn information about a source's fields and provide a UX map to the source fields to the destination layer fields. The item added using the addItem operation is permanent and would need to be cleaned up, if necessary, by the caller after the append operation is finished.

Example

appendItemId=894d8c12438v4baaac164b636f7e1e2f
appendUploadFormat

The append source data format. The default is the featureCollection format.

Values: sqllite | shapefile | filegdb | featureCollection | geojson | csv | excel

rollbackOnFailure

(Optional)

Specifies whether the upsert edits need to be rolled back in case of failure. The default value is false.

Value: true | false

f

The response format. The default value is html.

Value: html | json | pjson

Example usage

Example one: append shape file to layer

The following example demonstrates appending data from a shape file (with the itemID of 0c6b928f590f49ebac04761bab413e49) to the feature service layer:


POST /webadaptor/rest/services/USA/FeatureServer/0/append HTTP/1.1
Host: machine.domain.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: []

sourceTableName=&fieldMappings=&edits=&appendSourceInfo=&upsert=false&skipInserts=false&skipUpdates=false&useFlobalIds=false&updateGeometry=false&appendFields=&upsertMatchingFields=&appendUploadId=0c6b928f590f49ebac04761bab413e49&appendItemId=&appendUploadFormat=shapeFile&rollbackOnFailure=&f=pjson

The above request generates the following response:


{
  "status": "processing",
  "statusMessage": "Job Status for jobId: b62e9db7-507c-443d-3473-8a1f7a7e9fac",
  "itemId": "cc7ddbc1e33440688d3110c885fa0b30"
}

The jobId from the response can be used to check the job status by making a request of the following form:

https://machine.domain.com/webadaptor/rest/services/USA/FeatureServer/0/append/jobs/b62e9db7-507c-443d-3473-8a1f7a7e9fac?f=json

If the job is successful, and complete, the above request will return the following response:


{
  "layerName": "CITIES",
  "submissionTime": 1520876908117,
  "lastUpdatedTime": 1520876913647,
  "recordCount": 2,
  "status": "Completed"
}

Example two: append file geodatabase to layer

The following example demonstrates appending data from a file geodatabase (with the itemId of 0c6b928f590f49ebac04761bab413e49) to the feature service layer:


POST /webadaptor/rest/services/USA/FeatureServer/0/append HTTP/1.1
Host: machine.domain.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: []

sourceTableName=Hydrant&fieldMappings=[{"source":"FACILITYID","name":"FACILITYID"},{"source":"FLOW","name":"FLOW"},{"source":"LOCDESC","name":"LOCDESC"}]&edits=&appendSourceInfo=&upsert=false&skipInserts=false&skipUpdates=false&useGlobalIds=false&updateGeometry=true&appendFields=["FACILITYID","FLOW","LOCDESC"]&upsertMatchingField=&appendUploadId=0c6b928f590f49ebac04761bab413e49&appendItemId=&appendUploadFormat=filegdb&rollbackOnFailure=true&f=pjson

The above request generates the following response:


{
  "status": "processing",
  "statusMessage": "Job Status for jobId: feeahh1e-e32c-45bf-680c-f4ed70569081",
  "itemId": "aa7gdww1e55200527d3110c634fa0b30"
}

The jobId from the response can be used to check the job status by making a request of the following form:

https://machine.domain.com/webadaptor/rest/services/USA/FeatureServer/0/append/jobs/feeahh1e-e32c-45bf-680c-f4ed70569081?f=json

If the job is successful, and complete, the above request will return the following response:


{
  "layerName": "Hydrant",
  "submissionTime": 1520876908117,
  "lastUpdatedTime": 1520876913647,
  "recordCount": 5,
  "status": "Completed"
}

Example three: append shapefile, upsert by matching objectId

The following example demonstrates appending data from a shapefile (with the itemId of 0c6b928f590f49ebac04761bab413e49) to the feature service layer. The data and geometries will update where the objectId is matched and will insert where the objectId is not matched:


POST /webadaptor/rest/services/MyService/FeatureServer/0/append HTTP/1.1
Host: machine.domain.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: []

sourceTableName=MyShapes&fieldMappings=[{"source":"myShapeDate","name":"datefield"},{"source":"myData","name":"mydata"},{"source":"myData2","name":"mydata2"},{"source":"FID","name":"objectid"}]&upsert=true&skipInserts=false&updateGeometry=true&appendFields=["datefield","mydata","mydata2","objectid"]&appendUploadId=62b7e088a2ff4b3da1a240d72f9994e3&appendUploadFormat=shapefile&rollbackOnFailure=true&f=json

The above request generates the following response:


{
  "status": "processing",
  "statusMessage": "Job Status for jobId: feeahh1e-e32c-45bf-680c-f4ed70569081",
  "itemId": "aa7gdww1e55200527d3110c634fa0b30"
}

The jobId from the response can be used to check the job status by making a request of the following form:

https://machine.domain.com/webadaptor/rest/services/MyService/FeatureServer/0/append/jobs/feeahh1e-e32c-45bf-680c-f4ed70569081?f=json

If the job is successful, and complete, the above request will return the following response:


{
  "layerName": "MyService",
  "submissionTime": 1520876908117,
  "lastUpdatedTime": 1520876913647,
  "recordCount": 50786,
  "status": "Completed"
}

Example four: append a CSV to a table, upsert by matching global ID, skip inserts

The following example demonstrates appending data from a comma-delimited CSV (with the itemId of i3ae29394-68f0-43b7-a30a-53fdfe2b4acd) to a feature service table. Because the CSV does not have geometry, and the heads of the file match the column names exactly, the appendSourceInfo can be empty. The data will update where the globalId is matched, and because skipInserts is true, it will not insert where globalId is not matched.


POST /webadaptor/rest/services/MyService/FeatureServer/0/append HTTP/1.1
Host: machine.domain.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: []

upsert=true&skipInserts=true&updateGeometry=false&appendUploadId=i3ae29394-68f0-43b7-a30a-53fdfe2b4acd&appendUploadFormat=csv&rollbackOnFailure=true&f=json&useGlobalIds=true&appendSourceInfo={}

The above request generates the following response:


{
  "status": "processing",
  "statusMessage": "Job Status for jobId: feeahh1e-e32c-45bf-680c-f4ed70569081",
  "itemId": "i3ae29394-68f0-43b7-a30a-53fdfe2b4acd"
}

The jobId from the response can be used to check the job status by making a request of the following form:

https://machine.domain.com/webadaptor/rest/services/MyService/FeatureServer/0/append/jobs/feeahh1e-e32c-45bf-680c-f4ed70569081?f=json

If the job is successful, and complete, the above request will return the following response:


{
  "layerName": "MyService",
  "submissionTime": 1520876908117,
  "lastUpdatedTime": 1520876913647,
  "recordCount": 506,
  "status": "Completed"
}