It is certainly possible to automate the import/validate/load of data from an external source. Here's the high level steps for setup:
1) Setup a Data Management job that will execute an Extender Business Rule. You will need to pass a few parameters to the business rule such as the Workflow you want to process and period.
2) In the extender business rule, you will call the following functions:
BRApi.Import.Process.ExecuteParseAndTransform <-- executes the workflow import.
BRApi.Import.Process.ValidateTransformation <-- executes the mapping validation step
BRApi.Import.Process.ValidateIntersections <-- executes the validate intersection step
BRApi.Import.Process.LoadCube <-- loads to cube
BRApi.DataQuality.Process.ExecuteProcessCube <-- run workflow calculation if your workflow has this enabled.
Here is how I've got my ExecuteParseAndTransform function setup on my end:
Dim ImportInfo As LoadTransformProcessInfo = BRApi.Import.Process.ExecuteParseAndTransform(si, wFClusterPk, "", Nothing, TransformLoadMethodTypes.Replace, SourceDataOriginTypes.FromDirectConnection, False)
You will need to determine the wfClusterPk based on the parameters you've provided from the data management step. In the Connector rule that is being used in the Data Source, it will also need to know what workflow profile, scenario and period you are trying to process.
The result of the import (successful or failed) is stored in the ImportInfo variable. We then check to see if the import was successful and without errors before proceeding to the validation steps:
If ImportInfo.Status = WorkflowStatusTypes.Completed Then
Hopefully this provides the gist on how to get started down the import automation!