Whether you’re new to importing in general or just new to Importacular, here are a few things we hope that you’ll do to make the most of this powerful tool.
Did you map all of your required fields?
For example, if you require a Constituent Code for every Constituent record, make sure you’ve added one to your template (if you have an optional destination that also creates Constituents, you may need more than one – see this Knowledgebase article for more information).
Field Settings
See this section of our User Guide for more information about Field Settings.
- Do you want to update values for Existing Constituents? Sometimes you will, but others you may not (ie – if you already have a Primary Addressee/Salutation assigned, do you want what is in your template to override that?).
- Do you need to fix the casing (Proper case, all caps, etc.) for any fields?
- Do you need to dynamically transform data so it better lines up with your Raiser’s Edge standards? Data Transformations can do that for you.
Area Settings
Area settings differ in function for each mapping area, but to see the difference between them and Field Settings, please see this knowledgebase article. For a few examples of this, see these Areas:
- Address Area Settings – Does this Address match one that is already in the Raiser’s Edge? If so, what do you want to happen (create a duplicate, update the Raiser’s Edge, ignore the new information, etc.)? If it’s a new address and the existing constituent already has a preferred address, do you want to save a copy of the previous address?
- Phone/Email Area Settings – Does this Phone/Email address match what is already in the Raiser’s Edge? Do you need to set up a hierarchy of phone types so that you don’t have two of the same type on a constituent record?
Check Your Review Screen
See this section of the User Guide to walk through the Review Screen.
- Look over the different tabs and make sure the data looks correct.
- Do the records set to update seem to be matched as you need them to be?
- Review your Decides to see if they should be linked to a record in the Raiser’s Edge, ignored or if you want to create a new Constituent.
- Criteria Sets – To adjust how data is matched to Constituent (or Relationship) records already in the Raiser’s Edge, you may need to make changes to the Criteria Sets. See the User Guide explanation of this functionality as well as this knowledgebase article for suggested changes.
Validate Before Importing!
If you have any exceptions, review your Control Report. If you need help determining what an Exception means, start by searching our Knowledgebase.
Test your import on a small sample of your records
See this knowledgebase article to learn how. Thoroughly review the record to see what changes were made and to ensure that things were imported correctly.
Create a Static query of all new and updated constituents.
Should you make a mistake, this will help you find the records easily.