Importing Attributes for Existing Constituents?

Trevor Prosser

Hello out there, rookie Forum user here.

We have our membership list in RE, and these members have access to a separate site. While on Site B, they are performing actions that we want to track as attributes in their records, but we're looking to skip the brute-force data entry method and see if we can find a way to import the details - which we can dump to an Excel spreadsheet - into the existing records on RE without mucking up the whole system.

Wondering if anyone out there in Forumland has any experience with such an import, or can offer a few tips for a clean and problem-free import that will be updated on a weekly basis.

Thanks!

Melissa Graves 2

Trevor Prosser:

Hello out there, rookie Forum user here.

We have our membership list in RE, and these members have access to a separate site. While on Site B, they are performing actions that we want to track as attributes in their records, but we're looking to skip the brute-force data entry method and see if we can find a way to import the details - which we can dump to an Excel spreadsheet - into the existing records on RE without mucking up the whole system.

Wondering if anyone out there in Forumland has any experience with such an import, or can offer a few tips for a clean and problem-free import that will be updated on a weekly basis.

Thanks!

An import of attributes is absolutely doable - if you have the data. Does this "site b" hold these members RE constituent IDs or Import IDs? Does the data you can get from site B have exact matches to the attributes in RE or will you have to modify the data to get it to be properly formatted to import?

If you can export a perfectly formatted excel sheet and import it, you are truly blessed. More likely you do not. If you can not get IDs out then you would benefit most from Import-O-Matic which imports without IDs - by simply matching on bio data. With Dictionaries and the API there is a lot of ways you can get IOM to modify the data for you to be properly formatted for import to RE.

IOM is an investment - if this is something that will need to be done quite frequently and brings good value to your fundrasing program it may be worth the cost. You can contact Omatic Software or your BB account manager for cost information.

JoAnn Strommen

Trevor Prosser:

Hello out there, rookie Forum user here.

We have our membership list in RE, and these members have access to a separate site. While on Site B, they are performing actions that we want to track as attributes in their records, but we're looking to skip the brute-force data entry method and see if we can find a way to import the details - which we can dump to an Excel spreadsheet - into the existing records on RE without mucking up the whole system.

Wondering if anyone out there in Forumland has any experience with such an import, or can offer a few tips for a clean and problem-free import that will be updated on a weekly basis.

Thanks!

Trevor,

You can certainly use the Import function to add attributes.  Have you done any imports before?  I'd recommend looking at the RE Import Users Guide.  I find it helpful when I'm working on imports. There are also some knowledge base solutions that are helpful.

Biggest key is you need constituent ID or Constituent import ID for each record you'll be adding attributes to.  Not sure if members are working from a list by name or what but you'll need an ID to import.  From your post I'm guessing you are talking general constituent attributes vs. gift or address attributes.  If it's a gift attribute, you'd need the gift ID in your import also so RE knows where to put the data.

One tip, if adding more that one attribute to a person's record, they need different extensions (-00, -01, -02).

Can I ask a follow-up question? What type of data are you planning to record in attributes?  My caution, don't use the attributes as a storeroom for all kinds of data.  Keeping data limited and unform by using tables for entry will be a benefit almost always in the end.

Carlos Lewis

Trevor Prosser:

Hello out there, rookie Forum user here.

We have our membership list in RE, and these members have access to a separate site. While on Site B, they are performing actions that we want to track as attributes in their records, but we're looking to skip the brute-force data entry method and see if we can find a way to import the details - which we can dump to an Excel spreadsheet - into the existing records on RE without mucking up the whole system.

Wondering if anyone out there in Forumland has any experience with such an import, or can offer a few tips for a clean and problem-free import that will be updated on a weekly basis.

Thanks!

 

I'm looking to do the same thing! We have the constituent IDs. What other info would we need in the Excel file?