Importing a list of IDs for Query/Export purposes

John Gulino

Hi! Please pardon me if this has been covered elsewhere but I have not been able to find an answer in the Knowledge Base or the forums:

Using Raiser's Edge or Importomatic, is it possible to import a list (Excel, CSV, etc.) of constituent IDs for the purpose of running those constituents through an export template? For example, I have the results of a SQL query but I want to use the RE export tool to append the data points that our clients expect. What I do not want to do is create new records or append existing ones. I simply want to be able to reference these IDs on export.

Thank you!

Alan French

@John Gulino assuming I've understood correctly then yes it is possible - I often import a list of constituent IDs to create a query that I can use elsewhere in RE (usually for global adds) if there's thousands of IDs and I can't be bothered to paste them all into the query 500 at a time ?

You'll need a CSV file with your IDs in, then create a new constituent import. Select the option to update existing records, not create new ones. On the Fields screen, map only your constituent ID field. On the Summary screen, tick the box to create an output query of the records updated. You can then use the resulting query with your export.

John Gulino

Thank you, @Alan French! I think you have correctly interpreted my question. Just want to confirm that I won't actually be updating any records and that “update” is just how RE refers to the procedure.

Alan French

@John Gulino it will technically update the records with the data in the file, but it'll only update the fields that you map, so I would strongly suggest that you only map the constituent ID field and make sure that none of the other columns in your file have been automatically mapped to any RE fields, to avoid accidentally changing any names or whatever else you might have in your file. I guess RE is then simply updating a constituent ID to the same constituent ID, so there's no net change to the record.

John Gulino

@Alan French That makes sense, and thank you for the explanation. I would prefer not to “touch” the existing records at all, but this seems like a fairly safe workaround.

Karen Diener 2

@John Gulino
I'm just chiming in to verify the soundness of this process. I've been using it for nearly 10 years and it works like a charm. You can do the same thing with Constituent Import ID or SSN if you have an ID from a different data set that is stored there.

The process is also possible for gifts. Either you can only use the Gift Import ID, or the organization I used this with most often did not populate Gift ID.

So that you can bookmark it, and so others can see it, this is a link to the knowledgebase article with instructions. Alan was quite a bit more eloquent in his description though!

Karen

Daniel R. Snyder

@John Gulino We do exactly as @Alan French described all the time. It really is the best solution even if it may somewhat artificially mark a record as updated.