How to add an invitee list into the Events NXT module

Sharea Rodgers

I am trying to import a list of invitees into the Events module. Does anyone know the required fields (headers) to use for the template?

Dariel Dixon

@Sharea Rodgers Are you trying to use an export and import from a query? If you are using a constituent list in NXT, I don't think the headers matter, as you can set the options during the process I believe.

Elizabeth Johnson

From Event, Work with Participants - Select Add and then Add from saved list.

@Sharea Rodgers If you can put them together in a constituent list in web view, you can do this with out an import. That is the easiest way to add. If you need more help with that just let us know! We've got you.

Dan Snyder

@Sharea Rodgers @Dariel Dixon and @Elizabeth Johnson have given great advice. One other thing I would mention is if you prefer to use database view to globally add the invitees, you will have to use an individual query type vs. a constituent query type to add them.

Sharea Rodgers

@Dan Snyder, @Elizabeth Johnson and @Dariel Dixon thank you all for your help! Since I have the excel file of the invitees to add, I think using the database view would be easier. I'm not sure how to map the fields using the database import. Am I thinking about the process correctly? Any suggestions?

Elizabeth Johnson

@Sharea Rodgers Hi! This kb article should help. The first paragraph has two great links!

Damon Rosenthal

@Sharea Rodgers
Sorry if I am duplicating info from others. I find that the knowledge articles don't always have all the data elements you might need/want to populate when doing imports. I've been able to identify a lot via trial and error, but the best resource I found is in the import tool itself (in database view) you can navigate to “Fields” tab and on the left field references that you can click on the to use to link your import file Fields (Field to Import) column to RE Field in process. I used the RE references in my import file to help identify for our importers, but as long as you do the proper mapping from yours to RE, I believe it will work as desired. I hope this is helpful!

There are more experienced Super Users on this thread so please add or correct as needed.

Fields we commonly use:

EventID
REGFirstName	Registrant FirstName:
REGLastName	Registrant LastName:
REGParticipation	Participation Type
REGRegistration	Registered?
REGRegDate	Registration Date:
REGAttended	Attended?
REGDatePaid	Date Paid:
REGAmtPaid	Amt Paid:
REGInvite	Invited?

Screen shot from the DB view:

Dariel Dixon

@Sharea Rodgers I think @Damon Rosenthal has you covered for the basics. Obviously, Cons ID or Import ID are needed if you are dealing with already existing constituents. Because of the way my organization does householding, we also export the spouse Cons ID and/or Import ID to import them in as guests. This is a bit more complex and might not be necessary, but we usually have to import 3 times for every event.

Damon Rosenthal

@Sharea Rodgers
If they are already in a list (and ALL Constituents in your database) then you could create a “one of query” and use the method @Elizabeth Johnson provided. I have not used that method yet and I don't know if you can do directly from a query or you have to pull the query results into a RE List. (Very easy to do this if its needed.) Eventually I would expect RE NXT to allow directly from a Query. BTW - Be sure to check out the great RE NXT Product Update from today!!!

Sharea Rodgers

@Damon Rosenthal and @Dariel Dixon Thank you both so much! All the information given is very helpful! The file my team sent over to me does include spouse names; however, they only provided the head of household constituent id's and not the spouse id, so I'll import using the const. id's since they're already in RE.

Damon Rosenthal

@Sharea Rodgers
yw!

If I am understanding the need correctly, to get missing info, you can use a query with the Constituent IDs in a “one of” with Spouse ID in output to identify any respective Spouse info for your scope. Then use an Excel VLOOKUP to pull into your import data. If VLOOKUPs (excel formula) is pretty easy to learn, but if it's not something you already know, time to learn or have a resource to help, you can accomplish by sorting both your Event data and the Query output by Constituent ID to line up and copy the Spouse info into your Event data import. Both list should have the same # of rows for each Constituent in the list.

Sharea Rodgers

@Damon Rosenthal, thank you! I've never used excel VLOOKUPs, but I will most definitely look into it and practice with it. This is helpful. I'm so happy I'm learning new ways to accomplish my task!

Alex Wong

@Sharea Rodgers
If you are going to learn an excel forumla, don't learn VLOOKUP, learn XLOOKUP, which is a complete replacement of VLOOKUP and eliminate the limitation of VLOOKUP

Sharea Rodgers

@Alex Wong, thank you!

Damon Rosenthal

@Sharea Rodgers
@Alex Wong is correct that XLOOKUP is much better, however if you are just starting the Excel Formula Insert assist has VLOOKUP and VLOOKUP will accomplish many tasks including what you need here. Either will work, but as you advance, I agree with Alex who knows a lot! The Formula Insert function walks you through the components of the formula and puts it together for you. This was very helpful to me as a beginner. When you enter the Table Array - your data, then be sure to “freeze” that range in the formula using $ before you copy the formula down your column. So =VLOOKUP($A1,'Campaign ID & Desc Table'!A1:B9,2,FALSE) should be updated to =VLOOKUP($A1,'Campaign ID & Desc Table'!$A$1:$B$9,2,FALSE) to copy down many cells and keep your reference data points the same. If the table array is in a different workbook, then the resulting formula includes this. Also as you learn, the “,2," references the columns over from the data you are trying to match so Constituent ID is in column A and for that Constituent ID, you want the Spouse ID in column B. This might be a bit much, use Microsoft Excel or Google or one of many YouTube videos out there and the points above will become more meaningful. If you need any help with matching the data, let me know.

Sharea Rodgers

@Damon Rosenthal this is great information. Thank you!

Sharea Rodgers

Hi @Damon Rosenthal! Have you experienced any duplication when importing invitees and attendees for the same event?

Damon Rosenthal

@Sharea Rodgers
Not really. I check my imports for duplicates prior to running. Yes, we have been given lists with duplicates before. Hopefully your Events team can help the overall process for the organization by doing some quality checks prior to submitting the data. On our import submission form, we list out certain requirements - check list for them prior to submitting. This is a great add relative to checking for duplicates. Hopefully you don't have many duplicates and can sort by ID and delete, but be sure to look at both records to see if there is more on one than the other. (This may be a sign to look further into these exceptions to see what might be going on and ensure you are getting the expected results.) I hope this helps Sharea!

Sharea Rodgers

@Damon Rosenthal, Yes. Thanks!

Damon Rosenthal

@Sharea Rodgers
yw!