Having Trouble with the Constituent Code Import ID

Anonymous Blackbaud User:

I am trying to import some constituent codes to select existing records. It asks for the constituent code import ID (ConsCodeImpID). I read the knowledgebase but I am still confused. Am I supposed to enter the constituent code and import ID together as one long entry? What if there is no constituent code assigned to the constituent? I am really confused by this one? Any help is appreciated. 

 

Catherine,

In your import you have several required fields:

• the constituency code if you are adding new
• Either the constituent ID or the constituent Import ID or the constituent SS#

The constituent code import ID is totally different. These fields are either user created or sometimes RE will generate.  To create it, we follow this pattern:  date-userimporttype-#.  This can be up to 20 characters.  So in your situation, I would have 012615-jsccode-001.  # needs to have enough digits to give each record a unique #.  So 50 records, need 2 digits; 1000 records, need 4 digits.  Enter in first record, click square at bottom right of cell and pull down to auto fill the sequence for all records. 

So ConsCodeImp ID for first record would be 012615-jsccode-001

Second records would be 012615-jsccode-002 

Optional fields are 'date from' and 'date to'. 

Don't know if that makes sense or not, if you have more questions, post again.