Overview
Importing is the process by which you can create or update data in your Finalsite Enrollment system using a .CSV file. This article will cover the process of importing data into Finalsite Enrollment. Please note: The Import Data Tool has a limit of 1000 rows per import file. If you have more rows than this on your import file, please break it up into multiple files before importing.
First, you will want to figure out which type of import you want to run, and make sure that you have an appropriate import file configured for it. Data Imports have two options:
Create
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This option will create new contacts in the Finalsite Enrollment system. Create import files can be created by modifying provided import templates. Click here to learn how to prepare your Create import file.
Update
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This option will update existing contacts in the Finalsite Enrollment system. Update import files can be created by using the 'Export as import template' option on a search. Click here to learn how to prepare your Update import file.
Once you have your import file ready to go, you can proceed with the steps in this article to actually import the data into Finalsite Enrollment.
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How-To: Import Data
To access the Import Data Tool in Finalsite Enrollment, navigate to Settings - Fields & Data - Import Data and click on the green Import Data button.
This will open the Validate an Import window.
In the Validate Import window, you will fill out the following information.
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Import Data: Click 'Choose File' to select the saved .CSV file from your computer that you want to import.
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Import Mode: Choose either 'Create' to create new contacts in the system or 'Update' to update existing contacts in the system.
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Import Description: Description of what you are importing. Being specific in your description is helpful so that you can easily locate a certain import later on.
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Dry Run: Check this box to run your import as a dry run test to see if everything will be imported without errors. No data will be created or updated when you perform a dry run. You will need to rerun the import without this option selected to actually create or update the data.
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Use Mapping Template: If you have a configured Mapping Template that you would like to use for the import, select it from the drop-down menu here. Otherwise, leave it blank. Click here to learn more about Mapping Templates.
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Run With Duplicate Matching: Check this box when running a Create type import if you would like the system to check for duplicates in the system. You can also reconcile these in Settings - Fields & Data - Duplicate Contact Matching or Duplicate Household Matching. Read the section on Duplicate Matching below for more information.
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Create Unmatched Parents and Households: This option only appears if you have checked the box to 'run with duplicate matching'. Check this box if you want to create any parents and households that were not able to be matched to existing contacts.
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Validate Button: Click here to run the import validation. You will receive an email when the import either stops due to errors or is completed successfully. You can wait and refresh the page to see the status, or come back to the page later.
If your import failed, click the View button to the right of the import to see the errors and correct them. If the import succeeded, click on View Details to the right of the import to see a list of every contact who was updated or created.
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Import Data Columns Explained
Within the Import Data page, you will see the following columns.
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User: Email address associated with the admin account who ran the import validation.
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Date / Time: Date and time that the import validation took place.
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Import Duration: How long it took for the import to run from start to finish.
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Description: Description of the import, added when you set up the import to run.
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Import Mode: Whether the import was a Create or an Update type import. See the description of both above.
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Dry Run: Indicates if the import was run as a dry run (true) or not (false). A dry run import runs through all of the validations to see if there are any errors, but always stops before the data is actually imported.
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Uploaded File: Link to the original file you imported. This link can be clicked to download the imported file.
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Transformed File: Link to the transformed file, if you used a Mapping Template. This will be N/A for imports that do not use mapping templates. Click here to learn more.
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Import Status: Whether the import is pending, successful, or failed.
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Uses Config: Indicates if a Mapping Template was used for the import.
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Matching: Indicates if Duplicate Matching was used for the import. This is used for Update-type imports.
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Create IDs: Indicates if ID Creation ('Create Unmatched Parents and Households' option) was used for the import.
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View: Displays an import log for the import. Failed imports will list errors found in the import file that need to be resolved. Successful imports will simply list a message of "No errors. Data was successfully imported!"
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View Details: When a file is successfully imported, this option will appear. Clicking on View Details will display a list of all contacts created and updated, with a link to their contact record.
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How-To: Use Duplicate Matching on Imports
An import into the Finalsite Enrollment system can be run with automatic duplicate matching. This means that the students, parents, and households in the file will be automatically matched to existing contacts if matches exist. Please read this section carefully before using duplicate matching, as it can have important data implications.
Duplicate matching can be performed in two modes. Selecting Run with Duplicate Matching when importing will search the system and use Finalsite Enrollment's duplicate matching technology to find the most likely match. This can be used for any entity type in Finalsite Enrollment (students, parents, and households).
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If all of the data in the file can be matched: Data will be imported to update the entities specified. This will be done automatically - there is no confirmation of the matches, so this should be done when the data in the file is sufficient to assure a good match.
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If some of the data in the file cannot be matched: Data import will fail.
In both of these cases, a file will be produced showing what data was matched.
If the 'Create All Unmatched Contacts and Households' option is also selected, this allows the system to create any new entities (contacts, households or parents) if no match is found. This option should ONLY be selected when the file has a mix of existing and new entities.
The behavior for the 'Create All Unmatched Contacts and Households' option is slightly different depending on if you are running a Create or an Update type import:
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If option is selected with a Create import: System will create any students, parents, or households for which it does not find matches.
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If option is selected with an Update import: System will only create parents or households for whom it does not find matches - any missing student matches will still fail the import.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When running an import with duplicate matching, the header row of the import file must be the first row of the file. In addition, for every type of contact (CHILD, PARENT1, etc) that you intend to match, there should not be an ID column as the first column for that entity (ie, CHILD.id. PARENT1.id). The duplicate matcher will assume that any entity with an ID column should not be matched.
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