Profile Import

What is it?

The Profile Import section allows you to import an Excel file to make changes to your existing database, or to add new profiles. While you can manually update or create profiles one by one, the Profile Import option provides you a quick way to make several updates or create several new profiles at one time.

How to Access

Navigate to Database > Profile Import

Import Steps

1. File Upload

The first step of a profile import is to select the Excel file you wish to use. This file should be properly formatted and ready to go prior to importing it. A properly formatted Excel file will include:

• A header row to designate your Attributes with user profile information following in subsequent rows. Download Profile Import Template (.XLSX)

• A "key" column, which is simply a column that contains a value for each user that is unique to that user. The best one that should be used is [Username]

• The file should be saved as a .xlsx file.

Notes

• If your Excel file contains multi-select selection sets, each value in the cell will need to be separated with “||”.  To create that set of characters, hold the shift key and press the backslash (\) key twice.
• Once your Excel file is ready for import, click the “Upload an Excel File” button and select the appropriate file from your computer.
• Only .xls and .xlsx files can be uploaded. If your file is not either of those types, or it is but it fails to upload, save your file as a .csv file, then save again as an .xls or .xlsx file. Attempt to upload it now.

Import Actions

After you upload the file you will be able to check an import action - what you’d like to happen with this import.  You may select one or more action, depending on your desired outcome.

In the following sections you will see various steps that explain how to match up all of the attributes in your system with those present on your excel file.

2. Member Types

Step 2 is where you’ll select the Member Type column from your Excel file. This is how the system will know what member type each profile should be assigned. You will also want to select a default member type, which will be assigned if your file does not contain a member type specification.

If you're adding all of your new users to a specific Member Type, or your updating profiles and not changing their Member Type, then you do not have to choose a Member Type column. You will instead need to only choose a default Member Type so that if you add new profiles through the import, it knows which Member Type in which to place the users.

After selecting a member type column, you’ll then be able to map the member types from your Excel file to member types in your database. The values from your file are on the left and the drop down menus contain your database’s existing member types. In many cases they will probably match, but not always - for example, in the image below, we are importing a member type of “Emeritus”, but there is not an exact match setup in the database. In this case we will import the Emeritus profiles into the Prospect member type.

Continue to step 3.

3. Groups

This step will allow you to select the Group column from your Excel file. If you make a selection here, you will be able to map the values just like with member types in step 2. If your file does not contain a group specification, the profiles will default to the group that corresponds with their member type.

Continue to step 4.

4. Key Fields

This step is where you will select your key field(s). The key field(s) must be unique for each user (unique ID or email are often a good ones to use, or a combination of first and last name). After making a selection, you’ll have the opportunity to map the selection to an attribute in the database.

Continue to step 5.

5. Built-in and System Attributes

This step gives you the opportunity to map the columns/fields in your Excel file to the Built-In and System attributes in your database.

For each section, simply select the columns from your file that should be used to create the value. As an example, let’s look at Contact Name. The file we’re importing contains columns for first name, middle name, last name, and suffix. We’d like contact name to be made up of all of those, so we simply select each one in the appropriate order to generate the contact name. Upon importing these profiles, the system will automatically fill in the contact name attribute with the desired data.

Important: Not all sections are required to be complete in this step. If you are not adding or updating a field listed in this section, simply ignore it. If a field isn't present on the import, or if you do not match it to a built-in or system attribute, then it will not be altered in any way. The field will not be deleted if it is blank, so there is no need to touch a field that you have no intention of updating.

Continue to step 6.

6. Custom Attributes

This step allows you to map any custom attributes you may have in your database.  NOTE: Since these are custom attributes that differ for every organization, your values will be different from the examples provided.

Continue to step 7.

7. Summary

The final step is a summary of everything that was selected in the previous steps.  If everything looks correct, click the “import” button at the bottom. Otherwise click “back” to make corrections.

NOTE: It is not possible to roll back a finished data import. It is possible, however, to view and export errors in order to fix them. Click here to learn more about using the Profile Import Report.