Step 1: Import Your Data File
NOTE: If you have chosen to replace spaces with underscores for web integration, you will need to check the Remove Header Underscores option before moving on to the importing process. The column headers in the data you import cannot have underscores.
Once you have completed and saved the CSV file you want to import into Salsa CRM...
- Click the Browse button, to locate the file to import.
- Once the file is selected, click the Open button. The name of the file you chose is populated in the text box next to the Browse button.
- The Data Source is the source where you obtained the data. For example, a vendor may be a web site from which you downloaded race participants or a legacy CRM system you used before Salsa CRM.
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- Data Sources may be used in conjunction with Import IDs so that imported constituent data matches up with constituents imported previously from the same vendor and with the same ID.
- Data Source names entered into this field will be added to the drop-down window on this field. When typing in a Data Source, be certain of the spelling, as this list cannot be edited.
- NOTE: If the file was created by your organization, then enter a reference in the field instead of a vendor name. For example, use the import date and the event name, such as 2019-11-15 mailing list.
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- Click Include Address in Duplicate Matching if you wish for the incoming address to be checked against an existing constituent's address.
- If you are importing information that needs to be mapped to an existing Salsa CRM form, please refer to the IMPORTING FORMS article for detailed information on importing information into forms.
- Click the Process button.
NOTE: If any of the column headers you are importing contains a misspelling, you will see the Action Required window. You can select OK to cancel the request and fix the errors in the input file. In the example image below, the column heading was spelled correctly, but it was all uppercase. Advance Import requires that the column headings match exactly. The column heading should have been entered as "Title" with the first letter only as uppercase.
Step 2: Import Options
Based on the imported column headers, Salsa CRM attempts to identify what you're importing: whether you are importing Constituent information or Constituent and Donation information, for example.
The values below represent items that optionally can be set in common for all imported data. You don't have to set these common values if you don't want to set them or if are already in the source data. When you select default information, this information will only be applied to new records and not to updated records. Common values you can set for Donation data imports include...
- Automatically Add New Cities
- Use Import ID as Constituent Number
- Group
- Organization Type
- Individual Type
- Note Purpose
- Fund
- Campaign
- Appeal
- Note Purpose
- Add Spouse as Co-Donor
Once you have selected any necessary default information, select the Continue button.
Step 3: Import Validation
In this step, the system attempts to validate your data import for a number of things. If there are no issues, you will pass the validation and go to the next step. However, if there are issues with your import, you will see a list of issues.
For example, if you have a Credit Card Type field, it will attempt to identify if valid values were used, as suggested in the Column Definitions in the step above.
If you have anything missing, and if there are fewer than 50 errors identified, you will be notified of specific issues and you will be able to continue to the next step of the import process by clicking OK. However, if there are more than 50 issues, you will not be able to proceed. You must fix the issues directly in your data file and re-import:
- Click Cancel.
- Open your data file.
- Make the required changes directly to your data file.
- Save it.
- Start over with your file import.
Step 4: Resolution Queue
When your import begins, records start to be imported. You can see your progress at the top of the Advanced Import Resolution Queue screen. At any time you can cancel and stop the data import for any reason. When all rows have been imported, you will see Advanced Import Complete at the top of the screen.
Find Resolution Queues
If you have left the Advanced Import functionality, you can access an import's resolution queue from the Tools > Data Sync > Resolution Queue menu.
Date fields at the top of the screen help to restrict your search to certain dates on which you imported data. You can also restrict the search to just successful imports, as opposed to imports that have not completed yet.
Sync Imported Data to Engage
If you want to send an email blast, you may want to know where to go to see if your data has synced with Salsa Engage. Salsa CRM checks for data import rows in all Resolution Queues that have a Success status and need to be synced to Engage. A regular process in Salsa CRM is always running to check for imported data that needs to be synced to Engage. This process will then send in-bulk any imported data that hasn't been synced every 18 minutes via a Long Running Process called "Sync staged supporters with Engage".
Resolution Queue Details
When the Data Import window opens, double-click on the date of the import for which you wish to process data records. The Data Import Resolution Queue opens in a new browser tab for that particular import. Depending on the size of the import file, you may see a progress bar that indicates the progress made in loading the data rows.
Details in the Data Import Resolution Queue indicate to you if a row of imported data was imported successfully, or if anything could have delayed the import, such as duplicating existing information or potentially updating existing information. Those scenarios are described in detail below under the Potential Duplicate and Constituent Update section headers.
Constituent Update
A Constituent Number in the incoming dataset is the trigger to update existing records. CRM users must act to confirm acceptance of any Constituent Update.
Incoming Constituent Number values that match existing Constituent Number values place the data rows into the Resolution Queue as a Constituent Update status. The following steps allow you to either confirm records as new constituents or update existing constituent records.
- Open the Data Import Resolution Queue.
- Double-click a record with the Constituent Update status.
- The Resolve Constituent Update window opens. This window allows you to compare the existing information to that which you are importing, to make sure the right Import ID or Constituent Number was used for that record.
- If you select an Add New option for any data point, the incoming values will be added as new, primary values. Once you have made your selections, select the OK button.
PRO TIP: The bottom of this window also allows you to, with one click of the button, Update Existing All, Use Existing All, or Ignore Changes. - Once you select the OK button, a message window will appear. This window will alert you to the successful update and include the Constituent Number. Select OK.
- The Status of the record will reflect as Success. This indicates that the existing record has been updated.
Potential Duplicate
For potentially duplicated records, Salsa CRM compares the following fields of the record that is being imported against the information already contained in your database:
- First two letters of the First Name, AND
- Entire Last Name, AND
- Address Line 1 is empty, OR
- First 3 characters of Address Line 1
OR
- Email Address
OR
- Government ID
Any match of incoming data places the data row into the Resolution Queue as a Potential Duplicate status.
WARNING: Because the import checks only the first two letters of the First Name, the following scenario is possible, where an incoming record is a Potential Duplicate of an unintended constituent:
First Name | Last Name | Address Line 1 | Government ID | ||
Incoming record... | Christopher | Jackson | <blank> | <blank> | <blank> |
Potentially duplicates... | Chantal | Jackson | <blank> | <blank> | <blank> |
Use the following steps to import the record as a new constituent or update an existing constituent record.
- When the Data Import Resolution Queue opens, double-click on a record with the Potential Duplicate Status.
- The Resolve Potential Duplicate window opens. This window allows you to compare the existing information to that which you are importing, which may be a duplicate of an existing record.
- The top panel allows you to select the information being imported so that you can Add as a New Constituent. This option will automatically create an entirely new constituent record based on the information contained in the file you are importing.
- The second panel allows you to Choose Existing Salsa CRM Constituent. Selecting this option will “activate” the lower panels so that you may view the existing information and choose whether to update the existing information, use the existing information or, for certain fields, Add New information.
- If you select the Add New options, the constituent record will have an additional address and/or phone number added to the record and marked as Primary. Once you have made your selections, select the OK button. The bottom of this window also allows you to, with one click of the button, Update Existing All, Use Existing All, or Ignore Changes.
- Once you select the OK button, a message window will appear. This window will alert you to the successful update and include the Constituent Number. Select OK.
- The Status of the record will reflect as Success. This indicates that these updates have been made to the existing record.
Unknown City
Address Line 1, City, State, and Postal Code are all required in the incoming data set in order to provide a valid address record. Salsa CRM stores the combination of City, State, Postal Code, and Country in its own table in order to make city definitions consistent for all data entry users (Mt. Lebanon versus Mount Lebanon, for example).
When the Automatically Add New Cities setting is unchecked on the Import Options panel, cities that are not already in the database are not automatically added. Users should review these cases, for example, if there was a misspelling in the source data.
Invalid or Missing Data
If you are presented with the Invalid or Missing Data status, some expected information for one of the data columns was not included.
- Select that row from the Resolution Queue; the Edit Advanced Import Data Row window will appear.
- The top of this window will display the Error Message; fields listed below the error message will display in pink if that field needs to be edited. You can edit the field directly in this window.
- Once you have made the necessary changes, select the OK button.
Other Resolution Queue Statuses
Duplicate Data Sync Map—The unique Import ID for this constituent is the same as another "unique" id submitted by the same vendor.
Duplicate ID—Another constituent has already been stored with the same SSN.
Ignore—There was absolutely no change to an existing record by incoming data intended to update an existing record.
Missing Record—A Donation pointing to a constituent record has been imported, and that constituent does not exist.
Missing Parent Record—The referenced SSN, Import ID, or Constituent Number no longer exists in the database.
Pledge Pay No Installments—A pledge payment arrived but no installments are defined to link to this payment.
Pledge Pay No Template—A pledge payment is noted in the import data, but no pledge template was set up for this payment.
Success—This entry was successfully imported into Salsa CRM.
System Error—An error occurred while processing this row. Typically this is only resolvable by contacting Salsa support.
Unprocessed—Typically, a temporary status that displays immediately after loading an import. As each row is processed, this status changes to its final status.
Donation Update—This status is for information purposes only. Donations cannot be updated via Advanced Import.
Resolve All
NOTE: When you select the Resolve All button, this will update all of the matching records in Salsa CRM all at once. THIS CHANGE CANNOT BE UNDONE.
- Select the Resolve All button at the bottom left of the Data Import Resolution Queue screen; the Resolve All pop-up will appear.
- On this pop-up, you will select one of the items to resolve all records with that status in this queue. For instance, if you have chosen to Resolve All of the Constituent Update statuses, the Resolve Constituent Update window will appear.
NOTE: The selection you make here will affect every record in the queue with the same status. If you choose to update existing records, every corresponding constituent record will be affected in the same way by this update. - Click OK.
- The Confirmation Required pop-up will appear. This is to warn you that all of the records in the resolution queue with the selected status will be updated using the options you have selected. This operation cannot be undone.
- Click OK.
- After you have selected OK, select the Search button to refresh the screen. If the Success filter at the top of the screen is not selected, you will see any remaining statuses to be addressed.
NOTE: If Salsa CRM finds more than one record that could be a potential duplicate, it cannot choose which one to update. Therefore, those records will not resolve and change to a Success status. Those will have to be resolved manually.
PRO TIP: Resolving All Constituent Updates and Potential Duplicates produce Long Running Processes in the database (Tools > Long Running Processes) that work behind the scenes to update data. Check that menu to see when your processes complete. Once these processes complete, then the Engage Sync Long Running Process will start.