Import Utility: Importing Auction Purchases Part VIII - Review

Import Utility: Importing Auction Purchases Part VIII - Review

1. After your import batch finishes processing, you will receive an e-mail notifying you that your import failed, was completed successfully, or had errors that will need to be reviewed & corrected. You will also see the batch status on the Import Utility index screen.

   

   

   

2. If your batch failed (status = "Process Failed") this means there was a "catastrophic" issue with your data file that prevented it from being processed. The most common causes of import failure are:
   • failure to delete the instructional row from the data file before uploading it
   • inclusion of commas in any amount or numeric fields
   • unexpected characters/symbols (especially in numeric fields or text only fields such as name fields)
   • hard returns within cells (entering data on multiple separate lines within one cell)
   • blank rows/lines in the data set
   • Not following formatting instructions for Address Country
   • Not configuring the Fund, Program(s), Campaign(s), Gift Source(s), and/or Event(s) that are in your data file inside Fundly CRM prior to importing

   Review your data file to see if you can identify the issue and then try importing it again (you will need to create a new import batch). If you cannot identify the cause, send your data file to support@fundly.com for review.

3. If your batch was successful (status = "Processing Completed"), on the Import Utility Index Screen, it is a good idea (and strongly encouraged) that you check the records over to make sure there are no issues.
   • Click the drop down to the right of the batch name and select Review Records to bring up a list of the imported records so you can check them for accuracy.

     

   • This will bring up the list of the records that were imported (the contact search results screen filtered by your batch name) (you can also manually search for your imported records using Advanced Search on the "Imports" category).

     

     

   • Review the records (view or edit individual records) to make sure that all information imported corrected; if you have a large batch, then check a representative sample (10-20 records for a moderately sized batch, 20-50 records for larger batches). Check that name, address, and donation details have imported correctly. 
   • In the screen shot below, you'll notice that Arthur Fonzarelli, Charles Cunningham, and Richie Cunningham are not showing a mailing address even though a partial address was included in the data file for each. However, because the required address part (zip code) was not included, the other fields were ignored. So sometimes the import will proceed and will appear to be okay on the surface, but the data will not be imported in the way that you expect or data might be dropped because it does not pass validation. The verification step is critically important for ensuring that all data came through in the correct way.

     

     

   • Additionally, verify the number of records in your system before and after import and use quick search on a handful of the imported contact records/names to verify that your import did not create unexpected duplicate records.
   • If you are unsure as to why data ended up in a certain field or why duplicates were created or why records improperly matched to and updated the wrong existing records, you can view the field mapping and duplicate prevention settings you used in the import from the drop down to the right of the batch on the Import Index Screen.

     

   • You can "back out"/delete the imported records IF THESE ARE NEW CONTACTS (since you can only delete contacts in bulk, not specific donation records in bulk) by doing an Advanced Search for the records and then using the take action menu at the bottom of the search results screen to delete all of the records. You can search by batch name using the Imports category in advanced search. We strongly recommend using not only the batch name but also the "Created On" field in the Contact Information category as a filter/identifier to ensure you are only finding and deleting records CREATED during import and not also deleting existing records that were UPDATED during the import. If you delete existing records that were updated incorrectly (as in the example in the Part II tutorial of the client who improperly sorted the data in their data file and then imported the wrong data to contact records), you'll lose not only the import data but all data that existed before you conducted the import (such as donation and event attendance data).
   • If you find that something has gone horribly awry with your import, contact Fundly CRM support immediately. We cannot restore individual records to their pre-import state; instead, we can restore your entire database back to a point before the import. That means you'll lose any data entered after that point (in any part of the system, including any online transactions that took place after that point, any records entered by staff, or any data entered via a third-party sync such as Donor Search, Mail Chimp, and Fundly Connect) - this is why it's imperative to contact us immediately to avoid losing large amounts of post-import data. Having us delete imported records or restore your system to a point prior to the import are chargeable services.
4. If your import processed but the status is "Validation Completed - (number) Errors", this indicates that the data started to import but encountered problems and is waiting for you to fix the errors before proceeding.
• This happens when there are non-catastrophic data issues (that is, the file is able to proceed but there are errors in individual records instead of with the overall file).
• To fix the errors and finish the import, click the drop down to the right of the batch name and select either Review to see the issues and fix them one at a time or Delete to delete the entire batch and start again. You'll want to use the Delete option if you realize that you mapped the data incorrectly in the Field Mapping, set your duplicate prevention settings incorrectly so that you made a large number of duplicates, or other catastrophic failures that require re-importing to amend.

  

  

• If you opt to review and fix the errors, after clicking Review, you will be taken to the Validation Error Overview screen. This screen will display the various categories/types of errors in the left hand column, a description of the issue in the middle column, and the number of records with this type of error in the far right hand column.
  

  

• To correct the records/issues one at a time, click the Edit invalid/missing records button in the lower right. If, instead of correcting the records one at a time, you wish to fix the issues in your data file and re-upload the file, click the Upload a New File Button instead (skip down to the "Upload a New File" step below).

  

• When correcting records one at a time, the first record that has an issue will display. The top of the screen will explain what the issue is. In the example below, we included an Organization Name (employer information) but left the "Consider as Organization Contact" field (which is required when including an organization name in the work info section) blank in the data file. The system is telling us we must enter a value in that field. Make the correction and then click the blue Save & Next button in the lower right. This will take you to the next record that needs to be corrected. Repeat this step until you have corrected all of the records with errors.

  

  

  

  

• Once you reach the end of the list of records with issues, you will receive a message that all records have been updated. Click the blue Re-Validate & Import button in the lower right.

  

• You will be taken back to the Import Utility index screen and you will receive the green validation message that your file has been sent for processing. The status will once again show as "importing data." Once the import completes, you will receive an email with the status. Repeat the steps in this tutorial based on what the new status ends up being.

  

• Uploading a New File: Sometimes, when there is a large number of errors in an import, it's easier to fix the issues in the data file rather than the import utility. For example, perhaps you forgot to include the leading zero on your zipcodes. If you have a large number of records in your batch, it may be easier to sort your excel file by zip code, change the formatting of the column to "text" so the leading zero isn't dropped, copy and paste the right zip/full zip code and re-import, rather than manually typing the zip code into dozens or hundreds of records one at at time. Or you may have included information that can't be fixed by correcting the errors one at a time. In the second example below, we've attempted to add a contact type to records that can't be added manually (School is a system automatic contact type that can only be added by the system). In the third example, we attempted to import donations with multi-currency processing turned on, but we didn't use the template for multi-currency. Because we used the wrong template and have omitted a required field, we will need to do a whole new import (so that we can not only include the missing column in the import, but also map it in field mapping). In these cases, on the "Review" screen, choose the option to Upload a New File.

  

  

  

• This will take you back into the import utility Tab #2: Upload the File. Make corrections to your file, upload the corrected file, and complete the rest of the import utility steps as usual.