Author Topic: Data import question (Read 999 times)

bwill · May 27, 2011, 11:49:23 am

Hello,

I plan on using CiviCRM to replace our bicycle club membership database currently in Filemaker and for online event registrations and membership signup/renawls - intregrated with Drupal 7. I have been reading the documentation on contacts and members to start with. I plan on importing my current membership records from Filemaker to CiviCRM. My question is, are they imported as contacts or members? There seems to be both types here - contacts and members. Does a peson have to exist as a contact before being called a member? Can someone give me some guidance?

Thanks!

ctarascio · May 27, 2011, 12:31:47 pm

hi,
yes, a person has to exist as a contact before being called a member. i think that the chapter on importing that is in the civicrm book will be a big help to you. you will find that here: http://en.flossmanuals.net/civicrm/ch019_importing/

hope it helps you,
cynthia

bwill · May 27, 2011, 12:55:17 pm

Thanks Cynthia,

This is the reference I was reading. I don't yet have my arms wrapped around the concept - when setting up my data for importing, I assume from your answer that I will be creating a profile? for my custom fields. Since some of the people I will be importing are non members - those that have just attended our events, and members, how do I associate the contact that is a member with a member record? Or do I have it wrond, and contacts are merly names and addresses, while the membership record will contain my custom fields?

How would a contact become a member during the import process?

ctarascio · May 27, 2011, 01:20:00 pm

i haven't actually done a membership import so i can't be very specific but basically what you need to do is this:

first, import the contacts. these can be individual, household or organization records. be sure to include a unique identifier in your import file. this will be known as the 'external id" and it is what you will use later to make the appropriate contacts members. the external id can be anything you want it to be but it must be unique for each contact

next, click on memberships and select import members. at this point you can either insert new memberships or update existing memberships. the key here is that the external id will be used to "link" the membership records you create to the specific contact.

whatever you do be sure to create a test file for the initial import and then one for the membership import. these files should have only one or two records. this way if something messes up it will be easy to fix the damage.

and as for your custom fields: there is no profile involved. when you create the custom fields you have to specify what they are to be used for e.g. individuals, contacts, memberships etc then, when you go to do the import the custom fields will appear in the drop-down menu and you will be able to "map" the appropriate field in your import file to the custom field you created: every field in your import file that you want included in civicrm must have a "matching" corresponding field in civi.

i have to leave now and i'll be out all next week so give it a try and if you still have questions post back and hopefully someone else will help you.

good luck,
cynthia

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