Custom Database Fields and Import Types

[Lyrek Admin]

Custom Database Fields
Traditional Customer Relationship Managers (CRM) like ACT! and custom Filemaker Pro applications restrict what you can import or export from your database. Lyrek is built the way you work, so you can customize what information you'd like to store with contacts, and what information you want to leave empty.

Each default installation of Lyrek provides you with the basic fields for each contact, derived from the IMG import disks that many NYC fashion and PR companies use for front of house contact data. Additionally, though, Lyrek lets Administrators set up custom database fields that can be searched, sorted, imported, exported, reported and printed. This means that there are no limitations to how you can use your data.

In order to add a new custom database field, an administrator must click on the Administration link and the Custom Database Fields sub-link, select a data option (Drop-down, Free-text), enter a name for the field (i.e., Account ID), select an option for if the custom field is to be searchable, and click SAVE. After saving this option, you'll notice that the field is available to be added to an Import Type from the Preferences -> Importing page. It's also available to be exported from the Preferences -> Exporting page.

Import Types
Lyrek allows you to create custom import types, so that data can be aligned with the fields associated with contact records. In the Preferences -> Importing, you will see three divisions of importing tools.

• The top section Import Formats shows the existing import types.
• The middle section Active Address Presets shows the order in which fields will be checked for valid data for ACTIVE assignment
• The bottom section Required Fields shows the fields that MUST be present in all imports for your installation.

If you click Download beside any one existing import format, you will be presented with a CSV (comma-separated variables; excel format) template, that will be recognized by Lyrek for imports. You can save this to your computer, and paste in data that should be exported. If you find that columns are missing from the import format, you can click ADD and follow the wizard that allows you to choose which columns will be used in your import, the order of the columns and let you save the import format under a name that you will recognize in the future.

When you're happy with your import format, you can then download the template to your workstation, fill in the data to import (by copying from another spreadsheet, or manually), taking care to copy data into the correct columns. Please be sure to retain the header row data exactly as provided by Lyrek.

Once your import data has been prepared, you can follow these tutorials to import:

New Lyrek Import System - beta release
http://www.lyrek.net/forums/index.php?topic=11.0

Import Overwrite Changes from Previous Versions
http://www.lyrek.net/forums/index.php?topic=13.0

Also, if you already have an excel file of data prepared, you can insert the header row from an import format template at the top of the excel document, verify that the columns of data line up with the header row, and save the excel document as a CSV. It is very important to verify that the header row describes the column of data below it (i.e., contact title is in the top row, each subsequent row holds the titles for the contacts being imported), otherwise data will be miss-mapped when imported.