Basics on Importing Contacts

[Lyrek Admin]

The Basics on Importing Contacts

Importing contact data is a quick, 2-step process, permitted to Lyrek Technicians, Managers and Administrator user types.
        The steps are:
        1.  Choosing which contact data (columns) will be imported by setting up your import format.
        2.  Importing contact records by uploading a data file

Setting Up Your Import Format
Unlike most contact and events management systems, Lyrek doesn't restrict to one "set format" for imports. Our flexible import wizard allows users to make and save reusable Import Formats that include the information you have/need. If you know which data columns you wish to import with your contact records, and a matching import format already exists, you're ready to proceed to the next step, Importing.

Otherwise, Lyrek "Managers" and "Administrators" may click Preferences, then Importing to view the existing Import Formats and add a new one.

Clicking ADD presents the first step in the wizard that will help you build an Import Format. There are two boxes presented, each containing the combined total list of importable contact record columns (such as "First Name", "Last Name", "Company Name", etc.). Contact record columns in the left box may be included with the Import Format by clicking one or multiple and clicking ADD. The selected record columns are moved from the left box to the right box to show they have been added. You can remove unneeded columns from being included in the import format by clicking the column name and clicking REMOVE. At this point, they'll disappear from the box on the right and return to the box on the left.

The contact record columns that appear in pink are required import columns in every Import Format, and cannot be removed. You can also change the order of the columns (as they will appear in your importable spreadsheet) by clicking on a column name in the right box and clicking UP and DOWN. Continue adding columns and sorting columns until you have listed all the columns you wish included in your import, and in the order that your importable spreadsheet will use. Then click NEXT.

The next step is choosing the Sort Order of imported data.
For basic imports, this is unnecessary, so skip this step by clicking NEXT.

Finally, enter a name for the import format, such as "All Fields," "Home Data Only" or "Name, Company, Email, Phone." Remember to choose a name for your Import Format that will be recognizable and memorable for the data you are importing.

You've just created a new Import Format and are ready to import contact data.

Importing
Click on the DOWNLOAD link beside your desired Import Format (or the one you just created) to get a fresh spreadsheet (Comma-Separated Variable List or .CSV File) that already contains the Lyrek column names that will be used in this import. This is called an Import Template. These columns not only provide a reference to you while preparing your spreadsheet but are also used by Lyrek for storing the imported records correctly.

If you are adding contact records one by one, you may proceed down the blank spreadsheet entering each record and column data. If, like most imports, you are importing these records from another system or from a list service, pay special attention while copying the contact data columns from the source to the import template, to be sure that there are no mix-ups of data to column names. Once the spreadsheet is complete and ready for import, be sure to look over the data one last time to be sure that each cell is properly identified by the column headers. Make sure you use a short, concise file name for your finished spreadsheet, such as "phonelist.csv." Note that this name is only temporary. Following importing the data, you can store these contact records in one or multiple Contact Groups with more specific names. At this point, however, all .csv file names should be less than 12 characters, not contain extraneous spaces or punctuation, and end with the (.csv) extension.


Click CONTACTS and then the IMPORT DATA tab along the top. You are presented with two options for importing data:

a) Lyrek AJAX import
This method allows you to choose one of several options for an unsupervised or supervised imports. When supervised, each time a potential duplicate is found, you will get the option of adding (as a new contact), replacing (old contact data with newly imported record), deleting (new contact data and proceeding with the next record), or ear-marking the record as a duplicate. The Unsupervised method will automatically make these decisions without the need for supervision, based upon your preferences of how duplicates are to be handled.
Further detail about the Lyrek AJAX Import method may be found here:
http://lyrek.net/forums/index.php/topic,11.0.html

b) Original Import Feature
The original import feature is a faster method, but provides less option for handling potential duplicates, which are all held in a temporary location for later address.

Choose your import option and follow the instructions for importing your spreadsheet of new contact data into Lyrek.

Further reading may be found here:

New Lyrek Import System
http://lyrek.net/forums/index.php/topic,11.0.html

Import Overwrite changes from previous versions.http://lyrek.net/forums/index.php/topic,13.0.html


When you've finished importing data, each row of your .CSV spreadsheet has been successfully evaluated and stored in one of the following four (4) manners:

1. A New Contact Record
Lyrek's complex import algorithm found no contacts that matched the import row, so this record has been added to your database. If the contact's company already existed in the database, the new contact is assigned the existing company. If not, the new company is created and assigned to the new contact.
2. A Duplicate Contact Record
If contacts are marked as potential duplicates, they are moved to the Duplicate Manager where they await your approval prior to importing. You can browse through items marked as potential duplicates by clicking CONTACTS and then DUPLICATES.
3. A Skipped Contact Record
If a contact to be imported is exactly identical to the one that currently exists in the database, it is skipped. This ensures you only have one contact record for this contact in your installation of Lyrek CEMS.
4. An Overwritten Contact Record *requires prior approval*
If a contact to be imported is almost identical to the one that currently exists in the database, but has additional information, the existing contact is overwritten with the newly-imported contact data. This ensures that you have the most up-to-date information in your installation of Lyrek CEMS. Read "Import Overwrite changes from previous versions" for more information about this practice.

Click CONTACTS and then click CONTACT GROUPS. You will see all of your successfully imported records automatically saved as a new Contact Group named after the date of your import.