Bring Constituents into The Raiser’s Edge Quickly and Easily
How to Identify Records
At a minimum, IOM will need a way to identify records – whether they are new or existing records. The constituent’s first and last name, constituent ID, or constituent import ID can be used as an identifying value. If you are importing new records, you can include a constituent ID or constituent import ID and IOM will assign the value type to the new record.
If you are importing new records, or if you are updating records without an ID, it is helpful to include the constituent’s address, phone number, and/or email address for searching.
There is no need to include a key indicator in ImportOmatic because IOM knows if a record should be an individual or an organization based on whether you map Constituent Field > Last Name or Constituent Field > Org Name.
Mapping Constituent Details
Constituent biographical information can be found under the Record Type of Constituent Field. Choose the Value Type that matches the field you are importing to for example, if you are importing a Middle Name, the Value Type will be Middle Name.
As of IOM version 2.5, Constituent Codes have their own record type and multiple constituent codes can now be imported at the same time.
Setting up Processing Rules
After mapping where the data should go on a constituent’s record, you need to tell ImportOmatic how to process the data if importing to existing records.
In the Constituents area of the profile, select which items you want IOM to update – Bio1 name fields, Bio1 other fields, Bio1 title or suffix fields, Bio2 fields, Bio1 checkbox fields, and/or Primary addressee/salutation.
Select “Use side by side comparison utility for updating bio fields” if you would like to be alerted to the possible changes and okay them during import.
A few options for Constituent and Solicit Codes
If you aren’t including a “Date From” for new constituent codes in the data file, you can default the date to today’s date.
If the constituent code does exist on the record, you can decide whether to update the information for that constituent code or not.
Select “Set constituent code in as primary” to import a constituent code from the file as the primary constituent code. In the drop down, select “Field x” where x is the column letter for the constituent code for example, if the constituent code is mapped in column N, the drop down will read “Field N”.
Solicit and constituent codes can also be removed from records using ImportOmatic. To remove a code, add a dash to the front of the code in your file (-Student) and map like normal. Select “Use Solicit/Constituent Code removal character (“-“) to remove existing codes“.
After setting up your profile, importing a file of constituents will be a fast project. A fast and easy import allows you to focus on these constituents in your fundraising efforts!
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