Too Much of a Good Thing?

Over the years, ImportOmatic’s functionality has continually expanded to meet the needs of Raiser’s Edge users. With every new check box, new connector, and new module, ImportOmatic became more useful to more organizations… and more complex. For new users, especially people who are new to Raiser’s Edge or their organization, it’s overwhelming to try to learn ImportOmatic. We’ve been working on fixing that. In the Fall of 2016, we released IOM 3.3 – which focused on improving the part of ImportOmatic you use the most – the import itself.

ImportOmatic 3.4 is our next step toward simplifying the experience for new and existing users alike. Finishing what we started on the import screens, we updated the Advanced Address Processing screen to give you more control over how you review addresses during imports. With the addition of the Go Faster button, you can now adjust your address settings mid-import. No more getting stuck in a long import, having to review every address, just because you forgot to customize the settings in your profile! Additionally, we’ve added the ability to view addresses both side-by-side as address blocks and in a customizable grid. 

When you think back to learning ImportOmatic or even teaching it to a colleague, how long did it take to explain Field Mapping? 45 minutes? An hour? An eternity? We’ve simplified the Field Map, to make it easier to understand, regardless of how new you are to importing. With updated labels, single-column field selection, and smarter type-to-search functionality, wiring up your incoming data to the correct Raiser’s Edge field has never been easier. Don’t worry – familiar tools like dictionaries, functions, and relationship groupings are still there. We’ve even made it easier to test those tools by adding the Test Code button to the Field Map, rather than hiding it away within Virtual Fields!

How many times have you had to say to someone, “Only click on Import,” or “Don’t open Configuration”? As ImportOmatic’s breadth grows, you’ll likely need different people accessing different modules. We’ve now added the ability to limit access to different areas of the ImportOmatic suite, through Security! Supervisors have full rights to everything, but non-supervisor users can now be limited to specific modules or even tasks within modules.  

Finally, if your organization hasn’t used List Management in the past, now is a GREAT time to think about it! With this latest update, you can now add records individually (in addition to the existing query import)! This means that one record that caused an exception can just be added by hand, rather than rerunning an import. Also, you can now demote list members to nonconstituents, as long as their records do not contain any constituent-only details. When you demote them, you’ll be given the option to store the constituent ID as an alias, which is a great way to keep it safe. You now control who can be excluded from constituent queries and reports, not to mention keep your record count lower for NXT!

When it feels like you’re facing a mountain of data, the hardest part can be taking control of the situation and knowing where to start. Start by taking control of ImportOmatic, with these new features. Tweak your imports to be more comfortable, make sure everyone gets to access to (and training on) the tools they need, and take advantage of being able to add and remove records easily. 

Want to learn more about the new features in ImportOmatic? Check out the New Features!