Import Guide - 6 Tips For Preparing Your Data For Import

Work from a copy -

• Make a copy of your data before you make any changes to it. You may need something to refer back to if mistakes happen.

Get Familiar with Excel functions -

• It is helpful if you have someone that knows Excel or spreadsheets in general.
• It’s much easier to use the functions available for handling several thousand records.
• Or it may be necessary to hire a temp with Excel experience.

Review the Data -

• Make sure all the columns make sense.
• Several users entering in data over the years will have information in the wrong fields or may be missing.
• Separate phone numbers into their own fields, such as office, fax, and mobile.

Check Formatting -

• Address or phone numbers may be formatted in a variety of ways, so choose a format and change the data to follow it.

Identify Data Relationships -

• You may have separate data for parent companies, properties, and contacts.
• You will need to find a common relationship in the data so you know what properties go to their parent company and which contacts go to their property and/or company.
• If the data doesn’t match each other, that record won’t import properly.

Not all fields can be imported -

• Please see our import template for the fields we can import to.
• Your data needs to fit within this template (FCS_Import_Template.xlsx).

Import Guidelines:

When submitting your data for importing, these are the guidelines that we follow:

• Data in fields are imported as is, so your data must be formatted the way you want to see it.
• We do not search and replace.
• Imports have a 7-day turnaround after the import file is accepted by the development team.
• A test set of records may be provided to initiate training.
• Not all fields from your original data can be imported. If you wish to include data that does not have a field in the template, you should include it in the notes field.

Building the Import:

• You will organize your data into 3 categories:
  • Companies
  • Properties (or buildings)
  • Contacts
• The data file you receive will be different from system to system.
• Attached is a link for the template we use for importing your data.  
• The categories are separated into tabs.
• Before submitting your data for import, be sure to review it and make sure your properties and contacts will match up with the parent companies.  
• This document will give you some tips for doing that.
  • Import Template - Customers.xlsx (7 KB)
    • From your companies, you will want to look for a ‘Company ID’.  
    • If there is no column for ‘Company ID’ or if it’s blank for a record, you need to create one.  
    • Each ‘Company ID’ can be alpha, numbers, or a combination, but they should be unique.