The fields that initially display in the Add Field Mapping Dialog Box are not your only options for fields. You can create new field groups to add more addresses, additional fields, classifications, etc.
What do you want to do?
| To: | See: |
|---|---|
| Add more addresses, phones, or electronic addresses | Adding Field Groups for Phones and Addresses |
| Set mailing addresses while importing | Setting a Mailing Address |
| Link contacts into folders | Linking Contacts into Folders Upon Import |
| Define Locations | Defining Locations when Importing Contacts |
| Add more single-value additional fields | Adding Additional Field and Classification Field Groups |
| Map multiple-value additional fields | Mapping Multi-Value Additional Fields |
| Map variable field additional fields | Importing Data into a Variable Field AFE |
| Map multiple-value variable field additional fields | Mapping Multi-Value Additional Fields That Use the Variable Field AFE |
| Update existing InterAction contacts | Updating InterAction Contacts through Advanced Import |
| Add more Classification Fields | Adding Additional Field and Classification Field Groups |
Adding Field Groups for Phones and Addresses
You can import an unlimited number of addresses, phones, and electronic addresses into InterAction. To add a new field group choose New from the Add Field Mapping dialog box.
[A] Choose New to add a new field group.
[B] InterAction displays the New Field Group dialog box.
Choose Address, Phone, or Electronic Address and choose OK. InterAction displays the appropriate new field group dialog box.
[A] You can assign a different Description and Location for people versus companies.
[B] Choose whether the data is visible to all folders (global) or just visible from the folder to which you are importing (folder-specific). If you are importing into a temporary folder, do not make the information folder-specific.
[C] If you are creating a phone field group, choose the Phone Type (Assistant, Computer, Fax, Mobile, Other, Pager, or Phone). If you are creating an electronic address field group, choose the Electronic Address Type (Email, FTP Site, Web Site, or Other).
Setting a Mailing Address
When importing contacts, the mailing address is set as the first address you map regardless of the position or sequence of the address data in the CSV file. For example, if you want the home address to be the mailing address for the group of contacts you are importing, when you set up the import mapping instructions be sure to map the Home address before you map the Business address.
The order in which you map the addresses in does not affect the order in which the information displays in the Mapped Fields area. For example, if you mapped both business addresses and home addresses, the Business Address displays first in the list, even though you may have mapped the home address before the business address.
Defining Locations when Importing Contacts
When you import company contacts, you can choose to automatically create locations for the address and phone information you are importing for the contact. A location consist of an address, phone numbers, and fax numbers that are all located in the same place.
By default, a Main Office location is already defined. This Main Office location ties the following information together:
- The address for the contact mapped to the InterAction Business Address
- The phone number for the contact mapped to the Business Phone
- The phone number for the contact mapped to the Business Fax Phone
Note the following about creating locations when importing:
- For a location to be created, a contact must have an address and at least one phone number tied to that address.
- The locations you define upon import are created for all companies you are importing. When you define the location name, it should be generic. For example, do not define the location name as Oak Brook Office unless all the contacts you are importing have a business address in Oak Brook.
- You can define locations for all the address and phone field defined in the InterAction Fields list. However, locations are only created if you map import fields to those InterAction fields.
- A phone or fax number can only be tied to one address. After you include a phone number in one location, it is not available for inclusion in another location.
Define a New Location
-
Under Locations on the Add Field Mapping dialog box, choose New.
- Enter a Description for the location. Because this description is used for every contact that has an address of the type you specify, the description should be generic, for example, Main Office or Secondary Office.
- Select the Address to which you want to tie phone and fax numbers.
- Select the Phones you want to tie to the address. You can tie multiple phones to an address.
- When finished, choose OK.
Edit a Defined Location
-
Under Locations on the Add Field Mapping dialog box, select a location and choose Edit.
-
Change the fields you wish to update.
Note that you can only choose to include fields identified in the list of InterAction Fields on the Add Field Mapping dialog box. Additionally, if a field is already defined in another location, the field is not available on the Edit Location dialog box.
- When finished, choose OK.
Delete a Defined Location
- Under Locations on the Add Field Mapping dialog box, select a location and choose Delete.
- On the confirmation message, choose Yes to delete the location.
Linking Contacts into Folders Upon Import
You can specify folders into which the contact should be linked upon import. You can specify to map by folder name or folder ID. When you are creating your import mapping instructions, you can map to the Value field under Folder Link in the list of InterAction Fields.
To specify if you are mapping based on Folder ID or Folder Name, select the Folder Link field group and choose Edit.
To add a new Folder Link field group, choose New, then select Folder Link and choose OK.
Specify What to Map By and If There Are Multiple Values in the Folder Link Field Group
Folder Name
If you choose Folder Name, your data file (CSV file) must include a column that contains the exact folder name as it displays in InterAction.
In general, it is best to use the folder ID instead of the folder name to link contacts into InterAction because the folder name can be modified over time while the folder ID cannot be edited by users.
Folder ID
If you choose Folder ID, your data file must include a column that contains the ID of the folder in InterAction. To identify the ID for a folder, view the properties for the folder in InterAction Windows Client. When using folder ID to identify folders into which the contact is linked, you must use both the folder source ID and the folder ID. When defining this in the import file, define it as the following:
Source ID/Folder ID
For example, if the folder’s source ID is 2 and the folder ID is 325, your import file should specify the following: 2/325.
To identify the IDs for a folder, select the folder in the folder tree in the InterAction Windows Client and choose Folder > Properties.
Multiple Values
You can include multiple values in the column that indicates into which folders the contact should be linked. If the field contains multiple values, note the following:
- You must indicate on the Folder Link Field Group dialog box that the field contains multiple values and what the separator is.
- All of the values must be either folder name or folder ID. For example, the field cannot display as Clients;2/325;Alumni.
Adding Additional Field and Classification Field Groups
You can import an unlimited number of additional fields and classifications into InterAction. To add a new additional field group choose New from the Add Field Mapping dialog box. Choose Additional Field and choose OK. InterAction displays the new field group dialog box. From here, you can do the following:
- Select the additional field into which you want to import the information. You can choose a global field or a folder-specific additional field. If you choose to import contact information into a folder-specific additional field, you must choose the folder to which the field is folder specific.
- Select what you want InterAction to do if an import field is invalid, for example, the value is not of the same data type (text, date, decimal, list, number, yes/no) as the existing additional field or you do not have sufficient access rights to create a new additional field definition.
- Select if you want to create a multiple-value additional field. To map to a multiple-value additional field, you must map each value to separate multiple-value additional field groups each with identical names (the name of the additional field). See Mapping to a Multiple-Value Additional Field.
To add a new classification, choose Classification and choose OK. InterAction displays the new field group dialog box.
[A] Select this check box if you want InterAction to create the classification if it does not exist in InterAction. You must have Add Classification Definitions rights to the folder to be able to do this.
[B] Select what you want InterAction to do if an import field is invalid (the value does not match an existing global classification or classification specific to the folder AND you either do not have Add Classification Definitions rights to the folder or you did not select the check box above).
Mapping Multi-Value Additional Fields
To map fields to a multiple value field, you must identify several things first.
- What do the fields look like in your import (CSV) file? Is each entry for the multi value field separated by commas, or are they separated in another way?
- Are you importing a secondary field?
- How many values does the contact with the most entries have?
The answers to these questions help you set up your import.
If several entries are in one field separated by another item, such as a semicolon, you can edit the field group to correctly separate the entries when importing. For example, if you wanted to import an additional field named Languages that contained three entries separated by a semicolon, you would map it to one field group called All Languages and edit this field group to split out the values.
If each entry is separated by a comma, when you import into a multi-value field, you must map each field listed to the multi-value additional field group. For example, if you wanted to import three fields - Primary Language, Secondary Language and Other Language into one All Languages multi-value field, you would map each one to a value as shown in Mapping to a Multiple-Value Additional Field.
In addition, identify how many values the contact with the most entries has. This identifies the number of field groups to which you need to map the data. For example, if you are importing eight contacts and one contact has four values, while the other contacts have two values, set up four field groups to import the data into.
Map Data to a Multiple-Value Additional Field
- Open the folder you want to receive the data.
- In the folder, create the multiple value field into which you want to import data.
- Choose Folder > Import to open the Import Contacts dialog box.
- Enter the File Name (full path) for an import file. You must specify an import file to create or edit the mapping instructions.
- Choose Add to begin mapping fields.
-
Select a Multiple Value Additional Field Group and choose Edit.
- Change the Field Name to match the additional field into which you want to import.
- Select Column in Data File Contains Multiple Values and select the separator for the values. When finished, choose OK.
- Map the value from the Import Fields Column to the value in the InterAction Fields column.
- Complete the rest of the mapping instructions for any other fields and choose Close.
- After you have completed setting up the import mapping instructions, import the data into InterAction.
Mapping to a Multiple-Value Additional Field
Suppose your import file includes the following fields:
- Primary Language
- Secondary Language
- Other Language
You want to import these fields into the provided additional fields Language (Primary) and Language (All) in the Personnel Information folder.
To map these fields, do the following:
- Open the Personnel Information folder.
-
When you create the mapping instructions, create four field groups:
- Language (Primary) - additional field
- Language (All) - multiple-value additional field
- Language (All) - multiple-value additional field
- Language (All) - multiple-value additional field
Each field group should be configured the same and have the exact same name as the additional field into which you want to import the information. For information on creating new field groups for additional fields, see Adding Additional Field and Classification Field Groups.
- Map the Primary Language field to the Value field of the Language (Primary) Additional Field group.
- Map the Primary Language field to the Value field of the first Language (All) Additional Field group. (You should map the primary language to the Languages (All) group because the primary language should be included in the list of all languages the person speaks.)
- Map the Secondary Language field to the Value field of the second Language (All) Additional Field group.
-
Map the Other Language field to the Value field of the third Language (All) Additional Field group.
The fields should now be mapped as shown in the following figure:
- Complete the rest of the mapping instructions for any other fields and perform the import. For each contact, the language fields are imported as multiple values for the same additional field Language (All).
Editing Field Groups
You can edit existing field groups for your mapping instructions by doing either of the following:
- Selecting the field group on the Map Import Fields dialog box and choosing the Edit button.
- Selecting a field on the New/Edit Import Instructions dialog box and choosing the Field Group Instructions button.
InterAction displays the appropriate edit field group dialog box. The dialog box contains the same information as the add field group dialog boxes described in the following sections:
- Adding Field Groups for Phones and Addresses
- Linking Contacts into Folders Upon Import
- Adding Additional Field and Classification Field Groups
You cannot edit or delete the Name and Notes field groups.
To delete a field group, select the field group from the Map Import Fields dialog box and choose the Delete button.
Importing Data into a Variable Field AFE
You can import data into an additional field that uses the Variable Field AFE when importing contacts. Although the additional field displays to have multiple fields when you enter data, there is still only one additional field value. This is important to remember when setting up your CSV file for the import. You map a single field in the import file to the additional field, then use caret (^) separators within that single import field to break the data into the separate fields for the Variable Field AFE.
For more information on Variable Field AFEs, see the Configuring InterAction guide.
For example, note the following import file:
Last Name,First Name,Languages,Business Phone
Nagy,Robert,English^Expert,(312) 555-1090
This import file technically has just four fields, separated by commas:
- Last Name
- First Name
- Language
- Business Phone
Within the Language field, there are two fields of data separated by caret characters:
- English
- Expert
These correspond to fields configured in a Language additional field that uses the Variable Field AFE.
To import this file, you would map the two fields in the import file to two fields within InterAction. You map the single Language field in the import file to a single Language field within InterAction.
During the import, the Variable Field AFE splits the contents of the Language import field into the separate fields within the Language field.
Variable Field AFE Import File Specifications
The Variable Field AFE always uses the following rules to determine how to split out the data:
- The fields are imported in the same order they display in the New/Edit/View Additional Field Value dialog box. When importing data into this field, the Variable Field AFE expects the fields to be in this order:
- Language
- Expertise
- The fields must be separated by caret (^) characters. If the field includes any commas, enclose the entire field within quotation marks.
-
If a field contains no data, the separator character should still be included.
If you leave out the separator fields for the Language field, the Expertise value would be imported into the Language field rather than the Expertise field.
- When importing into a check box field, use T for the checked value and F for the unchecked value. A blank value is also accepted. Any other value is considered invalid.
Variable Field AFE Import File Validation
Because they are used within the application for special purposes, the following characters cannot be used within a field value:
^ (used as a separator)
~^
~|
~‘
The Variable Field AFE uses the following rules to validate the data during the import:
- For all fields, if the field is designated as required, the field cannot be blank in the import file. This does not apply to check box fields, since they cannot be designated as required.
- When importing into numeric fields, the value must fall within the minimum and maximum values defined for the field. Also, the number of characters in the value must not exceed the defined maximum length for the field, and the value must be numeric.
- When importing into string fields, the value cannot exceed the defined maximum length for the field.
- When importing into list fields, the validation depends on how the list has been defined. If the field only allows items that are on the list, then the import value must match an existing item on the list. If the list does not include this requirement, then any text value can be imported provided it does not exceed the maximum length for the field.
You can configure how InterAction handles an invalid import value when setting up the import instructions. InterAction can either import the contact (but leave the additional field blank) or skip the entire row.
Setting up the Import File When Importing a Variable Field AFE
If you are importing data exported from another system, you probably need to manipulate the import data to get it into the required or optimum format. One option is to use a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel to edit the CSV or text file. You can create formulas that concatenate several separate fields into a single cell.
For example, assume your import file has all the separate fields for the Language additional field in separate columns.
You can open this file in Excel, create a new column, then use a formula to concatenate the Language and Expertise columns into a single column. In Microsoft Excel, the ampersand character (&) can concatenate fields. Therefore, the formula shown in the figure below combines the values.
You can then map the new column when importing information into InterAction and not the separate columns.
Mapping Multi-Value Additional Fields That Use the Variable Field AFE
A multiple-value field that uses the variable field AFE requires you to understand the following:
- How to import variable field AFE data. For instructions, see Importing Data into a Variable Field AFE
- How to import into a multiple-value additional field. For instructions, see Mapping Multi-Value Additional Fields.
When mapping to a multiple-value field that has a secondary field, the data for both fields should be in one field in the import data file. You cannot import a secondary field into a multiple-value variable field AFE.
Map to a Multiple-Value Variable Field AFE
- Set up your import file. For more information, see Importing Data into a Variable Field AFE.
- In InterAction, open the folder you want to import the data into.
- Create the new multiple-value field that uses variable field AFE in the folder.
- Choose Folder > Import to open the Import Contacts dialog box.
- Enter the File Name (full path) for the import file. You must specify an import file to create or edit the mapping instructions.
- If the first row of your import file consists of headings that should not be imported, select the First row of file is field headers check box.
-
Select the Large Number of Records check box if applicable.
If you select Large Number of Records, association cleanup is not automatically run at the end of the import. You can manually initiate Association Cleanup later by opening the folder and choosing Tools > Association Cleanup > Folder.
- Choose Add to begin mapping fields.
- Create new field groups for the multiple value additional field.
- Map the import fields.
- Complete the rest of the mapping instructions for any other fields and choose Close.
- After you have completed setting up the import mapping instructions, import the data into InterAction.