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InterAction® Administrator Answer Center

Finding the Contacts to Update with Additional Field Data

  • Updated

When transforming an additional field data set, Application Collaboration needs to find the existing contact to update. You can select the data set mapping option Application Collaboration should use for this purpose.

The data set mapping option you choose changes the structure of the table for the data set. You need to adjust your harvesting routine accordingly.

You can use one of the three standard mapping options available for most data sets:

  • Data Source System ID. This option uses a unique system ID from the external system to find the contact. For details, see Mapping By Data Source System ID.
  • Additional Information Field. This option compares the value in a specified additional field with a harvested value to find the contact. For details, see Mapping By Additional Information Field.
  • InterAction Contact ID. This option compares InterAction’s internal contact IDs with a harvested value to find the contact. For details, see Mapping By InterAction Contact ID.

Remember that if you did not claim the contact, there is no corresponding SYS_ID. For more information on claiming, see To Claim or Not to Claim.

Which Mapping Option Should I Use for an Additional Field Data Set?

The best mapping option for an additional field data set depends on how contacts are identified in the data you are bringing into the system.

The Data Source System ID option is most often used when performing ongoing integration. In this case, the system IDs for the contacts correspond to unique IDs in the external system.

The Additional Information Field option is especially useful for populating some additional fields based on an existing identifying field. For example, assume you stored each company’s stock ticker symbol in InterAction. If you had a file containing company profile information listed by ticker symbol, you could map the data set by additional field to bring that data in. Similarly, if you store employee ID’s in InterAction, you can use them to populate employees with personnel profile data.

The InterAction Contact ID option is more limited in use, because data you get from other systems is not going to have InterAction-specific ID values. It is, however, very useful when using Application Collaboration to manipulate existing data. For example, you could export additional field data from InterAction (including the ID values) and use an additional field data set mapped by contact ID to populate fields in different folder. For other uses for this option, see When Would I Use InterAction IDs as a Mapping Field?

Change the Method for Finding the InterAction Contacts to Update with Additional Fields

Changing the options for an existing data set deletes all data in the corresponding data set table. You need to re-run your harvesting routine to re-populate the table. If changing the options also changes the structure for the table, you also need to revise your harvesting routine.

  1. Select the data source in which the data set belongs from the console list.
  2. In the console list, right-click the additional field data set () or Single Value, Multiple Column Fields data set () and choose Edit.

  3. Under Map Contact Based On, select the method you want to use to find the contacts to update:

    To Select
    Use a system ID provided by the data source.

    Select Data Source System ID.

    For details, see Mapping By Data Source System ID.
    Use an additional field value, such as client number or employee code.

    Select Additional Information, then select the field to use for mapping from the drop-down list.

    For details, see Mapping By Additional Information Field.
    Use the internal InterAction contact ID.

    Select InterAction Contact (Listing ID).

    For details, see Mapping By InterAction Contact ID.
  4. Choose OK to save your changes.
  5. Note the new table structure for the data set table. The table structure displays in the right pane of Application Collaboration when you select the data set.
  6. Update your harvesting routine to harvest the appropriate mapping data into the columns.
    • For example, if you select the Data Source System ID option, the table includes a SYS_ID column. You need to update your harvesting routine to harvest the external system’s unique ID for the contact into this column.
    • For a list of the possible columns in the data set table, see Single-Value Additional Field Data Set Tables.