Import Members

Introduction

OfficeRnD offers an easy Step-by-Step import flow for your customers' data. Ideally, imports should begin with Companies data, proceeding with Members and Memberships. We will go through the Members Import process in this article.

The import functionality can be found under Settings/Data & Extensibility/Import/Members tab. It can be useful for updating existing member data as well.

Contents

• Important
• Import Flow Steps
• Upload spreadsheet
• Match columns
• Update Members using the Import Feature
• How to use the Contact Person and Billing Person columns
• What's next

Important

• It's best if you download our template in order to see which columns of data will be necessary to complete the import. Alternatively, you can use your own .csv spreadsheet file. You can upload it and match the columns in it to the columns in OfficeRnD.
• If a validation error occurs when uploading the data, you might not be able to proceed unless the error is fixed. There are two types of errors - red (an error that needs to be fixed) and yellow (a warning).
• If the members already exist in the system (their names should match the names of the existing members completely), new members won't be added, but the system will update the existing ones.
• If a company name is specified for the member and this company doesn't exist in the system, a new company won't be added and a validation error will occur.
• Intervals (spaces) in the beginning and in the end of an entry will be automatically removed.

Import Flow Steps

The Members import flow contains three main steps - Upload spreadsheet, Match columns, and Summary. We will go through each one in detail.

Upload spreadsheet

1. Download the example file to get started. The file can be also found when you click on the Download template button in the Members tab. 
2. Click on the Upload CSV button to upload the .csv file. 

The required columns are marked with an asterisk * symbol:

• Member Name * - The name of the member that will be added/updated.
• Location * - The location of the member.
• Start Date * - For the start date of the member, note that one of the following formats must be used: YYYY-MM-DD, DD/MM/YYYY, or MM/DD/YYYY.

The other columns are optional and include:

• Member Email

• Company Name (the company should already exist in the system, otherwise the data won't be validated and new companies won't be created)

• Contact Person

• Billing Person

• Phone

• Twitter

• Bio

• Address

• City

• State

• Zip

• Country

• Tags

Match columns

Choose date format from which OfficeRnD will parse the dates

You have to select the date format that you're currently using in your .CSV file to help OfficeRnD set the start dates of the members correctly. This is very important because you won't be able to continue if the format is not set correctly.

Match columns from your file to properties in OfficeRnD

At the bottom of the import page you'll be able to see two rows of columns:
- The first row displays the default columns in OfficeRND.
- The second row displays the columns of the uploaded file. You can match your columns to the columns in OfficeRND to make sure that the data from your columns will be used in the default OfficeRnD column. By the same logic, you can match a custom property field to an existing custom property in OfficeRnD.

If there are any errors or inconsistencies in the data, the system will display a warning and won't let you continue. You'll be able to see a description of the problem either on the row that's problematic, or on the whole column.

Note: In such situations where "Company with name X does not exist", the import file should be uploaded anew, as you are not able to create Companies within the Members import. If there is an error message that for some reason you are not able to troubleshoot, you can reach out to support@officernd.com.

Summary

1. Review the import summary of what data will be added/updated.

2. Save your choices as a matching preset for future imports. You need to click on Save preset CSV, add a name, and save the changes. You can choose this matching preset in future imports. 

3. Click on the "Import" button.
4. You will receive a confirmation of a successful data import.
   
   

Update Members using the Import Feature

As we mentioned earlier, the Import Feature can be also used for updating purposes. If the companies already exist in the system, new members won't be added, but the system will update the existing ones. Here is an example:

How to use the Contact Person and Billing Person columns

These two optional columns can be used when importing data to define some specific permissions for the member. You can learn more about them here. If these columns are mapped, you should consider that a given member can be set as a Billing Person only if they are also a Contact Person. Otherwise, a validation error will occur. The provided values can be Yes or No for each column. If the cell is empty, we generally do the following:

• The value is considered No when the import is about to create a new member.

• The property is skipped and not directly updated when the import is about to update existing member.

Since there may be multiple different cases, you can refer to the table below for better clarity:

What's next

• Import Memberships