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Preparing information for import

You can import contact and lead records into NexJ Customer Relationship Management from outside data sources.

If you are importing contact information, you must create a full import package to import your information.

If you are importing leads, you have two possible ways to format your data. The simplest way is to create a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file that captures basic contact information for the leads, along with optional information about the market segment and sales concepts that you want to associate with the leads. Alternatively, you can create a full import package to import more complicated data, such as leads with multiple phone numbers.

Creating import packages

To import contacts into your existing database, you must create an import package. You can also use import packages as part of importing leads, but they are not required for a simple lead import. An import package is a ZIP archive that contains CSV files containing your contact data and mapping files. The mapping file allows NexJ CRM to map your CSV file columns to contact attributes in your database.

Note

Import packages must be smaller than 10MB. Packages larger than 10MB cannot be imported.

Import packages

Import packages contain the contact or lead data that you want to import into NexJ CRM.

System administrators can create import packages for specific users using NexJ CRM and the NexJ Data Mapping Tool.
An import package is a ZIP archive that contains the following files:

  • One or more CSV files containing the lead or contact data that the user wants to import into NexJ CRM.
  • A destination definition file generated by NexJ CRM, and specific to the user who will be importing the information.
  • One mapping file for each CSV file. Administrators create the mapping files using the NexJ Data Mapping Tool. Each mapping file defines how the data in a given CSV file maps to the fields in NexJ CRM.

Import packages are mandatory if you want to carry out a contact import. They are optional if you are importing leads, as long as the CSV file for your leads follows the default structure described in Preparing lead import CSV files.

Creating import package CSV files

Your legacy contact data must be in CSV format before it can be imported into NexJ CRM. Depending on your legacy contact-management system, you might have one large CSV file containing all the data or several CSV files, one CSV file for each table you export. The first row in each file must be a header row, which contains the names of the columns.

Using your old contact management system, export the data from existing legacy system into CSV format. The exact directions for creating the CSV files vary depending on your legacy contact-management system. You might need to export the data into Microsoft Excel and then save the Excel files as CSV files. For sample instructions for one version of Microsoft Excel, see Creating CSV files using Microsoft Excel 2010.

Creating CSV files using Microsoft Excel 2010

Before you generate CSV files, verify that you have an empty directory for storing these files on your file system and note its location.
To verify that you have an empty directory:

  1. In Microsoft Excel 2010, in the File menu, select Open.
  2. Browse to the file with your exported data and click Open.
  3. Review the data to ensure it is still consistent and correct.
  4. In the File menu, click Save As.
  5. Navigate to the directory you want to use.
  6. In the File name field, enter the name for the CSV file.
  7. In the Save as type menu, select CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv).
  8. Click Save.

Excel saves your file in CSV format to the specified location. If your contact data appears across several worksheets, repeat the process to create a CSV file for each worksheet.

Creating target definition files

Before you can create mapping files that match your data to the target data stored in NexJ CRM, you need to create a definition file that describes the structure of the Contact data.

Before you can start this task, you must have administrator privileges in NexJ CRM.

To create a target definition file:

  1. Navigate to the Contacts workspace and click the Options button  in the contacts panel.
  2. Select Import Contacts and Generate Definition File.
    The Create Target Definition File dialog appears.

  3. In the Select User field, specify the user for whom you are preparing the target definition file. By default, your user name is specified in the Select User field. Because Categories, Custom Fields, and User Fields in NexJ CRM are user-specific, if you are preparing the target definition file for a different user, specify the user's name in the Select User field.

    Info

    The specified user must have the Import View and Import Manage privileges.

    1. To specify a different user, click the Select button .
      The Select User dialog opens.
    2. Select the desired user, then click OK.
      The Select User dialog closes.
    The selected user's name is displayed in the Select User field.
  4. Click OK to generate the target definition file.
    The Create Target Definition dialog closes and the file is generated.
  5. The generated file is now downloaded by your web browser. If a download dialog appears, specify that you want to save the file. Note the location to which you save it.

You have created and downloaded a target definition file. You can find the file by navigating to the download location. The file name is formatted as <FirstName> <LastName> NexJ Import Definition.xml .

Creating mapping files and generating import packages

Once you have obtained a set of CSV files containing the contact data you want to import and the target definition file, you must create mapping files. The mapping files allow NexJ CRM to load contact data into the appropriate columns in the database. You need one field mapping file for each CSV file and one file mapping file that lists all the CSV and XML files included in the package.

Use the NexJ Data Mapping Tool to generate the file mapping and field mapping files and to create the import package containing all the files used by NexJ CRM during the import process.

To create the mapping files using the NexJ Data Mapping Tool:

  1. Open the NexJ Data Mapping Tool.
  2. Click Create New Mapping.
  3. In the dialog that appears, specify the following information:

    Data Location
    The directory where the CSV files containing your data are stored.
    Target Definition File
    The definition file you generated in NexJ CRM using the Contact Import > Generate Definition File command.
    Mapping Template
    If you have been provided with a mapping template file or if you are continuing work on an existing mapping file, specify the name and location of the file. Otherwise, leave blank. To ensure the mapping template file appears in the drop-down list, place the file in the directory specified in the Data Location field. Otherwise, use the Browse button to navigate to the mapping template location.

  4. Click OK . All CSV files you generated are listed in the Source Files in Data Location column; all possible target field categories are listed in the Target Field column; and the number of columns in each CSV file is listed in the Mapping Fields column.
  5. For each CSV file, select the type of data in the Type of Data in File drop down. The Source Field drop down fields and Target Field names display.
  6. For each CSV file, assign a target field category. If you only have one source file or if there is no likely equivalence between a CSV file and any target category, assign the All field category. Assigning a field category limits which fields are displayed when you are assigning a source field to a target field.
  7. Specify how null fields are treated. By default, any null field is converted into a null field. If you want to specify a different value for null fields, select the Use Null Converter option. The Null Converter column appears below. You can specify the default value which will be used for all null fields in the Value field and click the Apply Null Converter button. Otherwise, you can specify the value to be used for each field in the Null Converter column. To remove the default value from all fields, click the Erase Null Converter button.

  8. Using the drop-down lists, map a column name from the Source Fields column to a field in the Target Fields column. When a source column has been assigned to a target field, a green check mark appears next to the column name in the drop-down list. In addition, the plug icon next to the field name appears plugged in. For details, see Mapping one-to-one fields and Mapping many-to-one fields.

    Info

    The drop-down lists contain the column name as well as a sample value for that column. The sample value is populated with an available value from within the first 1,000 records in the import package.

    For any field in your legacy data that has no equivalent in the NexJ CRM data structure, create a new User Field subcollection attribute. Assign the source field to this new User Field. To unmap a source field, click the Unmap Field button. You do not need to map every column in a source file to a target field. However, any columns not mapped to a field will not be imported into NexJ CRM.

  9. If you want to save the mapping information, either to share it with other users or to continue working later, click Export Mapping Template. In the Create Mapping Template dialog, specify where you want to save the mapping file and click Save.
  10. When you have completed all mapping work, click Generate Import Package. In the Create Import Package dialog, specify where you want to save the package and click Save.

After creating your import package, verify its size and contents.

The import package must be less than 10MB. If it is greater than 10MB, you will not be able to import the package. If this is the case, you should split the data into multiple data sets and rerun the package generation for each data set separately.

The generated package should contain the following files:

  • One or more CSV files containing your legacy data.

  • One file mappings file called fileMappings.xml. It lists all the CSV files containing the legacy data and the related XML field mapping files.

    Info

    You can specify the encoding character set to be used for the import process in fileMappings.xml by adding the encodingType property to the source code:

    <mapping encodingType="<characterSet>">
  <fileMappings>...
</mapping>

    where <characterSet> is the value you provide for the encoding character set. For example, specify CP-1252 to indicate that the import package data is using the CP-1252 encoding. Be default, the UFT-8 encoding is used. The character set for the generated package must match the character set you specified.

  • One field mapping file for each CSV file. The mapping file names are based on the names of the CSV files. For example, if the CSV file is called TBL_CONTACT.csv, then the mapping file is called TBL_CONTACT_mappings.xml.

Mapping one-to-one fields

Most columns in the source CSV files are associated with a single field in NexJ CRM . Mapping a source field to a target field depends on the format of the target field.

  • For fields in string format, choose whether text in Rich Text Format (RTF) should be converted to plain text. NexJ CRM currently supports only plain text in all fields. In the Text Converter field, if you specify rtf2plain, then all RTF formatting codes will be removed during import. Otherwise, the RTF formatting codes will be included in the field.
  • For fields in date format, specify the date format in the Format field. Choose one of the formats available in the drop-down list or enter a new format by typing it in the field.
  • For fields in the timestamp (date and time) format, specify the format in the Format field. Choose one of the formats available in the drop-down list or enter a new format by typing it in the field. Specify the location for determining the time zone in the Unit field.
  • For fields in the boolean format, the complete list of values in the column appears below the source field name. For each possible value, specify whether it should be imported as True or as False.
  • For other fields with a limited set of possible values, such as Activity Type or Gender, the complete list of values in the column appears below the source field name. For each possible source field value, specify the equivalent target field value.

Mapping many-to-one fields

Several fields in NexJ CRM are actually subcollections of information.

For example, your legacy contact information system might have the following fields:

  • Business Address Line 1
  • Business Address Line 2
  • Business City
  • Business Zip Code
  • Home Address Line 1
  • Home Address Line 2
  • Home City
  • Home Zip Code
  • Vacation Address Line 1
  • Vacation Address Line 2
  • Vacation City
  • Vacation Zip Code

However, in NexJ CRM, there are only fields for Address Line 1, Address Line 2, City, and Zip Code. You can create as many addresses as required. Each complete address becomes a subcollection of fields. For each address, you would indicate whether it is a business, home, or vacation address.

Addresses, Telcoms, Categories, Custom Fields, and User Fields are all subcollections. These subcollections have a Copy Row button and a Delete Row button in the Target Field column. Rather than a one-to-one correspondence between a column in a source CSV file and a field in the target definition file, you can create any number of subcollections for each of these fields.

To map a column to a subcollection:

  1. Select a source field (such as BUSINESSPHONE) for the target subcollection. For example, Telcom.
  2. Select a target field name in the Sub Collection Attribute column. For example, Communication Value.
  3. Select the Type Name to indicate which subcollection the field belongs to. For example, Business.
  4. Depending on the Sub Collection Attribute value, specify the Type/Text Converter details.
  5. If you want to add another field to the subcollection or if you want to add another subcollection, click the Copy Row button.

Preparing lead import CSV files

You can carry out a simple lead import, which imports leads directly from a CSV file into NexJ CRM, as long as the file conforms to a specific default structure. These instructions only apply to the import of lead information. If you want to import contacts, you must create a full import package.

These instructions assume that you already have a file with the lead information that you want to import, and that you can open it in a spreadsheet program.
A simple lead import allows you to create a set of leads with the following information:

  • First name
  • Last name
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • Market segment
  • Sales concept
  • Company name
  • Position at the company
  • Zip code

It is mandatory that every lead has a value provided for the Last Name and First Name fields. In addition, it must have a value for the Email field, the Phone field, or both.

Even though you can create the CSV file directly in a text editor, it is best to create it using a spreadsheet program. The following instructions assume that you already have a file containing lead data and that it is in a format that can be opened by a spreadsheet program.

If you receive your data as a CSV file from a third party, you should still open it to ensure that the contents meet the requirements for import.

To create the CSV file:

  1. Open your data in a spreadsheet program.
    The file should be organized so that each row of the spreadsheet represents a different lead, and each column represents a field of information about that lead.
  2. Edit the first row of the spreadsheet so that it contains the following column titles in this order:
    • ID
    • First Name
    • Last Name
    • Email Address
    • Phone
    • Market Segment
    • Sales Concept
    • Company
    • Position
    • Zip Code

    Note

    The column headings must match these values exactly, and be in this order. Values are case sensitive. If you do not have data for one of the columns, you must still have the column and title in your spreadsheet, even if none of the cells under the title have any data.

  3. Review the data in the spreadsheet to ensure that it meets the following restrictions for each column:
    Data requirements for simple lead import

    ColumnData requirements
    IDA unique value. The recommended practice is to populate the column with a series of ascending numbers. Values are not imported into NexJ CRM . Values can be alphanumeric.
    First NameMaximum 25 characters.
    Last NameMaximum 60 characters.
    Email addressMaximum 80 characters.
    PhoneMaximum 80 characters.
    Market SegmentMust be one of the following values:
    • STARTINGOUT
    • PRERETIREMENT
    • RETIREMENT
    Sales ConceptMust be one of the following values:
    • HOMEBUYER
    • MORTGAGENEEDS
    • RETIREMENTINCOME
    • SURVIVORNEEDS
    • WEALTHTRANSFER
    CompanyMaximum 60 characters.
    PositionMaximum 100 characters.
    Zip Code

    Maximum 15 characters.

    This field does not have format restrictions and can be used for both zip and postal codes.

    Note

    Fields that exceed the maximum lengths specified in this table will be truncated during import. Invalid values in the Market Segment or Sales Concept columns will be ignored.

  4. Save the file as a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file.

  5. In the majority of cases, the default values for saving as a CSV file are sufficient. However, if you are given a choice of delimiters when saving your file, you should select a comma (,) as the field delimiter and a double-quotation mark (") as the text delimiter.

The leads contained in the CSV file are now ready to be imported into NexJ CRM.