Tutorial 3.6: Database importing and exporting

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Creating a Report

To create a customer reports for your site, select the 'Reports' tab within the Admin console, and select 'Create a Customer report'. You can then select 'Create new Customer report' in the action box on the LHS of the console.

There are Various types of reports you can create from your Customer Database, as shown in the below image -

The various report types can be explained as follows -

Contacts only - Customers Only Customers (Contacts and Companies) - Customers and Cases - Customers and Orders - Customers and Opportunities - Customers and Bookings -

Select the report type you wish to generate, and select 'Next'.

You will then be presented with a screen which allows you to specify which fields you would like to display on your report. The fields available will differ based on the report type you have selected. In our example, We have selected 'Customers (contacts and companies) option.

Select the fields you would like on your report, and select 'Next'

Next, you will be presented with a screen which allows you to filter your report.

Select your filters and click 'Generate Report'. Your report will now be generated.

If you would like to save your report, select the 'Save' button, give your report a name and select 'save' This will allow you to re-run this report easily in the future.

Exporting your report

Once generated, exporting a report is very simple.

Select 'Export Report' button at the bottom of the generated report as shown here -

And you will be presented with a report which you can open and manipulate as required in spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel, etc....

Contact Import - Basic

One of the important steps in setting up your online business is to import your existing customer database. This system allows for a basic or a detailed import. Its important to familiarize yourself with these options to ensure the import process is quick and painless.

The basic import allows for the following fields to be imported:

• Email Address (Unique Identifier)
• Title (e.g. Mr, Ms)
• Firstname
• Surname
• Company Name

The advanced option can be used to import and populate more than 30 fields in your customer database. To review the complete list go to: Admin ->Import Data -> Contacts (Basic).

To import your existing customer database into this system:

• Go to Admin -> Import Data
• Decide whether you wish to use the Basic or Detailed import option
• Download the Import Template File. This is the list of column and the order in which they must appear in
• Export your existing customer database into Excel, CSV or TAB delimited format. If you use an application such as ACT, Goldmine or any other popular CRM package you can easily export your customer database into one of these formats.
• Ensure your columns match those found in the Import Template file. Please keep in mind, even if you dont wish to populate a column, it must still appear in your import file. You can leave the column empty
• Save the file as either CSV or TAB (preferred) format
• Import

Import rules you should be aware of when importing contacts

1. An email address may only ever belong to one contact. That is no two people can share the same email address regardless of import option you choose. Please note that company records however can share email addresses with contacts.
2. In the basic import contact records are identified and matched using the email address. If no email address is provided then the contact is imported but not matched to any existing contacts. Subsequent imports of the same file will create new records for any contact without an email address.
3. If you use the detailed import and chose to use the Your ID field, then contacts are matched using this field. When this column is utilized then any contact without an email address can still be matched. Please note that even if you use this column, no two contacts can share the same email address under any circumstances.

Contact Import - Advanced

Advanced contact import is done in the same fashion as the basic import except the import template it is using contains more columns.

To download the import template go to Admin ->Import Data -> Contacts (Detailed) and click Download Import template file from the Action Box.

* Link to legacy reference articles