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Importing Customer Data

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📋 The Scenario

• 250 customer records in Excel
• Associated contact information
• Multiple locations per customer in some cases

• Avoiding duplicates
• Maintaining data quality
• Setting up proper relationships
• Being able to roll back if something goes wrong

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🎯 What You’ll Learn

• Preparing data for import
• Using import templates
• Handling complex data relationships
• Validating imported data
• Recovering from import errors

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📝 Prerequisites

• Admin or Owner role
• Source data in spreadsheet format
• Time to prepare and verify data (don’t rush this!)
• Backup of original data

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👣 Step-by-Step Walkthrough

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Step 1: Assess Your Data (15 minutes)

1. Open your source data
   • What columns do you have?
   • How many records?
   • What’s the data quality like?
2. Audit for issues:

   Issue	How to Check	Found?
   Duplicates	Sort by name, look for repeats	Some
   Missing data	Filter for blanks in key columns	Yes
   Inconsistent formats	Phone numbers, addresses	Yes
   Invalid emails	Check for @ and domain	Some
   Mixed data	Multiple data types in one column	No

3. Example source data:
   Company Name       | Contact    | Phone        | Email                | Address
   -------------------|------------|--------------|----------------------|------------------
   ABC Company        | John Smith | 02 9555 1234 | [email protected]        | 123 Main St Sydney
   ABC Company        | Jane Doe   | 0412345678   | [email protected]        | 123 Main St Sydney
   XYZ Industries     |            | 9555-5678    | [email protected]     | 456 Oak Avenue
   Test Customer      | Bob        |              | bob@test            |
   Acme Corp          | Alice Wong | (02) 9555 9999| [email protected] | Suite 1, 789 Pine Rd
   
   Issues spotted:
   • ABC Company appears twice (two contacts, same company)
   • XYZ has no contact name
   • Phone formats inconsistent
   • Test Customer has invalid email, missing address
   • Need to decide: one record per company, or per contact?

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Step 2: Download the Import Template (2 minutes)

1. Navigate to Import
   • Go to Settings > Import Data
   • Select Customers
   • Click Download Template
2. Review the template columns:

   Column	Required	Description
   customer_name	Yes	Company/customer name
   trading_name	No	Alternative business name
   email	No	Primary email
   phone	No	Primary phone
   website	No	Company website
   street_address	No	Billing address
   city	No	City/suburb
   state	No	State/region
   postal_code	No	Postcode/ZIP
   country	No	Country
   payment_terms	No	Days (e.g., 30)
   tax_number	No	ABN/GST number
   notes	No	Internal notes
   status	No	active/inactive
   reference	No	Your reference code

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Step 3: Prepare Your Data (30-60 minutes)

1. Copy template structure
   • Create new sheet using template columns
   • Or add template columns to your existing data
2. Clean your data: Deduplicate:
   Before: ABC Company (2 rows - 2 contacts)
   After:  ABC Company (1 row - primary contact)
          Note: "Additional contact: Jane Doe [email protected]"
   
   Standardize phone numbers:
   Before: 02 9555 1234, 0412345678, 9555-5678, (02) 9555 9999
   After:  02 9555 1234, 0412 345 678, 02 9555 5678, 02 9555 9999
   
   Fix addresses:
   Before: 123 Main St Sydney
   After:
     street_address: 123 Main Street
     city: Sydney
     state: NSW
     postal_code: 2000
   
   Handle missing data:
   Before: Test Customer (incomplete)
   Decision: Remove from import, add manually later
            OR fill in minimum required data
   
3. Final prepared data:

   customer_name	email	phone	street_address	city	state	postal_code	notes
   ABC Company	[email protected]	02 9555 1234	123 Main Street	Sydney	NSW	2000	Contact: Jane Doe ([email protected]) also available
   XYZ Industries	[email protected]	02 9555 5678	456 Oak Avenue	Sydney	NSW	2010	No named contact on file
   Acme Corp	[email protected]	02 9555 9999	Suite 1, 789 Pine Road	Sydney	NSW	2020

4. Save as CSV:
   • File > Save As
   • Choose CSV format
   • Use UTF-8 encoding if prompted

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Step 4: Do a Test Import (10 minutes)

1. Create a test file:
   • Copy 5-10 representative records
   • Include edge cases (long names, special characters)
   • Save as separate test CSV
2. Run the test import:
   • Go to Settings > Import Data
   • Select Customers
   • Upload your test file
3. Map columns: The system shows your columns and asks you to match them:

   Your Column	Maps To	Status
   customer_name	customer_name	✓ Auto-matched
   email	email	✓ Auto-matched
   phone	phone	✓ Auto-matched
   street_address	street_address	✓ Auto-matched
   city	city	✓ Auto-matched
   state	state	✓ Auto-matched
   postal_code	postal_code	✓ Auto-matched
   notes	notes	✓ Auto-matched

4. Preview the import:
   • Review how records will look
   • Check for any warnings
   • Verify data appears correctly
5. Complete test import:
   • Click Import
   • Wait for completion
6. Verify test records:
   • Go to Customers
   • Find your test records
   • Open each one and verify data is correct

   Check	Result
   Names correct	✓
   Phones formatted	✓
   Addresses complete	✓
   Notes preserved	✓
   No duplicates	✓

7. Clean up test data:
   • Delete the test customer records
   • (Or mark as inactive with clear “TEST” naming)

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Step 5: Perform Full Import (15 minutes)

1. Final preparations:
   • Test import successful
   • Full data file ready
   • Backup of source data saved elsewhere
   • Team notified (don’t import while others are adding customers)
   • Time set aside to verify after
2. Upload the full file:
   • Go to Settings > Import Data
   • Select Customers
   • Upload your prepared CSV
3. Verify column mapping:
   • Should match your test
   • Double-check each column
4. Preview:
   • Review record count (matches expectation?)
   • Check sample records
   • Note any warnings
5. Import:
   • Click Import
   • Wait for completion
   • Note: Large imports may take several minutes
6. Review import results:

   Metric	Expected	Actual	Status
   Records submitted	248	248	✓
   Records imported	248	246	⚠️
   Errors	0	2	Review
   Duplicates skipped	0	0	✓

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Step 6: Handle Import Errors (if any)

1. Download error report:
   • Most systems provide an error log
   • Shows which records failed and why
2. Common errors and fixes:

   Error	Cause	Fix
   ”Invalid email format”	Email like “bob@test”	Fix email or leave blank
   ”Required field missing”	No customer name	Add customer name
   ”Duplicate detected”	Record already exists	Skip or merge
   ”Value too long”	Name exceeds limit	Shorten text

3. Fix and reimport failures:
   • Create new CSV with just failed records
   • Correct the issues
   • Import the corrected records

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Step 7: Verify Imported Data (15 minutes)

1. Check record count:
   • Go to Customers
   • Total should match import count
   • (Plus any existing records)
2. Random spot checks: Pick 10 random customers and verify:

   Customer	Name ✓	Address ✓	Phone ✓	Email ✓	Notes ✓
   Record 1	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
   Record 2	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
   …

3. Check edge cases:
   • Longest customer name
   • Special characters (& ’ ” etc.)
   • International addresses
   • Records with minimal data
4. Search test:
   • Search for specific customers
   • Verify they’re findable

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Step 8: Post-Import Tasks

1. Archive source file:
   • Save final import CSV
   • Note date and record count
   • Store securely
2. Document the import:
   Import Log - December 9, 2024
   =============================
   Source: CustomerExport_v3_final.csv
   Records: 248 submitted, 246 imported
   Errors: 2 (fixed and reimported)
   Performed by: [Your name]
   
   Notes:
   - Original data from legacy CRM export
   - Cleaned phone formats, addresses
   - Consolidated duplicate entries
   - 2 contacts per customer added to notes field
   
   Verification: Spot-checked 15 records, all correct
   
3. Notify stakeholders:
   • Let the team know import is complete
   • Note any special considerations

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⚡ Pro Tips

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Data Preparation

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Import Safety

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When Things Go Wrong

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🔄 Variations

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Importing Locations

• Link to existing customers (need customer ID or name)
• Include access information
• Add building details

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Importing Assets

• Needs location or customer reference
• May need asset types created first
• Include compliance dates if available

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Updating Existing Records

1. Export current data first
2. Merge your updates with exported data
3. Use update/merge import option (if available)
4. Or manually update changed records

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❓ Common Questions

Same process, but: 1) Allow more time, 2) Consider importing in batches of 250-500, 3) Verify more thoroughly.

Contacts are usually a separate import. Import customers first, then import contacts with customer references.

Not automatically. You’d need to manually delete imported records or restore from backup. This is why testing is critical.

You can: 1) Skip those columns, 2) Map to custom fields if available, 3) Include in notes field.

Import customers first, then locations. Location import will reference customers by name or ID.

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✅ Import Checklist

• Source data assessed
• Template downloaded
• Data cleaned and formatted
• Duplicates resolved
• File saved as CSV

• Small test file created
• Test import successful
• Data verified correct
• Test data cleaned up

• Team notified
• Full file uploaded
• Columns mapped correctly
• Preview reviewed
• Import completed

• Record count matches
• Spot checks passed
• Edge cases verified
• Search works

• Source file archived
• Import documented
• Stakeholders notified

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Sample Data Transformation

Name,Person,Ph,mail,Addr
ABC PTY LTD,J Smith,95551234,[email protected],123 Main St Sydney NSW 2000
abc company,Jane,0412 345 678,jane@abc,123 Main St Sydney NSW 2000

customer_name,email,phone,street_address,city,state,postal_code,notes
ABC Pty Ltd,[email protected],02 9555 1234,123 Main Street,Sydney,NSW,2000,"Contacts: John Smith (primary), Jane (0412 345 678)"

• Standardized company name format
• Consolidated duplicate into single record
• Fixed phone format
• Split address into components
• Invalid email removed, added to notes
• Additional contact preserved in notes