Importacular: A Developer Interview

We at Sentinel Consulting got a chance to speak with some of the Developers at Zeidman Development. The company behind Importacular a Raiser’s Edge tool that aids in simplifying imports and keeping the process consistently accurate. We are excited to share some of the insights they had on their product and importing in general!

Kimberly Lankshear, Zeidman Developer, had the following to share with you.

Spotlight on Importacular

We've been delighted to work with Sentinel clients using Importacular with Raiser's Edge. Importacular allows you to connect directly with your chosen web service and bring your data into RE, creating and updating records in line with your data standards.

Key benefits

• Flexible mapping allows you to bring data into any field in RE

• Bring in all data in one pass - no multiple imports

• Completely customisable lookup criteria means you never create a duplicate

• Transform incoming data inline with your RE code tables and standards for consistency across your database

Getting the best out of Importacular

As you may know, you can connect Importacular directly to a number of online services, however, there are many more out there. If you are bringing data in from any platform without a direct connection you can use our file import to take advantage of all the functionality of Importacular. There's no need to mess around with the file prior to import, you can clean up all the data in the mapping template, and as long as the column headers remain the same you can use the template over and over again to speed up your importing process going forward. You can also create base templates with your preferred settings to simplify the mapping process for future templates.

Importing Best Practices

We know importing in Raiser's Edge can be complex, that's why we've created a checklist of tips for a good import, this is really useful for new users, and when creating new mapping templates too.

Keeping RE clean!

New in our latest version we are including clean-up tools for all paying Importacular users. This includes our bulk Alias Deleter and our Gift Adjustments data destination, see more here. 

For those wanting to keep track of all changes made in RE; both web and db view, and via import too, we also offer an Audit Trail tool too. Check it out here. 

For more info please get in touch development@zeidman.info

Conclusion

Thanks for all of that information, Kimberly!

I think we all want ways to save time and avoid entering everything line by line by line. Looking into tools like Importacular or learning how to use inbuilt importing tools can be a godsend. However, there is always some work in getting things going. Check out our previous article to find helpful tips on how to start thinking through the importing process.

For more insights like this one delivered directly to you sign up for our At-A-Glance newsletter. When you sign up you can ask us to cover a topic of interest and if we choose your topic you will win a gift card.

Sentinel Consulting is a consulting firm that focuses on helping non-profits strengthen their operational efficiency.  We speak the same language as our clients because we were all fundraisers at some point in our careers.