Prerequisites

In order to perform an upgrade import, you must be able to satisfy one of the following two criteria in your data...

• (A) The data you are importing contains a column which contains the OpenCRM record ID (this is easily achieved by starting the update process by exporting the data from OpenCRM first.)
• (B) The data you are importing has been previously imported into OpenCRM with the "ExternalID" field mapped to a unique identifier in the imported data. The same unique identifier field is present in the latest import file.

There are two ways of updating records within OpenCRM. Firstly by exporting existing records out of OpenCRM into a csv file, editing as required and preforming an update import into your system. Secondly you can update records by creating a csv file with the new data you wish to add to existing records in OpenCRM, and giving these an externalID which matches that of an existing record in OpenCRM. Launching an update import without using an externalID or CRM ID will create incomplete duplicate records in your system.

Exporting the data you wish to update

In order to update records, you first need to export the data from your OpenCRM system to a csv file. This is done by going into the relevant module, for example Companies, and selecting the Export tool beneath the records grid.

You have the choice of either exporting all the records in the module or if you have run a search or opened a view you can select to export the records held in those search parameters by selecting "Export Displayed Company".

The selected records will be exported in full, including a number of system fields and date fields. A header row is also exported with explains the data in each column.

Selecting the data to update

To make the update process simpler, you can delete any fields/ columns you do not wish to update. It is essential that you keep the CRM ID (update import A) or the ExternalID (update import B) field intact and do not edit this, as this field is needed to associate the information with the correct records in OpenCRM. You can edit the details you wish to update, then save the data onto your computer as a csv file.

Performing an update import (A)

1. Run through the normal import procedure until you reach the field mapping screen.

2.On the field mapping screen, map the CRM ID field to the OpenCRM record ID field in your import data. When you do this you will see a pop-up message confirming with you that this will run an update import, automatically ticking the box described below in step 4.

3. Only map the fields that you want to update. Any fields that you do not map will keep the values already set on the record.

4. Tick the Update Existing Records option at the bottom of the field mapping screen

Performing an update import (B)

1. Run through the normal import procedure until you reach the field mapping screen.

2. On the field mapping screen, map the ExternalID field to the unique record ID field in your import data. When you do this you will see a pop-up message confirming with you that this will run an update import, automatically ticking the box described below in step 4.

3. Only map the fields that you want to update. Any fields that you do not map will keep the values already set on the record.

4. Tick the Update Existing Records option at the bottom of the field mapping screen

Confirming that you have correctly mapped the fields to update

In both (A) and (B) scenarios, when you have finished your field mapping and clicked the Import Now button, you will get a pop-up message.

This is designed to warn you that if you are performing a NEW data import, you are missing the mandatory fields as described on the pop-up window. As in this case you are updating existing data, you just need to click OK to continue.