Name Import Wizard

The Name Import Wizard allows you to import Name records into the Names database from an Excel spreadsheet. The wizard walks you through six steps — selecting your file, mapping columns, choosing dedupe options, and (optionally) saving the import as a Schedulable Task to run later or on a recurring schedule.

IMPORTANT NOTICES

• By default, the import only adds new Name records. Existing names are skipped — for example, if a name in your import file already exists in the Names table but with a different address, that existing record is not updated. To update existing records instead of skipping them, choose the Update option on the Name Matching step (see Step 5).
• Duplicate detection runs against the existing Names table using one of five rules you choose on the Name Matching step: Email address, Birthdate/Name, Fullname, Namecode 2, or No de-dupe.

Requirements

• An Excel spreadsheet (.xls or .xlsx) with the names to import.
• We recommend the spreadsheet has a Header row that identifies the data in each column. E.g. first [name], last [name], address, etc.:

TIP

If you use the Student Manager native field names in the column headers (e.g. NMNAME1 for First name, NMNAME3 for Last name), the wizard will automatically map those columns to their fields and skip the manual mapping step for them.

• Date Format: in your Excel file, use the ShortDate format for dates.
• These fields must be set to Text format even if the value is only numbers: all phone number fields, all zip code fields.

• A sample Name Import spreadsheet is available for download.

What Can You Import?

You can import:

• All fields from the Names table
• All fields from Name User Defined Fields table
• Fields from the Name Unlimited User Defined Fields table

Importing Names

To start the wizard:

• Select Tools > Import/Export > Name Import Wizard.
• Right-click the Names icon in the Quick Launch toolbar and select Name Import Wizard.

1. Select a File: click the ... button to browse for your Excel file, or type/paste the path into the textbox. The Next button is enabled once a valid file is selected.

2. File Details: the wizard analyzes your spreadsheet and reports how many sheets, columns, and rows it found.

• If the workbook has multiple sheets, choose the one you want to import from the dropdown.
• If the workbook has only one sheet, it is selected automatically.
• The The first row is a header checkbox is auto-detected and checked by default. Uncheck it if your file has no header row.

3. Data Mapping: the wizard automatically maps any columns whose headers match a Student Manager field name (e.g. if the column header is NMNAME1, it maps automatically to the First Name field).

Above the grid you'll see how many of your columns were mapped automatically — for example, "9 of 10 columns automapped".

The grid lists only the unmapped columns. To map one:

1. Double-click the row, or click the Pick button.
2. Select the Student Manager field for that column from the picker.
3. Click OK.

You can leave columns unmapped — those columns will be ignored during the import.

4. Select Codes: optionally assign a Source code and/or Interest code to every record being imported, and link to a firm record if desired.

• Leave either field blank to skip it.
• Source codes that don't already exist will be created automatically.
• If you've mapped one of your spreadsheet columns to NMSOURCE, the Source Code field on this step is disabled (the per-row value from your file is used instead).
• The Automatically link the firm to a firm in the firm table and create entries where one doesn't exist? checkbox controls firm linking. When checked, the wizard looks up each imported firm name in the Firm table; if no match is found, a new Firm record is created and linked to the Name record.

5. Name Matching: choose how the wizard checks for duplicates against existing Name records, and what to do when a match is found.

To avoid duplicate name records, how should the new names be matched to existing names?

Option	Match rule
Email address (default)	NMEMAIL
Birthdate/Name	NMNAME1 + NMNAME3 + NMBIRTH
Fullname	NMNAME1 + NMNAME3
Namecode 2	Encrypted NMCODE2 value
No de-dupe	Every row is added as a new name

If a row is missing the field(s) needed for the chosen match rule (for example, no email address when matching by Email), the row is treated as new and added.

What to do with matching name records?

• Nothing, add new names only (default) — existing matches are skipped and logged.
• Update — existing matches are updated with the values from your spreadsheet.

6. Finish: choose how to run the import.

• Run the import (checked by default) — runs the import immediately when you click Finish.
• Show the log when finished — opens an HTML summary log in your default browser when the import completes (recommended). The log lists row counts, skipped/matched rows, and any errors.
• Create a schedulable task for this import — saves the import settings as a Schedulable Task you can run later or on a recurring schedule via Windows Task Scheduler. When checked, you'll be prompted for a Task ID and Description.

7. Click Finish to run the import (and/or save the task).

Import Results

When the import finishes, the wizard either:

• Opens an HTML log in your browser (if Show the log when finished was checked), or
• Displays a summary message box with row counts.

Detailed results are also written to logs\importnames.log in your Student Manager installation folder.

Automatic Data Cleanup

The wizard automatically cleans up several common data issues during import:

• Phone numbers — strips formatting characters ( ) - / \ . space from NMDPHONE, NMHPHONE, NMCELLPH, NMFPHONE, and NMPAGER.
• Zip codes — pads short zips to 5 digits and blanks out 00000.
• City and State — when a new record has a Zip code but no City or State, the wizard fills them in from the Zip Code table.

Import/Register in Course

To import names and register them all in a specific course, run the Speed Registration procedure and use the Import Wizard option from there.

Import/Register in Different Courses

To import names and register them in different courses (specified per-row in your import file), run the Registration Import Wizard.