Do you have data from another system that you want to get into Rock in an automated way? If so, the CSV Import feature is just what you need. This feature lets you add data to Rock from a CSV file. Currently only Person data can be imported this way. In most cases you would use this to import Person data from an external system, such as a previous ChMS. This is a quick and efficient tool, with features that help you troubleshoot problems with your import if any errors are encountered. Preparing the Import The first steps in Rock are pretty straightforward. You'll select a Data Type (which will be "People") and then a short description of where the data is coming from. Then you can upload your CSV file and start your import. Data Type - For now, this will be "People", but additional data types may be added in the future.Source Description - You'll want to give a name to the batch of records that you're importing, indicating where these records came from. You don't need to know this but, for those who are curious, the Source Description you provide here gets used as the ForeignKey on the person records that are imported.CSV File - This is where you'll upload the CSV file containing the person records that you want to import into Rock. In most cases the CSV will be created from an external system or former ChMS.Allow Updating Existing Matched Records - The process can not only import records, but it can update existing records as well. If the process finds a matching person based on matching first name, last name and email, then that person's data will be updated. Keep in mind that the person's data in Rock can be updated to a blank value. For instance, if the person has a Home Phone in Rock but doesn't have a Home Phone in the file you're uploading, the person's Home Phone will be removed from Rock. This scenario would only apply if Home Phone is part of the data you're importing.Start - Once all of the above pieces are in place, hit the Start button to proceed to the next step, which we'll describe below.Field Information - This information will help guide you when it comes to creating your CSV file. At a minimum, you'll want to ensure that all of theRequired Fieldsare present as columns in your CSV file. Note that you can import additional fields as person attributes, if you have those attributes created already in Rock. We'll touch on this more below Note that the steps above only apply to your very first import. As pictured below, the process will be slightly different if you've done an import already. Previous Source Descriptions - Here you'll see a list of previous sources from which you've imported in the past. You'll select one of these when you want to run the import from the same source. For instance, after your first import you may need to make adjustments to the data in the CSV file and import it again.Add Additional Source Description - Click this link to add a newPrevious Source Description. You would only need to do this if you're importing from a different source than prior imports. Field Mapping The next step in the process is to map the columns in your CSV file to fields in Rock. As pictured below, each column in your CSV file will be listed on the screen, with a drop-down menu underneath it. All you need to do is pick the field in Rock that corresponds with the column in your file. For instance, if your file has a first_name column then you would pick "First Name" as the field in Rock that it should map to. Record Count - A count of the records that are going to be imported is displayed for reference. If this isn't the number you're expecting, you might want to check out your CSV file and confirm it contains what you need.Field Mapping - This is a simple but very important step in the process. As noted on the page, the selections you make here can't be undone after the import. For instance, if you accidentally mapped an external last name column to the "First Name" field in Rock, you're stuck with last names being first names. Be careful, take your time, and double-check your work before proceeding. After all of the mapping has been completed click the Import button at the bottom of the page to start the import. Final Steps After clicking Import as described above, Rock will arrange and import your data. If everything went well, you'll see a success message as pictured below. There may be cases where the data doesn't import smoothly into Rock. If that happens, Rock will give you a new CSV file that contains the errors that were encountered. Click the Download CSV File With the Errors button to get this file. The file will contain a column named "CSV Import Errors" which will give you details on the issue that was encountered. The best part is, you can take that error file, make your edits directly inside it, and then re-import it as-is. This lets you re-process only the records that hit an error. If a person record is successfully found or created in Rock, but if that record hit an error during the import, a special note will be added to the person's record. In the example pictured below, the import process encountered an error with the person's Gender. This alerts people who are viewing the profile to potentially incorrect or missing data, prompting them to update the record if the correct values are known.