How to use the member import tool

Our member import tool makes it easy to bulk import existing membership records from other software. It requires that the data be provided as either a Microsoft Excel or .csv  (comma-separated values) file. The data must also be in a specific format. The table below outlines these requirements. We've also created a template as a starting point.

NOTE: We very strongly recommend having our team review your data prior to the initial import so that we can ensure that the data will work well with the software and require a minimum of post-import reconfiguration.  The import tool checks your data as the first step in the import wizard and then reports on any errors detected.  This means that you are also able to upload your import file and view possible import errors before actually importing your data.  

Important: This tool is only intended for bulk importing member records. It cannot bulk update records. We strongly recommend having your data properly prepared and complete before importing.

Field Format Required
first_name Max 25 characters Required
last_name Max 25 characters Required
birth_first_name Max 25 characters Not required
birth_middle_names Max 25 characters Not required
birth_last_name Max 25 characters Not required
gender Male, Female Required
birth_date YYYY-MM-DD Not required
death_date YYYY-MM-DD Not required
was_baptized Yes, No Not required
baptism_date YYYY-MM-DD Not required
baptism_church Max 50 characters Not required
baptism_minister Max 50 characters Not required
did_profession Yes, No Not required
profession_date YYYY-MM-DD Not required
profession_church Max 50 characters Not required
profession_minister Max 50 characters Not required
address Max 255 characters Not required
city Max 50 characters Not required
country Valid 2-digit country code Required with region
region Valid province/state/territory code Not required
postal_code Max 25 characters Not required
mailing_address Max 255 characters Not required
mailing_city Max 50 characters Not required
mailing_country Valid 2-digit country code Required with mailing_region
mailing_region Valid province/state/territory code Not required
mailing_postal_code Max 25 characters Not required
home_phone Max 25 characters (111-222-3333) Not required
work_phone Max 25 characters (111-222-3333 x 4) Not required
mobile_phone Max 25 characters (111-222-3333) Not required
email
Max 50 characters
Must be a valid email address
Not required
membership_type Member, Guest Not required
membership_start_date YYYY-MM-DD Required with membership type
membership_end_date YYYY-MM-DD Not required
membership_end_reason Deceased, Excommunicated, Excluded, Moved, Released, Transferred, Withdrew Required with membership end date
membership_previous_church Max 50 characters Not required
membership_left_to_church Max 50 characters Not required
family Unique identifier used to group people into families Not required
marriage_status
Active, Ended by death, Ended by divorce, Separated
Both spouses must have the same value
Required with marriage start and end dates
marriage_start_date
YYYY-MM-DD
Both spouses must have the same value
Not required
marriage_end_date
YYYY-MM-DD
Both spouses must have the same value
Not required
shepherding_group
Must be a existing ward/district/parish name
All family members must be in the same ward/district/parish
Not required
giving_number Must be a valid number Not required
notes Not required

Memberships

The  membership_type  and membership_start_date  fields are not required during import. When omitted, these people will simply become non-members within your Church Social account. If possible, we strongly recommend including these fields, since it can save a lot of work later on having to manually add membership information to each member.

Quite often congregations won't know the membership start date for some, or all of their members. In those situations, we recommend simply choosing an arbitrary date in the past, such as the first day of the year, or even your church institution date. Just note that any members born after that date will need a membership start date of their birth date, since the system will not allow you to be a member before you are born.

Families

Members can be automatically grouped into families based on the  family  field. This is helpful, since it removes having to manually group members into families after the import has completed. Be sure to verify that two families do not share the same family identifier. Note, this field is not used for anything beyond this purpose. You will not find the family field value anywhere in the app after the import has finished.

Marriages

It's possible to import marriages using the  marriage_statusmarriage_start_date , and marriage_end_date  fields. Both spouses must be in the same family, and must share the exact same marriage information in order for a match to be found. Error messages will be shown if this is done incorrectly.

Wards/districts/parishes

You can set the family ward (also often called districts or parishes) using the  ward  field. Like the family field, this is quite helpful, since it removes having to manually assigned wards once the import has completed. All members within a family must have the same ward set, otherwise an error will be shown. Be sure to first create your wards in the groups section of the app. The ward  field must match the ward name as it is defined in that section.