Members-Systems Help

Help Topic: Importing a Set of Members

Users can import a list of members, together with their contact details, from a file to prevent the often onerous task of manually typing their details. Many organisation will already have a list in a suitable format. Currently, Members-Systems allows you to import a file in standard CSV format, with or without headers, although you may find it easier to allocate the correct fields if you have headers in your data.

Start by selecting the menu item Members|Import Members. Select the file on your system containing your membership data and choose the options for file headers and the separators used in your file. Since every member must have a membership type, you must also allocate the default membership type for the members you are importing, in case these members do not currently have any membership type data. Then press the 'Import Members' button. (Please note that you cannot at present select the 'Check for Duplicate Members' option.

The system will read in your data, giving an error message if it is unable to do so. It will then display the first two rows of your data, together with the column headers (if any) and a drop-down giving the possible options for the data in each field. When you have selected all the fields that you want, press the 'Confirm Column Mapping' Button.

All the rows of data from your file will be displayed, together with a selection box for each row. Clear the selection box if you do not want to import that row of data.

Finally press the 'Confirm Import' button to import all your selected rows. When the import is complete, the main menu will be displayed.

Note that the import will cease with an error message if you exceed the limit of members for your organisation's licence.