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<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation: INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS > Importing All Data from Other Programs |
It is possible to import Organization Info, Donors, Donations, Donation Categories, and Receipt information from other programs, for one or more years of historical data. This is done with the option Database ⇒ Import ⇒ All Data. However, this is fairly complicated, and very few users use this option, because there are many better importing options in DONATION, explained in the next few paragraphs.
If all you need to import is Donors, you can use the much easier and more user-friendly Importing Donors from Excel, Text or CSV Files routine. You may also be able to import Donations, if you have a Member or Envelope Number field linking the Donors and Donations in your existing data (or can add one), with the Importing Donations or Recurring Donations routine.
In addition, there are special routines for importing data from several other specific programs. See the following help topics if they seem relevant:
•Converting Data from Membership Plus
•Converting Data from GiftWorks
•Converting Data from PowerChurch Plus
•Converting Data from Roll Call
•Converting Data from The Church Assistant
•Importing Data from Viansoft Church Contribution System
It is very unlikely that any other programs would have built-in routines to export the data in exactly the format the we require it to be in for this feature.
However, some technically savvy users may be able to create the required files themselves and use this routine. Several users have already done so. If you need assistance converting from another program, feel free to contact us for advice. This is one area where if it looks like we may have to spend significant time to do the conversion, and only one organization is asking for a specific type of conversion, we would almost certainly charge a hourly fee for our time working on it, if we were willing to take the work on at all.
This routine completely replaces all existing data in your database, throwing out anything you have entered so far. Thus, it must be used right at the start of your use of the DONATION program, and is not intended for repeated use to import ongoing new data into the program
To use these routines, you need to create the following files, in your DONATION Data Directory. We'll give example filenames for if you were importing data for 2019, and optionally also importing the prior year's data (for 2018).
Type of Information |
Filename for 2019 |
Optional Filename for 2018 |
Organization Info |
CONSTANT.TXT |
|
Donors |
DONOR19.TXT |
DONOR18.txt |
Donations |
DONAT19.TXT |
DONAT18.txt |
Donation Categories |
CATEG19.TXT |
CATEG18.txt |
Receipts |
RECEP19.TXT |
RECEP18.txt |
If you were going back as far as 1999 or earlier (which seems extremely unlikely!), you would create files called donor99.txt etc.
Each file is a tab-separated text file. A tab-separated text file is a plain-text file where each donor (or other type of record, depending on the file) is on its own line, and each field (even missing optional fields) on the line is separated by one tab character. Fields may optionally be enclosed in quotation marks, but that is not necessary. The files may not have any rows of column headers at the top – the first line must be real data. If you currently have the data in a spreadsheet program such as Excel, you can easily export it to tab-separated text with the File ⇒ Save As menu option, using the Save as type "Text (Tab Delimited)" (or words to that effect in spreadsheet programs other than Excel).
You need to be sure there are no empty lines at the end of any of the files, which can easily happen if you export from Excel. You can open the files in Notepad to check.
What follows is a description of the tab-separated columns of data to be imported from each of these files. The example file names are for if you are importing the 2019 year.
CONSTANT.TXT: |
Note: This file must have one and only one row in it. |
||
Field |
Max Length |
Required |
Description |
Organization Name |
70 |
Y |
The name of your organization or church |
Addr1 |
40 |
Y |
The first line of your organization's address |
Addr2 |
40 |
Y |
The second line of your organization's address |
Addr3 |
40 |
N |
The third line of your organization's address |
Phone |
18 |
N |
Your organization's phone number |
Receipting Person |
60 |
Y |
The name and title of the person who signs the charitable receipts |
Charitable Number |
20 |
N |
Your organization's charitable number that goes on the receipts |
Year |
4 |
Y |
The final year that you will be importing data for (for example 2019) |
Allow January |
1 |
Y |
Should always be set to 0, ignored |
DB Schema Version |
20 |
N |
This must be present, but can be anything - it is automatically replaced by a correct value by the program |
DONOR19.TXT: |
|||
Field |
Max Length |
Required |
Description |
Donor Number |
9 |
Y |
This is a numbering of the donors. Each donor must have a different number. If you use the previous year file as well (for example donor18.txt), when the same donor occurs in both files it must have the same Donor Number in both files. This number is never displayed in the program, and is different from a member or envelope number for the donor. |
Year |
4 |
Y |
The year that you will be importing data for (for example 2019) |
Business Name |
60 |
N |
If the donor is a business or organization, its name goes here |
Last Name |
30 |
N |
The last name of the donor, or of a contact person at an organization if the Business Name is filled in. |
First Name |
30 |
N |
The first name of the donor, or of a contact person at an organization if the Business Name is filled in. |
Middle Initial |
8 |
N |
A middle initial or initials for the donor, or of a contact person at an organization if the Business Name is filled in. |
Title |
15 |
N |
A title for the donor, such as Ms., Mr. etc., or of a contact person at an organization if the Business Name is filled in. |
Addr1 |
40 |
Y |
The first line of the donor's address |
Addr2 |
40 |
N |
The second line of the donor's address |
Addr3 |
40 |
N |
The third line of the donor's address (may contain the postal code if the Postal Code field is not used) |
Postal Code |
10 |
N |
The Postal Code or Zip Code of the donor |
Phone |
18 |
N |
The donor's phone number |
60 |
N |
The donor's email address |
|
Member / Env. Num. |
9 |
N |
A member or envelope number for the donor |
Pledge Amount |
Dollar amount |
N |
An annual pledge amount that the donor has pledged to donate (amounts of 0 will be ignored) |
Other Info 1 |
50 |
N |
For your own use for additional fields such as work phone, birthdate, etc. |
Other Info 2 |
50 |
N |
Same |
Other Info 3 |
50 |
N |
Same. (Note: Other Info 4 through 6 cannot currently be imported by this menu option.) |
Note: Either a Business Name or both the Last Name and the First Name (or all three) must be filled in. |
|||
RECEP19.TXT: |
|||
Field |
Max Length |
Required |
Description |
Receipt Number |
5 |
Y |
This is a numbering of the receipts. Each receipt must have a different number, and they should be sequential. This number is displayed in the program, and printed on the receipt following the year. (For example if the year is 2019 and this is receipt number 23, it prints on the receipt as receipt number 2019-00023.) |
Year |
4 |
Y |
The year that you will be importing data for (for example 2019) |
Donor Number |
10 |
Y |
This must match the Donor Number imported from DONOR10.TXT for the donor who received this receipt. |
Date Issued |
? |
Y |
The date this receipt was issued (which is printed on the receipt) in a format that will be accepted by the program, such as MM/DD/YYYY. The date format is determined by your Windows Control Panel Regional and Language Options settings for the Short Date Format. |
Total Amount |
? |
Y |
The total dollar amount of the receipt, which is the total amount of all of the individual donations included in the receipt. |
Eligible Amount |
? |
Y |
The total eligible amount of the receipt. You should only fill in this field if it is less than the Total Amount. |
Type |
1 |
Y |
"O" for Original, "D" for Duplicate, or "C" for Corrected |
CATEG10.TXT: |
|||
Field |
Max Length |
Required |
Description |
Category Number |
4 |
Y |
This is a numbering of the donation categories. Each donation category must have a different number. If you use the previous year file as well (for example categ09.txt), when the same category occurs in both files it must have the same Category Number in both files. This number is never displayed in the program. |
Year |
4 |
Y |
The year that you will be importing data for (for example 2019) |
Description |
20 |
Y |
Your description of this donation category. |
DONAT19.TXT: |
|||
Field |
Max Length |
Required |
Description |
Donation Number |
10 |
Y |
This is a numbering of the donations. Each donation must have a different number, at least within a given year. This number is never displayed in the program. |
Year |
4 |
Y |
The year that you will be importing data for (for example 2019) |
Donor Number |
10 |
Y |
This must match the donor number imported from DONOR10.TXT for the donor that made this donation. |
Receipt Number |
5 |
N |
If this donation has already received a charitable receipt, this is the receipt number for it, and must match a Receipt Number in the file RECEP10.TXT. If this donation hasn't yet received a receipt, leave this blank. |
Date Received |
? |
Y |
A date in a format that will be accepted by the program, such as MM/DD/YYYY. The date format is determined by your Windows Control Panel Regional and Language Options settings for the Short Date Format. |
Total Amount |
? |
Y |
The total amount of the donation, with no dollar signs. Decimal places and cents are optional. |
Eligible Amount |
? |
N |
The eligible amount of the donation. This should be omitted if it is the same as the Total Amount. If it is included, it must be less than the Total Amount. |
Category Number |
4 |
Y |
A category number matching a Category Number in CATEG10.TXT. |
Cheque Number |
20 |
N |
The cheque number that this donation was paid with, or any text describing how the donation was paid. Standard options are "Cash", "VISA", "MasterCard", "Money Order", "Credit Card", "Debit Card", "Direct Debit", "PAC", "PAR", "PayPal", "Non-Receiptable" and "Pre-Receipted". |
Description |
50 |
N |
Any additional Description you want recorded with this donation. |
To use this import routine, first select Database ⇒ Import ⇒ All Data. A few questions will first come up, confirming that you want to use this routine, and offering to show you this help page. A window will then come up on which you need to enter the First Year to Import and Last Year to Import. If you are just importing one year's data, say 2019, enter that year in both of these fields. To enter a range of years' data, enter the first year you have data files for in the First Year to Import, and the last year in the Last Year to Import.
Then, click Start. If all goes well, you will see the files being imported listed one by one in the list area on the left. If it all works, it will tell you that it is done, and then you can just click Close to close this window, and start working with your imported data. More likely, however, you will need to try this a few times to get it right. You will get error messages telling you what is wrong with the files. Unfortunately these messages may not be very detailed. Re-read the detailed description of each file's format and contents above, and pay close attention to the maximum length of each field. Contact us if you need further assistance to get it working. (You may want to email us the files you are trying to import so we can examine them and try them here, and tell you what is wrong.)