SmartSYNC: Adding IDs as aliases to Raiser's Edge

SmartSYNC: Adding IDs as aliases to Raiser's Edge

Several of your SmartSYNC flows rely on having an external systems IDs stored in Raiser's Edge as an alias. This allows us to create that one to one record link between an external systems record and its corresponding RENXT constituent record.

To initially create this link you will have to create a one-off mapping between the systems, usually involving exporting information from the external system and RENXT and then matching in Microsoft Excel or Access. Once you have your list ready you then import it through RE Database View > Administration > Import > Constituent Alias.

Matching using Excel

We suggest you use =VLOOKUP(...) to perform matching in Excel as explained here. You can use it to match data in one column of your external system to your RENXT data.

As an example you could match email address in the external system with another worksheet containing your RENXT data and return the Constituent ID from the matched RENXT row. An example formula here might be in Cell B2:
  1. =VLOOKUP(A2, Sheet 2!A:B, 2, false)
    In this example:
    1. Cell A2 contains the Email address in the external system
    2. Sheet 2 contains the RENXT data with column A having the Email address and Column B containing the Constituent ID.
You would copy this formula to all the cells in column B of Sheet 1 (the External system worksheet). The resultant column will contain the matched Constituent IDs or '#N/A' if no match was found.

Steps to import IDs

  1. Add/Edit the columns in your Excel file:
    1. Alias Type: This will be the alias type in Raiser's Edge i.e. 'DotMailer ID' .
      Note: If an appropriate Alias Type does not currently exist in Raisers Edge you will need to add it within Config > Code Tables > Alias Types.
    2. Alias Name: Rename the column containing the external systems ID to 'Alias Name'
    3. Constituent ID: The Constituent ID of the RENXT record
  2. Save your Excel document as a CSV file
  3. Go to Administration > Import in RE Database View and double click 'Constituent Alias' in the middle column.
  4. Under General:
    1. Select your CSV file
      Note 1: Make sure you have closed Excel as you might get error messages otherwise.
      Note 2: You have to change the file filter (bottom right) when selecting your CSV to 'All files (*.*)' to see the CSV file.
    2. Select 'Use the Constituent ID'
  5. Under 'File Layout' click next
  6. Under 'Fields' map Alias Name, Alias Type and Constituent ID to fields of the same name i.e.
  7. Click 'Import Now'