Course progress and additional readings
Course lessons · 2 of 8
You will make: Your member list entered once, matched on email and member number, and checked against the export you started from.
How do you bring your member list into Sopact without re-keying it?
In short: a membership database is one row per member, with the details you use to reach and group them. To build one, export the member list from your AMS, or use a CSV, upload it through the user import, and match on email and member number. You enter the list once. You do not need IT help.
Your AMS holds who your members are, plus dues, events and billing, and it keeps doing that. What it does not hold is what members tell you in applications, assessments, surveys and event comments. Those answers need to land on the right person, so the person has to be in Sopact first. Every survey or form you send later then starts from members who are already there, not from a fresh spreadsheet.
- Export the member list from your AMS, or use a CSV.
- Upload the file through the user import.
- Match on email and member number.
- Check the imported list against the file you started with.
What should be in the file you export?
In short: one row per member, with email and member number in their own columns. Add a few columns you will want later, such as chapter.
| Column | Why you need it | Example (invented) |
|---|---|---|
| Used to match each person. | jo@example.org | |
| Member number | Used to match each person. It is the number your AMS already uses. | M-10482 |
| Name, chapter, member type | So you know who each person is and which chapter they belong to. | Jo Rivera, Chapter 4, Regular |
Before you upload, remove obvious duplicate rows from the file, so the list you upload is the list you mean. Export only the fields you are permitted to use for this work.
Why match on email and member number?
In short: email finds the person, and the member number is the number your AMS already keeps for that member.
Email addresses are how you reach people. The member number is how your team already recognises each member in the AMS. Both columns are already in your AMS export, so you do not rebuild anything by hand. Lesson 3 shows how the member keeps one lasting record once they are in.
Fictional example
A regional trade association with 12 chapters exports 4,200 members from its AMS. The membership lead uploads the file through the user import and matches on email and member number. She enters the list once. Every survey she sends later starts from people who are already in Sopact, and the AMS itself is unchanged.
What stays in your AMS?
Your AMS stays the system of record for who your members are, plus dues, events and billing. You export a copy of the list and upload that copy. Sopact does not take those jobs over, and importing does not change anything in your AMS.
Put it into practice
Bring in a small list and check it
Start with a small file: one chapter, one member type, or an invented test list of 20 to 50 rows. Name the columns as in the table above. Remove obvious duplicate rows, upload the file through the user import and match on email and member number.
Then check the result against your file: the number of members, three members you know well, and one member who appears twice in your own records. Write down anything that does not match and what you will fix in the file before the full list goes in.
Check your reasoning before moving on
A good import leaves you with the same members you exported, each in one row, with email and member number you can read. The number of members should match your file. A member with two emails or two member numbers in your AMS is a question for whoever owns that record, not something to guess at in the upload.
The list is entered once. If it changes, bring in the new rows you need rather than rebuilding the file for every survey.