Contacts-Only Import Guidelines

A contacts-only import is a simplified version of the standard import and allows you to import mentors and mentees and their contact & demographic information. A contacts-only import does NOT include match data, communications/notes, activities, etc. As a result, mentors and mentees who are currently in a match or were previously in a match will need to be matched manually via the database after going live. All data must be pasted into the template that we will provide to you.

  • Mentors should be provided on the Mentors sheet; mentees should be provided on the Mentees sheet. A participant cannot be imported as both a mentor and mentee. If they are involved in both ways, you will need to manually adjust the database record after going live to add the role (mentor/mentee) that wasn’t imported.

  • On your mentor, mentee sheets, each participant should be listed only once per sheet. Note: Mentors/mentees with more than 1 match record can have additional case records manually added post-import.

  • All guardians and their data must be listed on the Guardians tab and listed only once on that tab. In order to link them to the right mentee(s), you’ll need to specify the Guardian ID in that column on the Mentees tab for each child they should be tied to.

  • Names should be separated into first name, last name and middle name/initial columns. All extra spaces should be removed from your first name, last name, and middle name/initials columns.

  • Only include columns of data that should be imported (delete anything you don’t want to bring into your new database).

  • Use the filtering capabilities of Excel to review all of the responses you will be bringing into your database. Consider whether you would like to consolidate or correct any of the data. Also consider how you want your data to appear going forward.

  • Please note: If you are using the Contacts-Only Import to add additional data to your database after it is live, this import does not update existing records. So, if you are adding a contact that already exists in your database, it will create a duplicate record. Please review your new contacts carefully before submitting your import spreadsheet to us.

Required Columns

  • Each participant on your Mentor & Mentee sheets MUST include the following data:
    • First Name
    • Last Name
    • Program Name (use the actual name of the program as you want it to appear in the database; if someone is involved in more than one program, you will list only 1 program in the import and add the additional case records after you go live to denote the additional involvements.)
    • Current Status (if matched, this should be listed as Waiting so that you can efficiently match the participants after-the-fact): Registering OR Waiting
      • Registering = When the applicant applied to the program and started the enrollment process.
      • Waiting = When the applicant was eligible to be matched or was matched, whichever comes first depending on the data you have.
    • Registering Date OR Waiting Date

Optional Columns

  • Profile Data: you can include any number of columns of profile data for your participants. For any profile field that isn’t listed in the sheet, just append the columns with the additional data you wish to bring into your new system.

  • Registration related dates (eg - Application Date, Interview, Background Check Date, etc.): you can include any number of registration-related dates. The registration step should be the name of the column header, and all data within the column must be dates only (mm/dd/yyyy) or they cannot be accepted.

  • Emergency Contacts or References: you may provide full name, Phone 1, Phone 2, and email address, and/or note for contacts who should be listed within the mentee/mentor record. Each data element should be listed as a separate column in the spreadsheet as shown below:

  • If you will be using the texting feature, you may wish to import mobile numbers for your participants because only phone numbers specified as a “Mobile” type will be eligible to receive text messages from the database.