When preparing your data for conversion to DonorView, consider the following tips to ensure your data is clean and consistent prior to the import into the software. Correcting data after import can be time consuming and is best done prior to the import. 

Constituent Records

Within DonorView, all entities that your organization will communicate with are considered constituents. This can include donors, members, foundations, sponsors, vendors, staff, volunteers, etc. You can find more information about the terms used in DonorView in the article Glossary of Terms Used in DonorView so that you are familiar with the descriptions of the field names. Your Implementation Manager will provide you with a template to use to organize your data. 

1. Each constituent record should have a unique number identifier (Constituent ID). This will be required if any donations or other transactions will be imported along with names and contact information.
2. The Last Name field is used for both the last name of an individual and the name of a company. 
3. The Profile Type field will identify whether a constituent is an individual person or a company record.
4. If any fields are not required, you can delete those columns.
5. Review your list for duplicates and remove or combine any duplicates. 
6. When combining duplicates, be sure to update Constituent ID numbers in your transaction records as well.
7. You can sort your constituent lists by name, email, phone number, or address to quickly identify duplicates. 
8. Be sure to review the names of companies as there may be several listed in different ways, for example:                                                        Smith & Jones Inc
                         Smith & Jones Inc.
                         Smith And Jones, Inc
                         Smith and Jones Incorporated
9. Check the data for spelling errors. Excel has a spell check feature to help review the data.
10. Check the data for proper capitalization so that a name appears as "Brad Jones" instead of all lower case like "brad jones" or or all uppercase "BRAD JONES." You can use the PROPER function in Excel to correct data that is not capitalized correctly.
11. Names need to be split so that the prefix, first name, middle name, last name and suffix are all separate fields as shown below.
12. Addresses also need to be split into Address Street 1, Address Street 2, City, State, Zip, County, and Country as shown below.
13. Addresses with apartment, suite, and floor numbers should be included in Address Street 1 in compliance with US Post Office standards.

Transaction Data Records

1. Transaction data can include donations, in-kind contributions, memberships, and event and auction purchases.
2. Note that historical pledge payments are imported as general donations.
3. Ensure you have informed your Implementation Manager if you need to create new pledges for recurring payments and have credit card numbers to convert. Future pledges will be addressed separate from historical transactions.
4. Transaction data is linked to a constituent record via the Constituent ID number.
5. Transactions can be categorized a number of ways. 
   1. The For field is typically the campaign, program, or project that the money is earmarked for.
   2. The Fund field is typically the bank account or accounting category the money will be deposited into or designated for.
   3. The Event field can link revenue to a particular event.
   4. The Appeal field identifies how the contribution was solicited.
   5. The Source field can identify the general source of the revenue.
   6. The Source Code field can identify an alpha-numeric code often used for direct mail campaigns.
6. Ensure your revenue categories are consistent across your transactions for future reporting purposes.
7. A Constituent ID, amount, date, and gift type must be identified for each transaction. All of the other fields are optional.
8. $0 transactions are acceptable.