Importing large amount of data as data list for Record Operations Task

Sue Jang
Sue Jang
Name Dropper First Anniversary Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud CRM™ General Discussions

Is there a way to import a large amount of data (over 10K), and saved as a data list, which can then be retrieved and use in a record operation task?

I've tried creating an import selections list, but this does not seem to allow for specific system record IDs to be selected and used in a record operation task.

Comments

  • Will Mercer
    Will Mercer
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Sue Jang if you have already defined the constituents in an import selection and these constituents already exist in your database then you just need to use the selection to create a data list through ad-hoc query builder. If you are actually importing new constituent records then you will need to use an import tool to do this. We use BrightVine Data Loader to import new constituents.

  • Tanya Crowe Boles
    Tanya Crowe Boles
    Tenth Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1

    @Sue Jang a data list is a feature designed to display data already stored in your system, not a place to store data. If you need to store custom data, you might need to create a custom table. If it is a limited amount of data that you need to import against a particular record type, you might could create an attribute category and put the data in an attribute value and comments.

  • Martin Porcas
    Martin Porcas
    Ninth Anniversary Name Dropper Facilitator 1 Loyalty Badge

    Hi @Sue Jang
    Do you have BrightVine Data Link? If so, and you have the latest version, you can just load the GUIDs of the records you want to perform the record operation on, into a placeholder field. Then you can use the new record operation orchestration to execute the operation.

    You can load any type of record’s GUID into this field as it just works to hold the ID needed for the record operation to work.

    I have a feeling you need to include the constituent lookup ID in the import file and map it in the field mapping, just to enable BVDL to load each row, but you can ignore it from there.

    I’ve just done something similar to delete 27,000 communication records where we identified that the marketing effort was configured incorrectly when activated!

  • Sue Jang
    Sue Jang
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Facilitator 1

    Thank you @Martin Porcas. Just to clarify, as I am very new at this. I would create an orchestration of the record operation task, or did you use the system provided record operation to work with BVDL?

  • Sue Jang
    Sue Jang
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Facilitator 1

    Thank you @Tanya Crowe Boles!

  • Sue Jang
    Sue Jang
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Facilitator 1

    Thank you @Will Mercer. I've tried this, but the adhoc query selects the entire table data for each constituent. I was not able to identify the particular record that I want to manipulate using the table record GUID.

  • Martin Porcas
    Martin Porcas
    Ninth Anniversary Name Dropper Facilitator 1 Loyalty Badge

    Hi @Sue Jang

    You create an orchestration using the ‘Execute record operation’ task. You can create this in the Prevalidation, Preprocessing or Postprocessing sections, it just depends on when you want to run it (and whether you want to know how long it takes to run, as the first and last options don't appear to count in the staging/processing time)

    On the form that opens, give the task a name and then select the inbuilt record operation. In my case I used ‘Constituent Appeal: Delete’.

    Then select the ‘Staging Table’ that contains the fields you're importing. It is probably easiest to import in to the constituent table and use the Placeholder fields for the GUID of the record you want to process (i.e. delete). Finally, select the field holding the GUID in the final field on this form.

    There's also the ability to use conditions when running this task, but I've not had a reason to use it yet as I selected the records to delete separately. It may be of use to you though. Just test it in Staging as there's no ‘Undo’ here!

    I love this new feature BV have given us, it gives us a virtually universal ‘Global Delete’. :)

  • Sue Jang
    Sue Jang
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Facilitator 1

    Thank you so much @Martin Porcas! I will try this out.

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