Allocating Patron information during a Patron Import

This article discusses the allocation of patron information during a Patron Import and covers the importance of including mandatory fields. 

Mandatory fields

Mandatory fields are essential for Patron Imports and an import will not run without them. 

These fields are required because they play a key role in patron identification and reporting. Making them mandatory helps prevent blank or incomplete records in Patron Management and keeps your data clean and reliable.

Merge-by field

When a Patron Import runs, SmartSuite does two important things:

1. Identifies the patron as they currently exist in the system
    
2. Updates their existing record with the new information from your CSV file

To do this accurately, SmartSuite needs a way to link the current data to the updated data. This is where the Merge-by field comes in.

You’ll find the Merge-by option on the first step of the Patron Import. There are five fields you can choose from, but the strongest and most reliable option is the Patron Barcode.

This is why we recommend that the barcodes in your CSV file match exactly with the barcodes already stored in SmartSuite. If they don’t match, the system will read them as two separate patrons and create a duplicate record.

Multiple data fields

If a single piece of data applies to more than one field in Patron Management, you can map it to multiple fields during the Template Mapping step.

You can do this by going to the data column and selecting multiple headings from the drop-down options. 

For example, if you’d like a patron’s email address to populate more than one field, you can simply select all options during field allocation.

Using this approach helps you quickly fill multiple fields and avoids common issues like spelling mistakes, typos, or even misallocated data.