CRMs like Salesforce are built to store data, track relationships and unify information across an organization. When leveraging Salesforce a well thought out data import process can set users up for success. This holds true for organizations migrating to Salesforce as well as those that regularly import datasets into the system. The process for moving data into Salesforce can be complex. Salesforce.org offers the NPSP Data Import Wizard to assist with the process and recently added Advanced Mapping. The Advanced Mapping functionality allows admins to import data into all standard and custom objects that are related to Accounts, Contacts, or Opportunities. In this post, we explain why these tools are helpful for importing data into Salesforce and how administrators can get started using them.

Advanced Mapping

Salesforce data is imported one object at a time, requiring thought around the order of operations and matching on unique identifiers. When importing a list of Contacts, for example, organizations need to consider related records like Affiliations and Donations. These related records can also be associated to other records like Campaigns. This example touches four different objects and the order in which the information enters the system requires thoughtful planning. 

Several years ago Salesforce.org introduced the NPSP Data Import Wizard, which allows admins to import data to the most frequently used objects: Contacts, Accounts, NPSP Addresses, Campaigns, Opportunities, and NPSP Payments. It was an important step in streamlining the data import process, but came with some limitations. The Data Import Wizard only allowed uploads to those specific objects and mapping data to a custom field proved to be difficult. It required inserting a particularly formatted text string into the help text section of the custom field.

In September 2019, Salesforce.org introduced Advanced Mapping to simplify the field mapping process to standard and custom objects. Instead of using help text to identify where the data belongs the solution uses Advanced Mapping, which consists of Object Group and Object Group Field Mapping. Object Groups are buckets that group the field mappings for a single target object. Object Group Field Mappings tell the NPSP Data Import tool which types of records to import the data onto. Admins are still required to create the necessary custom fields on the Data Import object, which holds the data that is being imported into Salesforce. The custom field must also be created on the target object where the custom field data will end up. 

Note: Creating a custom Object Group will require a more thorough reading of the documentation and additional steps.

Getting Started

There are a few steps an admin can take in preparation for enabling Advanced Mapping at their organization. To begin, Salesforce.org has released substantial documentation on importing data into the system. Admins can gain a good understanding of Advanced Mapping by reading through the Import Data sections of the NPSP Product Documentation. They should also be prepared to test in a Sandbox environment. Running a data import and validating the configuration before moving to production can help the transition run smoothly. Finally, to use Advanced Mapping admins must first enable My Domain for all users.

Salesforce provides step-by-step instructions to enable Advanced Mapping. When you enable the setting, Salesforce will automatically disable Help Text mappings and convert them into Advanced Mappings. If any of the Help Text mappings are found to be invalid, you will see a message listing them. Admins will have the option to go back to Help Text mapping, but any changes made with Advanced Mapping will be lost. The NPSP product documentation provides step-by-step information on connecting objects and fields.

Summary + Conclusion

For organizations performing regular imports of data to multiple objects, the NPSP Data Import Wizard can be a time saving resource. The addition of Advanced Mapping makes the process more manageable and flexible. With a bit of configuration, it may be possible to reduce the number of uploads needed for data touching multiple objects.

If your organization is interested in further Salesforce projects or administration, get in contact with us.