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Hello. I am in the midst of converting and importing data from a legacy Quicikbooks Customer Manager implementation to Method and have a question about merging data. I was able to get out a huge list of prospects converted to Customer Lead's in Method using a mix of standard Method fields and custom fields. The issue I am running into is there are already Customers in the system as a result of the Quickbooks sync already happening. What I need to do is merge some custom field data from the legacy Customer Manger for Customers that are already in the system from the Quickbooks sync. I noticed two fields in the Customer table, MergeOnNextSyncTo and MergeOnNextSyncTo_RecordID, that I thought might be the key to helping me accomplish this task. I'm wondering what the steps might be. Looks like MergeOnNextSyncTo is looking for a FullName value from looking at the Customer table in the Customize tab. My assumption is I should create a CSV file with FullName values for the Customer record I need to update and then import the file with the Import/Export tool. Am I on the right track here?

Hopefully I'm being clear in what I need to do, if not I'm happy to provide clarification. I thank you in advance for any explanation Method Support can provide. Thanks!

-Stevie Benge

Hey Stevie,

The MergeONNextSyncTo field simply asks Quickbooks to merge the records on the next sync. The merge is done by Quickbooks, not Method. Since leads exist in Method only, and not Quickbooks, you cannot merge leads. Do some testing before you start merging so you know exactly how Quickbooks will merge the data. 

However, you can use the Import/Export tool and Excel to clean up the data and reimport it into Method. Here is how I would approach the issue:

1) Go to Customize -> Integration Tools -> Import / Export

2) Select Export a table to a file 

3) From the drop down menu select Customer and Customer Lead

4) Select Comma Seperated Values, and click Export File.

At this point you use the exported CSV file in Excel to merge records as you need. When the data has been cleaned up, you can use the same Import / Export screen to performa  modify import, which will update the customers you changed in Excel. Then, you can simply delete the leads that are no longer needed. 

Sam

Sam... thanks for the reply. Yes basically what I need to do is merge a handful of data fields to actual Customer's not Customer Lead's in this case. The Customer Lead's are complete and require no merging of data from the legacy QB Customer Manager system. Based on your responses I think I have a handle on what needs to be done. I wasn't aware that a modify import was possible until now. Thanks again and I will post a follow up when my task is complete.

Sam... one question I have is how exactly do I do a modify import? I've prepared some test records to modify but I want to be clear on what I need to do to modify rather than overwrite the current record data. During the import process at the Validation step will it ask me if I want to modify existing records?

I figured it out, thanks...