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Administering Oracle CRM On Demand > Data Management Tools > Import and Export Tools > Linking Records During Import

Linking Records During Import

When you import records, you may want to link them to existing records in the database. For example, you might link a contact record (John Smith) to an account record (Smith Auto Repair).

A record must already exist in the database before you can link another record to it during import. Therefore, when you have more than one type of record to import, it is best to import them in the order in which they appear on the Import and Export Tools page. For example, import account records before you import contact records.

You can link records during import in one of two ways:

• by indicating the name of the linked record or
• by indicating its external ID code.

In either case, you must make sure that your import CSV file includes a column containing the data.

Using the Name to Link Records

To link records by indicating the name, include a column in your import file for the name of the linked record. For example, to import contact records that are linked to accounts:

• add an Account Name column to your import file
• fill in the name of the appropriate account for each contact record
• use the Import Assistant to map the Account Name column to the Account field in the contact record.

NOTE: If a contact record is imported with an associated account that does not yet exist in the database, one can be created during import. The system-created account record will use the contact's address for the account billing and shipping addresses. To enable this feature, select the Create Associated Record option in Step 1 of the Import Assistant.

Using the External ID to Link Records

You can import a unique identifier code into the External ID field for each record in the application. Then, you can use the External ID field to create links between records in subsequent imports.

For example, an exported CSV file of contact records identifies an associated account for each contact. Each account is represented by a numeric code, rather than by a name, in a column called Account Code. When importing these records, first import the account records, mapping the Account Code column in the CSV file to the External ID field in the application. Next, import the contact records, mapping the Account Code column in the CSV file to the Account External ID field in the Oracle CRM On Demand contact record to create a link between the contact and account records.