Importing proper contact data into Crisisworks will mean you can link them to records like requests and information, and enable you to access the contact from the Crisisworks App and call them with a single press from within the app. This will save time and improve accuracy during emergencies.
In addition from Crisisworks 4.39 and later, User management has been unified with Contact management meaning the contact import is also used to manage users.
Please read the general Importing Data into Crisisworks instructions before proceeding with Importing Contacts.
Importing Contacts
From the "What do you want to import?" drop down list on the Import Form, select the "Contacts" option and click Next. You will then be presented with available import options associated with Contacts. Choose the Contacts Import option.
For any new contact records you wish to insert into Crisisworks, you will need to either choose an Event from the drop down list or specify the Event ID in your spreadsheet for the record. If an Event ID is specified in your spreadsheet for a new item, it will override the Event selected on the Import Form.
Most of the time when import your contacts you will choose a global event so you can see the contacts in all events you have access to.
You will need to upload a file in CSV format with a list of contacts to import. Any matching contact records will be updated. If no match is found, it will skip this item and report an error. If non-required fields are empty they will be ignored. The contact import feature matches on the "Contact ID" field which relates to the Crisisworks record ID of the record.
To import changes to existing contacts, it may be easier to export them to a report first by selecting the appropriate contacts in the Contacts Datagrid and clicking Export to Report. Once the report has been run, you can then click the "To CSV" button. This will generate a CSV file that is compatible with the import system. Make any necessary changes to the records in the CSV file, save it and choose this file to import.
Alternatively, you can download the sample Contacts CSV file below and base your import on this file.
To remove data from a field, type the value "[NULL]" (without the quotes) into the cell. If this value is found, it will remove the contents of the field. You cannot clear contents of a required field.
Please note: imports cannot be undone once they are imported. However, you can specify an optional tag to add to each record so you can identify all imported records.
CSV File Format
The following CSV fields & rules are needed for the import to work.
Download the Contacts Import sample CSV import file
Below is a list of CSV fields that should be added to your CSV file. The Field column displays what the headings should be in your CSV file.
Field | Description |
|---|---|
Contact ID | the id in Crisisworks. (Required field) |
| Contact Status | the status of the record. This can be set to Active or Inactive. Defaults to Active. |
First Name | text (Required field) |
Last Name | text (Required field) |
| Event ID | the ID of the event the current contact exists in or the event to insert new contacts into. Alternatively you can leave this field blank and choose the Event Selector on the Import Form when inserting new records |
| Organisation Name | text. (this is a free text field of the contact's organisation which doesn’t relate to the Organisations in Crisisworks) |
| Contact Position | text. (this is a free text field of the contact's position title which doesn’t relate to positions in Crisisworks) |
| Contact Email | text |
| Contact Rank | text |
| Contact Notes | text |
| Contact Tags | optional tags for the contact. Comma separated for more than one tag. Leave blank if not needed. Alternatively, you can add a tag to the import form which will be added to every contact record imported. |
| External Id | An optional external Id used to identify a contact in a separate system. This external Id can be used for matching contacts for importing into Crisisworks if necessary. |
| External Source | Optional external source data to identify where the import data is coming from. Your data must be unique based on External ID and External Source. |