Custom Import

This feature allows users to upload a file to later be imported into the Link2Feed system or data repository.

Using the import tool is a paid feature. If you are interested in importing clients' information into the system, please contact your account manager to get a custom proposal.

This article covers the following topics: 

• Custom Import tool
• What fields are required for an Import?
• What fields are required if updating existing clients via import?
• How do I prepare my Import File?
• How do I Map Fields?
• How do I save a Template?
• How do I map Custom Values for Link2feed fields?
• How do I add Validation to fields? 
• What do I do if Validation Fails? 
• How do I Import my Validated File? 
• How long should my Import take? 
• Frequently asked questions

Custom Import tool

This feature allows users to upload a file to later be imported into the Link2Feed system or data repository.

Regular Import vs Custom Import

Regular imports are preferred for one-time imports, especially when setting up a new agency with existing client data. Custom import is preferred when managing external sites with no Link2Feed access or for tracking external visits over a period of time.

Link2Feed is not responsible for the integrity of the data coming into the system.

Importing Visits

It is possible to import visits to existing clients using this tool. This can be used for backdating visits as well. You are able to import visits for any pantry program (including TEFAP and CSFP) and any generic program.

Importing Clients 

Client details can be imported through the custom import tool. This can both be used to create new clients and update existing clients in the system. For a client to be updated, they must have been previously imported or merged with an imported client, and have an external client ID that matches the previous import. 

An external ID is the ID that is being used to track clients outside of Link2Feed. It is not the Link2Feed Client ID. These are unique identifiers that differentiate one client from another.

Importing client data securely

All staff granted the Importer user permissions can only see:

• Imports created at the Organizations they have access to
• Import source options for the Organizations they have access to
• Import templates created by other users at the Organizations they have access to

What fields are required for an Import?

Importing Clients 

The following fields are required if importing clients to Link2Feed:

• Household ID
• Client ID (External client ID used for import purposes only to identify client)
• First Name
• Last Name
• Date of Birth
• Address Line 1
• City

If you have more details, it is encouraged to input them at this time. These are only the minimum required fields for your file to validate.

Importing visits only

The following fields are required if importing visits only by Link2Feed Client ID:

• Visit Date
• Program Type
• Link2Feed Client ID (Can be found under visits mapping)
• Visited Agency

The following fields are required if importing visits only by external/foreign Client ID:

• Visit Date
• Program Type
• Client ID (Foreign Key / Link2Feed External Client ID)
• Visited Agency

The system determines if the import is a “visit-only import” by looking at the mappings selected. If the mappings include any other field mapping from individuals and households other than the (Individual => Client ID) then it goes through the client profile with the visit import process and checks through all the minimal required fields (Household Id, First Name, Last Name, Date of birth, Address Line 1, City) and will throw an error if any of the required fields are missing.

Program Types:

• Pantry Programs
  • csfp_food_bank (CSFP Program)
  • food_bank (Pantry Program)
  • school_pantry (School Pantry Program)
  • tefap_food_bank (TEFAP Program)
  • usda_food_bank (USDA Program)
• Generic Programs
  • backpack_program (Backpack Program)
  • breakfast_program (Breakfast Program)
  • clothing_program (Clothing Program)
  • financial_assistance (Financial Assistance Program)
  • furniture_equipment (Furniture Equipment Program)
  • meal_program (Meal Program)
  • multi_service_program (Multi-Service Program)
  • school_supplies (School Supplies Program)
  • service (Service Program)
  • snack_program (Snack Program)
  • turned_away (Turned Away Program)

Food Provided (Checkbox)

• The name of the provision should match the active provision name for that program. Multiple provisions can be added as comma-separated. 
  • Example: Canned Food, Dried Food.

Food Provided (Countable Quantity)

• The name of the provision should match the provision name for that program. Multiple provisions can be added as comma-separated. 
  • Example: Canned Food (10), Dried Food (15).

Items Provided (Countable Quantity) 

• The name of the provision should match the provision name for that program. Multiple provisions can be added as comma-separated.
  • Example: Canned Food (10), Dried Food (15).

Items Provided(Checkbox)

• The name of the provision should match the provisions name for that program. Multiple provisions can be added as comma-separated.
  • Example: Canned Food, Dried Food.

Countable Item Quantity

• The name of the quantity should match the quantity name for that program. Multiple provisions can be added as comma-separated.
  • Example: Quantity (5).

Visit Note Description

• Text to include/attach to visit being recorded.

Visit Note Alert 

• Confirming if the visit note should be an alert.

Visit eSignature Disclaimer

• Visit disclaimer text.

Visit eSignature Type

• Visit signature type.
  • Typed Signature
  • Pre-Typed Signature
  • Hard Copy Signature
  • Sign on Screen
  • Scriptel Signature Pad
  • Verbal Consent (not available for all program types)

Visit Signature

• Actual signature

What fields are required if updating existing clients via import?

The following fields are still required when updating existing client files in Link2Feed:

• Household ID
• Client ID (External client ID utilized for the initial import)
• First Name
• Last Name
• Date of Birth
• Address Line 1
• City

Any other non-required fields can be left blank and the system will skip these fields. It will leave anything that is already on the client's profile in place. This will not cause them to be replaced with a blank entry.

How do I prepare my Import File?

• Data Source Name: name or label of your import
• Data Source Type: choose between a CSV, XSLX or XML file
• Upload File: find your file to upload it
• Use an existing template: If you previously saved a template, you can apply it to this upload
• Import Target: Link2Feed or Data Repository
• Import Source: Import Source can be set from Lists
  
  Custom Importer users will only see the import source options that align to the Organization the user is currently accessing.
  It indicates the source/system from which the records are coming in from. This is used in case if the import records are coming from 2 different systems and have the same household ID/Client ID.
• Date Format: Choose whether the dates in the file are mm-dd-yyyy or yyyy-mm-dd

How do I Map Fields?

When mapping fields from your imported file, you will need a Primary Field and a Secondary Field. If either the Primary Field or the Secondary Field is blank, the system will not map that column. Every column of your import file will be a row in the Field Mapping.

Uploaded Field: column headers listed in the file

Primary Field: list of main categories that will determine the list of secondary fields

• Don't Map: do not import this column
• Individual: relates to information about an individual
• Household: relates to information about a household. If multiple clients are in the same household, this information will be shared with all the clients in the household
• Visit: relates to information about a visit

Secondary Field: list of secondary fields based on the main category chosen. 
See How do I complete my Network CSV for import? for more information on the minimum amount of fields required to import into Link2Feed and how certain fields should be formatted.

Columns without a secondary field will not be added to the import.

Individual 

• Last Name
• First Name
• Date of Birth
• Estimated Date of Birth
• Gender Identity
• Email Addresses
• Phone Numbers 
• Ethnicities
• Self-Identifies As
• Highest Education Level Completed
• Country of Education
• Referred By
• Marital Status
• Employment Type
• First Visit
• Preferred Agency
• Immigration Date
• Household Social Program
• Income Source Details
• Income Source Amount
• Relationship
• CSFP ID
• CSFP Status
• CSFP Location
• CSFP Last Recert Date
• CSFP Inactive Status
• CSFP Enrollment Date
• CSFP Last Status Change Date
• CSFP Notes
• CSFP Caretaker Name
• CSFP Caretaker Phone
• CSFP Proxy Form on File
• CSFP Eligibility Notification Letter Sent
• CSFP Eligibility Notification Letter Sent Date
• CSFP Proof of Address
• CSFP Proof of Income
• CSFP Proof of Age
• FFC ID
• FFC Enrollment Date
• FFC Status
• FFC Partner
• FFC Program
• FFC Type
• FFC Substitute Shopper
• School ID
• School Name
• School Documents Provided
• School Expiration Date
• School Current Education

 Household

• Household ID
• Address Line 1
• Address Line 2
• City
• State
• Zip Code
• Housing Type
• No Fixed Address
• Country
• County
• Dietary Considerations
• Languages
• Expense Details
• Expense Amount
• Have SNAP
• TEFAP Recertification Date
• TEFAP Exception Date
• TEFAP Exception Reason
• TEFAP Proxy Name
• TEFAP Certification/Recertification disclaimer
• Note 1 Description
• Note 1 Date
• Note 1 Alert
• Note 2 Description
• Note 2 Date
• Note 2 Alert
• Note 3 Description
• Note 3 Date
• Note 3 Alert

Visit

• Link2feed Client ID
• Visit Date
• Visited Agency
• Program Name
• Program Type
• Visit Reasons
• Foods Provided
• Items Provided
• Referrals Provided
• Countable Item Quantity
• Visit Note Description
• Visit Note Alert
• Visit eSignature disclaimer
• Visit eSignature Type
• Visit signature

Data Type

• Text: only letters
• Number: only digits
• Yes/No: can enter Yes, No or an X to indicate yes
• Date: date only
• DateTime: date and time

 Action

• • Dictionary: this tab allows you to enter any value (cell) that may be in the file you uploaded that needs to be corrected (e.g. commonly misspelled address or “M” should be “Male”)
    To map options not listed in the system to Other or Undisclosed, clear the cells of those additional options and add a dictionary rule where the Source Field Value is blank, and set the Replacement Value as Other or Undisclosed.
  • Validation: this tab allows you to enforce a certain format of a value in the file you uploaded
    • Value Required: enforces that this column must have a value in it
    • Expected Format: the ability to select a uniform format for certain entries to ensure there are no errors
      • None
      • Email: email address format
      • DD-MM-YYYY: date format, including the ability to select the date range
      • MM-DD-YYYY: date format, including the ability to select a date range
      • YYYY-MM-DD: date format, including the ability to select the date range
      • Zip Code: zip code format, including the ability to select minimum and maximum character length

After formatting the file, you can:

• Save Changes: this will bring you back to the main custom import page
• Save Template: this will allow you to save the file validation you’ve entered by adding a title to the template and selecting which organizations should be allowed to access and manage the template
• Save & Validate: this will take you to the next step, where the system will validate the file based on the file validation settings.

How do I save a Template?

Templates allow you to preserve column mapping over time to apply to multiple files. Templates can be used when you will be importing files with the same format several times.

To create a template, you must begin a new import with a file that has the formatting you want to preserve. Apply the mapping that you wish to preserve, then at the bottom of the screen, click on Save. This will open a dropdown, where you can choose Save Template.

Choosing agencies for your template

Once you choose to save your template, you may give your template a name. You may then choose which agencies can access the template.

Users can view import templates created by other users from the Organization they have access to.

How do I map Custom Values for Link2feed fields?

If you are using custom field values for a column, you can map custom values by choosing the edit action for that row on the Field Mapping screen. This will bring up the Data Dictionary screen where you can input your custom values.

Source Field Value: The value as it appears in your file

Replacement Value: The value as it appears in Link2Feed

How do I add Validation to fields? 

You can add additional validation to your import fields. To do so, choose the edit action on the row you want to add validation to, then choose the Validation tab.

Value Required: if this is on, the cell cannot be blank

Email: The field must be formatted as an email

Date: Value must be within a date range

Zip Code: Value must have a fixed number of characters

What do I do if Validation Fails? 

When validation fails, an orange icon will appear. You can click on See Details to learn more about why the validation failed.



See Details will include a list of the errors in the import. Some of these can be fixed with mapping, while others might indicate an error in your source file.



If the problem is with mapping, you can edit the import, fix the mapping, then click on Save & Validate. Otherwise, you will need to re-upload your file.

Using templates saves you from re-mapping multiple files 

How do I Import my Validated File? 

If you see a blue checkmark next to your file, it is ready to be uploaded. You can click on the blue clock button to begin your import.

If you see a Green Clock, your import is running. If it becomes a green checkmark, your import is complete!

If you see an orange exclamation mark, your validation failed. Please see the section above for more information. 

How long should my Import take? 

Please be sure to let the file fully upload before editing duplicates. When editing the duplicates once the file is processing it will stop the upload.

When the file is importing it may be in this state for quite a while based on the size of the file.

Based on observation and recording, we encourage imports to be no more than 1000 records at a time.

If a large number of records need to be imported, we encourage breaking them up into files no larger than 1000 rows each, as the time it takes to complete the import increases much more with more records.

Number of Records	Expected Completion
250	10 min
500	30 min
1000	60 min
2000	3-4 hrs
3000	6-9 hrs
10000	30-40 hrs

Frequently asked questions

Q: If I am uploading clients and visit data within two separate occurrences, should I merge duplicates between each round?

A: The answer to this question depends on the timing of imports. It's generally recommended to merge duplicates sooner rather than later to prevent confusion, especially if you're regularly importing data.

However, if you have planned imports scheduled close together, leaving duplicates may reduce the number of merges needed.

For instance, consider Import A where you upload clients Bob ABC and Bob DEF, identified as duplicates. If you merge them after Import A, Bob DEF is no longer present as a duplicate. Therefore, if Bob DEF appears in your subsequent import, a new duplicate will be created. In cases of planned imports involving shared clients, it might be more efficient to delay merging until all imports are completed to minimize workload.