Use the Data Import / Import Wizard to import your leads, accounts and contacts (limited to 20,000 records) into your Cirrus Shield environment. An Import Wizard will guide you through the import process.
But, before that, it is essential to follow the steps below for the import to be successful.
1- Clean your Excel File
t is mandatory to first clean the file by removing all duplicates, correcting spelling mistakes, removing any other errors, unnecessary spaces or unnecessary information.
Here are the steps to clean your Excel file:
Step 1 : Remove Duplicates
Step 2 : Correct spelling mistakes and special characters
Step 3 : Watch out for empty cells
Step 4 : Remove unnecessary spaces before or after emails
Step 1 : Remove Duplicates
Open your Excel file that contains all of the data that you want to import.
Note that there are 2 options to remove duplicates in an Excel file :
Option 1:
1- Select the column in which you want to recover and delete the duplicates (email, address, etc.).
2- Go to “Data”.
3- Click on “Remove Duplicates”.
4- Check the box ” Continue with the current selection ” when you get this message, then on “Remove Duplicates…” :
5- Click on “OK”
Option 2:
Detect duplicates using the formula below on a column that you insert before the column where you want to spot duplicates. In this case you must insert the formula before column D and write :
=IF(COUNTIF(D$2:D6,D2)> 1, “Duplicates”,””)
Excel will highlight in red all the duplicates.
Note: We advise you to configure a Unique Field per object in the CRM in order to avoid the duplicates. For example the Email Field is the Unique Field for the Leads and Contacts, and The Name Field is the Unique Field for the Accounts.
Step 2 : Correct spelling mistakes and special characters
It is important to correct spelling errors in the file. By doing that you avoid wasting your time by correcting them one by one in the CRM.
You must also watch out for special characters (@ ¤√ \ ©…) and replace them with the appropriate letters:
Step 3 : Watch out for empty cells
Do not fill the boxes with values if you want to keep the cell empty. Just keep the cell empty without special characters or unnecessary spaces.
Étape 4 : Remove unnecessary spaces before or after emails
When you insert the emails into your file, there may be spaces before or after these emails. All of these spaces must be deleted :
You are now ready to correct the file formats !
2- Requirements and Formats
Once the Excel file is cleaned, you will have to compare its columns with the fields in Cirrus Shield.
If in the Excel file there is a column that is not available as a field in Cirrus Shield, create this custom field in the Configuration Menu. Be careful to choose the right type of field. If it is a “picklist” type, do not forget to insert a value.
Insert additional columns in the Excel file if necessary.
The data that you include in the CRM must respect a specific format depending on the type of field.
To avoid error messages after importing the file, you must respect these requirements and formats before importing the file into your CRM :
1- Picklist and Multi-Picklist Values Format.
2- Date and Date/Time Format.
3- Checkbox Format.
4- Currency and Percentage Format.
5- Mandatory fields.
6- Insert the Owner/User column in the Excel File.
1- Picklist and Multi-Picklist Values Format
For the Picklist fields, you have to choose the API name of the values (technical name). To find these API names you have to follow these steps :
Setup in Cirrus Shield > Objects > Contact (or any other Object that you need to use) > Detail -> Custom Fields > Click on the Detail of the picklist field (Ex: Industry) > Copy the values in the « Name » columns > Paste each value in the righ cell in the Excel File :
In this case, the values of the “Industry” field :
For the Multi-picklist fields, the values should be separated with comas, should be typed with the correct API Names (SouthAfrica = South_Africa) and the et the use of quotes (” “) is required if you have a comma between the values :
2- Date and Date/Time Format
For the Date fields, use the following format in the cells of the Excel file : YYYY-MM-DD (2021-11-28)
For the Date/Time fields use the following format : YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS+TZ (2021-11-28 12:21:05+01) where TZ is the Time Zone).
To change the date format in Excel click on Home > General > More Number Formats :
Clicck on Custom (on the left) and the Type section (au milieu) insert the correct date format then save.
3- Checkbox Format
Checkbox values must contain 1 or 0.
1 = checked
0 = not checked
4- Currency and Percentage Format
Do not add the following symbols $, € or % for the Currency or Pourcentage values. Only write the number (ex: 10 au and not 10%).
5- Mandatory Fields
While importing, the presence of data is mandatory for all mandatory/required fields in Cirrus Shield.
For example: “Name” is a required field in Cirrus Shield. Make sure the “Name” column contains values in the Excel file.
If the chosen operation is “Update a record”, then you do not have to insert values for the required fields.
6- Insert the Owner/User Column the Excel file
To avoid import failure, add an essential column at the end of your Excel file which is the Owner or User column. This step is essential because the data must be linked to the CRM User (you; the owner of this CRM). In this column that you add, there must be the Id or the External Id of the Owner that you find in your CRM. We will explain the difference between these two terms and the steps to follow below :
in the CRM, the User field appears on all the pages and objects. It’s a lookup field.
There are 2 options to fill the cells of the Owner/User column in the Excel File :
- By inserting the User Id :
Setup in Cirrus Shield > Users Management > Click on the username in blue > Copy the Id that appears in the URL in the navigator > Insert this Id in the cells of the Owner/User column. (in this case the id is : 2508232802844019361)
2. By choosing a field as an External Id in the User Obejct (ex: the username) :
Setup in Cirrus Shield > Objects > User > Details > Modify Username field > Check The External Id box > Save.
Now, you can add your username In the User column in the Excel File instead of the Id mentioned in point number 1.
If the import operation is « Insert » : use the Id
If the import operation is « Upsert » : use the External of the targeted object.
You are now ready to convert your Excel file to CSV format before importing it into Cirrus Shield
3- Convert your file in CSV and UTF-8 encodage with LibreOffice
Once the Excel file is cleaned and formatted with the correct requirements, you have to convert it in the CSV format and UTF-8 encodage.
If you have special characters (é, è, à, ç …), you must save your Excel file with UTF-8 encoding.
We recommend that you use “LibreOffice Calc” for this encoding to cite each cell value.
Follow these steps :
1- Install LibreOffice on your PC or Mac by clicking on this link.
2- Once istalled, open your saved file with LibreOffice Calc.
3- Save your file as Text CSV, and tick the checkbox “Edit filter settings” then click on Save.
4- When you get the following Message, Click on ” Use TExt CSV Format” :
5- Select Unicode UTF-8 in “Character set”
6- Select the coma in “Field delimiter”
7- Select the quotes in “String delimiter”
8- Check “Save cell content as shown” and “Quote all text cells”.
You are now ready to import you Excel File !!
4- Import the file in the CRM
You have just converted your file to CSV format and UTF-8 encoding as shown in the previous section.
It’s time to import your file into Cirrus Shield :
Connect to Cirrus Shield > Click on your Name > Setup > Click on Data Import (in the list on the left).
- Upload your CSV file and select the coma as a separator (,).
- Select the object you wish to import data into. (Prospect, Contact, Account, Quote…)
- Select the operation you wish to perform :
- Insert Records :
Inserting records let you just add new recods in the CRM. Always make sure to clear all the duplicates and to create a unique field for the email. - Update Records :
Updating a record lets you just update the records without being able to create new ones. Make sure to insert the Id or External Id. - Upsert Records :
This action lets you do both operations. - Delete Records :
The “Delete Records” operation allows you to delete mass records in your organization.
For example, if you want to delete all the leads whose status is equal to Lost. Then, create a custom view with the corresponding filter criteria and export this view in csv format.
Download the csv file in the Import Wizard, choose the Delete Records operation and map the ID or the External ID column with the corresponding field in Cirrus Shield.
- Insert Records :
- Associez/ Mapper les colonnes du fichier Excel avec les champs du CRM.
Il faut toujours mappé le champ Propriétaire/ Utilisateur CRM (que vous avez ajouté dans le fichier Excel) à l’Owned Id. Une fois ceci fait une petite case apparaîtera. Décochez-la si vous avez utilisé l’identifiant et Cochez-la si vous avez utilisé l’id de L’URL. - Confirm your choices and start importing data.
The user who initiated the data import receives an email status when the operation is complete, as well as an error file in case some records were not imported.
To understand how to correct the error file click here.
5- Correct the error file
The user who initiated the data import receives an email status when the operation is complete, as well as an error file in case some records were not imported.
- Open the file with LibreOffice because Excel doesn’t read special characters. The Error Column indicates why the import failed.
- Correct the error and finally import the file again in the CRM.
6- Error Messages
If you receive the following error message :
“An exception occurred, and the operation failed. Please contact your administrator” “Object reference not set to an instance of an object
This means that there are cells in your Excel file that are empty but contain unnecessary spaces.
You need to clean the Excel file thoroughly and remove any empty spaces or “-” symbols from the cells.
As explained in point number 1 – Step 3, empty cells should contain nothing (neither spaces nor symbols).
To detect these empty cells with spaces or “-” symbols in Excel, you can filter your columns as follows:
- Click on a column in the Excel file (one where you want to detect empty cells with spaces or symbols).
- In Excel’s top bar, click on “Data.”
- Click on “Filter.”
- You will see a small arrow on the selected column.
- Check only the “Empty” box.
- Go through each empty cell to check for unnecessary spaces.
- Remove these spaces and do the same for the other columns in the file.
- Import the file again.
7 – Import Templates
You can download the files below and import them into your Cirrus Shield interface.
Please note that the records in these files are fictitious data. This serves as a test to understand the import process.
You can replace this data with your own while adhering to the import requirements and format and following these instructions in the online help.
Important: It is mandatory to open these files with LibreOffice after downloading.
Here are the files to download:
