Omatic Support

I am trying to import a group of records.  I have the columns IsIndividual, First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, and Organization name.  Individual's records have an individual's name, and their employer's name in the OrgName field.  Organization's records have a contact's name, and the organization name is in the OrgName column.  I could not find a "Key Indicator" field in a profile configuration. 
How does Import-O-Matic differentiate between Individual and Organization records?  I assumed that I could write a dictionary that converts a Y value in "IsIndividual" field to I (RE key indicator for individual), and a N value to O (RE Key Indicator for Organization), but which field do I use? 
If Key Indicator is not an IOM field, then how do I tell the import which record type to create?

Hi Art,

Due to overwhelming reaction from our early users, Import-O-Matic eschews use of the Key Indicator field. As a matter of fact, Key Indicator was so reviled that one of our early benefit bullet points was "No more key indicator field!". IOM auto-dectects whether a row is an Org or an Individual by looking at whether it has First/Last Names or an Org Name. Even if it did use the key indicator field though, I would argue that you are putting overlapping data types into a single column which would make it unlikely to work anyway. However, IOM's new API and Virtual Fields can definitely solve this issue for you. Can you post a sample of your data file that has a header row and two sample rows (no real constituent data, please!), one an individual and one an org? I'd be glad to take a look at it and make some suggestions. (I have a lot of travel coming up next week, so please forgive any delays in response!)

Thanks,
Jeff

Art, without the API IOM looks for the presence of an org name or a last name to determine which constituent type you are entering. Because you have last names of contacts in your org records, this is why Jeff says you need to use the API. If you can move the org contacts to their own columns, this would work without the API. It is your choice.

Jeff and Melissa - thank you fro the quick and helpful replies. I copied the name, job title, and org name to a new set of columns. My columns are Title, First Name, Mid Name, Last Name, Suffix, Position, and Org Name. Now I have two sets of these columns, one set that creates an individual, and sets the organization as an org relationship. The other set creates an organization with an individual relationship. Any suggestion on making sure the same address appears on both constituent record and relationship record?

Sue - this is exactly the solution I needed! It also helped me with a different import issue I had, so thank you for helping me fix two issues at once. The screenshot really helped me get going with virtual columns, and I didn't even have to open the manual, once I saw the screenshot. I just wish that when there are no virtual columns, that there would be a note saying "To add virtual columns, right-click, and click Insert Virtual Column" or somesuch. Thanks again!

Great idea Art, we'll see if we can make the grid say that hint when there aren't any virtual columns yet.

-Jeff