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Process and Import Uploaded CSV Club Members List

DatabaseHelp Online Croquet England Directory Help.

Please refer to Upload Upload Club Membership CSV for guidance on creating and uploading a club member list as a CSV file to the online Croquet England Directory.

Processing an Uploaded CSV

The club's list of members is uploaded in a CSV file CSV_Document by the club's administrator and is held securely but separately from the main database until its records have been processed.

An uploaded CSV provided by a club is processed in several steps as follows:

  1. Mapping Map Data: the system must understand what the columns in the uploaded list mean
  2. Cleaning View: the contents of each person's membership record are checked for uniformity and completeness, referring back to the club if data is missing or ambiguous
  3. Linking Members: each line in the upload is compared with the current contents of the Croquet England Directory to decide whether or not it refers to an existing member. A fuzzy-matching algorithm is used for this, as some of the details provided about a person may differ from those currently recorded
  4. Importing Database Add: the data is imported and becomes live:
    • if the record matches someone already known to the system their record may be updated with any changes (see below for details) or the submitter may be emailed to check the details held online and those uploaded by the club
    • otherwise, a new record is created
    • if the club membership type does not exist, it is created
    • if the club membership type is not the same as the Directory, the club member is transferred to the new membership type
    • new members are created but members missing from the uploaded CSV are neither reported upon nor removed from the Directory
      • this is so the upload can be used to add any new members without having to re-upload all members

The uploader can undertake as many of these steps as they wish up to and including the cleaning stage (subsequent ones require privileged access to the Croquet England Directory). However, that is not compulsory - some uploaders stop as soon as the upload has been accepted and so leave Croquet England staff to complete the process.

Importing a List of Club Members

The process to import the uploaded CSV club members list is as follows:

  1. (status: Uploaded) Action: Map Data Map the columns to match database fields
    1. If data is missing, mapping cannot be completed and the club data should be enhanced and re-uploaded
    2. Once mapped, with all the required columns set (status: Mapped) copy becomes possible
  2. (status: Mapped) Action: Copy Copy the data into the mapped columns (ignoring any uploaded columns that are not mapped) in readiness to import into the database
    1. The copy operation automatically reformats some fields (such as telephone numbers) and raises warnings and errors on others for review before importing
    2. The uploaded (original) data CSV_Document is never modified and remains available for administrator inspection
  3. (status: Copied) Action: View Clean and Check. The copied data is reviewed and, once the errors and warnings are dealt with, the data is considered clean
    1. The copy can be deleted if needed in order to start again. This does not delete the original uploaded data, which cannot be deleted once mapped
  4. (status: Cleaned) Action: Members Link to people. Find any records already in the database that might match an uploaded record
    1. Inspect the import candidate and already-existing record(s) side-by-side and mark them as matching (or not)
    2. On subsequent imports, club membership number helps with the linking process
  5. (Possible status: Reverted) Action: Disapprove Revert to club usually because of missing essential data that can be easily corrected
    1. Once the query is answered, the uploaded CSV can be deleted Delete or resurrected Approve as appropriate
  6. (status: Linked) Action: Database Add Import. Update matching records from the imported data (e.g. a phone number might have changed - but see notes below on what data is not copied) and import in their entirety any people that don't link to an existing record (new member)
  7. (Status: Imported) OK Nothing more to do! At any previous stage though it may be that individual rows cannot be recommended for import without clarification and such rows are marked as Ignored. After the bulk has been imported, these individual records might be updated and then join their fellows in the main database

What is Mapping?

Column Mapping Map Data means telling the system what each of the uploaded CSV file columns means, and is performed by selecting a standardised name to match each heading in the uploaded CSV file.

If you need to add more columns to the uploaded CSV file, or tweak your data (such as moving the town into a unique column), then delete the upload and start again. You can only delete the upload from the page where you are viewing its contents.

There must be a column to show on each row whether or not this is the member's primary club - a Croquet England Standard subscription is created for all club members so marked unless they are Croquet England subscribers already.

Details of Data Processing

This section describes what is done when a record in the upload that has been linked to one in the online Croquet England Directory is imported:

The table summarises how the uploaded CSV is treated when updating an existing record, as well as which columns are required in the CSV upload and how blank cells are treated.

Field Type If Column Missing Map Data If CSV Field Blank View If DB Field Blank and CSV not Database Add If CSV and DB Fields non-Blank and Differ Database Add
Title Text (title) Warn   Copy Ignored
Initials Text (initials) (warn if column has blank values) => first letters of forename(s) Ignored Ignored
Forename Proper Name Reject Block Copy Email Sent
Surname Proper Name Reject Block Copy Email Sent
Address Line 1 Address Reject Block (can't happen) Ignored
Address Line 2 Address     Ignored Ignored
Address Line 3 Address     Ignored Ignored
Address Town Address Warn   Ignored Ignored
Address County Address     Ignored Ignored
Postcode Postcode Reject Block if UK address, else Warn (can't happen) Email Sent
Address Country Choice   => "UK" (can't happen) Ignored
email Email Warn Warn Copy Email Sent
Skype Text Line     Copy Email Sent
Tel. Home Phone     Ignored Ignored
Tel. Mobile Phone     Ignored Ignored
Tel. Work Phone     Ignored Ignored
AC Handicap Real Series     Copy Email Sent
GC Handicap Real Series     Copy Email Sent
SC Handicap Real Series     Copy Email Sent
Has CVD Yes/No   => No - Ignored
Date Of Birth Date

Reject if Is Junior column present

Block if Is Junior

Copy Email Sent
Visible To Club Members Yes/No Reject => No - Ignored
Visible To Croquet England Subscribers Yes/No Reject => No - Ignored
Membership Type Name - Club Text Line   Reject Copy Overwritten
Is Primary Club Yes/No (or name of club uploading) Warn => Yes - n/a
Is Junior Yes/No Warn => No (= adult) (can't happen) Ignored

Notes and Key: