Update customers

To update existing customers:

1. Start the customer import as usual via Customers > More > Import or Options > Import data > Customers (see Start customer import).
2. Select the desired import mode: Update customers or Update customers incl. deletion (see Choose import mode).
3. Run the field mapping (see also Field mapping).

When mapping the fields, you will see the additional column Update. Please note the following:

• The merging of customers from the newly uploaded file with existing customers happens on the basis of one or more key fields, specified in the course of assigning the fields. Set the respective row to be a key row using the drop-down menu:The customer number or the external ID, for example, would be a good key field (see Key fields (IDs)). A key field requirement is unambiguousness. If you cannot find a unique field, highlight several fields as key fields – e.g. company name, street and ZIP code. In this case, the combination of these fields must be unique for a single customer. A maximum of 8 key fields is allowed. If portatour® does not find an existing customer with a matching key during the update process, a new customer will be created.

• For all other assigned fields you specify in the drop-down menu whether to keep the value of the existing customer or to overwrite it with the value of the uploaded file:If, for example, you only want to update the call interval for your customers but keep all other values, select Overwrite for the call interval and Keep for the remaining fields. In this case, the other fields will only be used for newly created customers if there are no existing customers with a matching key.
• For Last call and Last missed call, in addition to Keep and Overwrite, the update mode Overwrite if greater is available. This mode makes sense if you enter customer calls not only in portatour® but also in other systems (e.g. a CRM) and regularly transfer customer data to portatour®.
  Depending on whether the last call date from the import file or that in portatour® is more recent at the customer import, the last call date is overwritten or kept. This is evaluated individually for each imported customer. This prevents the last call date from being erroneously reset to an old date by an import.
• If you only intend to update existing customers, it suffices that your import file contains the key column (e.g. customer number) and the field to be updated (e.g. call interval).

Prior to launching the actual import process you get a summary which informs you about how many customers of the import file can be mapped to existing customers. Check if this number meets your expectations in order to detect possible errors in the key field selection (see Preview and import).

Start the update process by clicking on Import.