Work with data in the source .csv file
External contacts
External ID is the required key field that Genesys Cloud’s import process uses to determine unique contacts. This field helps identify contacts so that you can easily update existing contacts via the same spreadsheet. For each unique External ID, the import process creates one Genesys Cloud external contact record. The import process imports all the contact fields in the row to the corresponding Genesys Cloud external contact record.
When you create an External ID, you can use any combination of letters and numbers. For example, you can use a unique identifier from your CRM or ERP system, or you can create a composite key that is meaningful to you. It can be any External ID you want to use to identify the record, as long as it meets the 255 character limitation. If your .csv is extracted from a CRM, we recommend using unique identifiers (UUIDs) from your CRM. UUIDs allow synchronizing contacts from your CRM in upcoming feature updates.
If you only plan to import the record once, you can use any external ID you want. The system generates internal IDs to correspond with those external IDs.
- If you have previously imported your contacts using the old Bulk Import process, the system only uses the Phone or Email Address identifiers to match and update your contact with the new External ID. If your old contacts do not have an email or phone number that matches the email or phone in your new .csv file, the system creates a record with your specified External ID in the .csv.
- If a contact’s information is repeated multiple times in the same file, the contact updates multiple times, and the rows imported counter reflect the repetition. However, the order in which the updates occur is not guaranteed.
When updating contacts previously imported using the new Bulk Import process, ensure you use the same External IDs to avoid creating duplicate records.
If a contact’s information is repeated multiple times in a file, the contact updates multiple times, and the import count reflects the repetition. However, the order in which the updates occur is not guaranteed.
For example, if you import a spreadsheet with a record using ‘A’ as the External ID and later reimport the same spreadsheet with ‘B’ as the External ID for that record, Genesys Cloud creates a record instead of updating the existing one. To update an existing record, always use the same External ID.
External organizations
The External Organization External ID is the key field which the import process uses to determine unique organizations. For each unique External Organization External ID, the import process creates one Genesys Cloud external organization record. The import process imports all the account fields in the row to the corresponding Genesys Cloud external organization record.
When you create an External Organization External ID, you can use any combination of letters and numbers. You can create a composite key that is meaningful to you, as long as you meet the 255 character limitation. If your .csv is extracted from a CRM, we recommend using unique identifiers (UUIDs) from your CRM. UUIDs allow synchronizing contacts from your CRM in upcoming feature updates.
Associate an external contact with an external organization
To associate an external contact with an external organization, type them on the same line in the .csv source file.
In this example, Angus Reid is a Problem Solver for Phoenix Foundation II. The import process creates the external organization record for Phoenix Foundation II and an external contact record for Angus Reid. In External Contacts, Angus Reid appears as an external contact for the Phoenix Foundation II organization.
Associate multiple external contacts with one external organization
To associate multiple external contacts with one external organization, assign the same External Organization External ID to all of them.
In this example, Kathryn, Josh, and Rebecca are all contacts for the Office Mart organization.
- When the import process encounters multiple rows with the same External Organization External ID, Genesys Cloud expects the account data to be the same in all the fields. For example, the Account Name must be identical in all the rows that have the same External Organization External ID. The import process imports only one of the rows of account data when multiple rows have the same External Organization External ID. Genesys does not guarantee which row of account data the process imports. It is not necessarily the first or the last line in the set of rows for the account. Therefore, all rows of account data must be identical.
- You cannot use a .csv file to import members to an organization that you manually created.
How the bulk import process manages the merge actions
In this example, import contacts only and assume that all external contact organization fields in the .csv file are empty.
During the Bulk Import process, the following options were selected in the Import Profile screen:
- Match Contacts by: External ID, Phone Number, and Email Address
- Merge and update all matched contacts: Update first matched contact only
In this example, the order of identifiers searched for is:
- ExternalID: 123AABC
- phone: +1 919 432 5523
- email: tom.sellenta@sag.aftra.com
The Work Phone from .csv is matched with Contact C’s cell phone number. A new merged ContactD is created.
In the following table,
- The Field Name column indicates the field name in the .csv file.
- The CSV Data (Enrich Request) column indicates the data from the .csv file.
- The Contact B column is a curated contact in Genesys Cloud.
- The Contact C column is a curated contact in Genesys Cloud.
- The Contact D column is the merged contact after completion of the import.
- The Explanation column describes how the Contact D column data was imported.
| Field Name | CSV Data (Enrich Request) | Contact B | Contact C | Contact D (Merged Contact) | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| External ID | 123AABC | 123AABC | The External ID from the .csv record enriches the merged record as its primary identifier. The Contact ID used by the old .csv import is no longer used or displayed in the contact records. | ||
| firstName | Tom | Tommy | Tom | Tom | Data conflict, the merged contact retains the most recent data from the .csv file. |
| middleName | T | T | No conflict | ||
| lastName | Selleck | Selk | Selleck | Data conflict, the merged contact retains the most recent data from the .csv file. | |
| title | Problem Solver | Problem Solver | Value from Contact C is used. | ||
| salutation | Mister | Mr. | Mister | Data conflict, the merged contact retains the most recent data from the .csv file. | |
| work Email | tom.selleck@sag.aftra.com | tom@gmail.com | tom.selleck@sag.aftra.com | tom.selleck@sag.aftra.com | Data conflict, the merged contact retains the most recent data from the .csv file. |
| personal Email | tom@hotmail.com | tommy@yahoo.com | tom@gmail.com | Emails and phone numbers are handled carefully during merges to avoid data loss. If two contacts use the same field (for example, workEmail), the data is moved to another available field (for example, personalEmail or otherEmail). In this example, “tom@gmail.com” is moved from workEmail to personalEmail instead of dropping it. This process continues iteratively until all possible fields are used. If no more fields are available, the data is dropped. |
|
| other Email | tommy@hotmail.com | The specific field names aren’t important and data is preserved from merged contacts wherever possible. If no available fields remain for relocation, the data is dropped. | |||
| cell Phone | +1 919 432-5523 | Work Phone from .csv is matched with Contact C’s cell phone. This field will be updated after the import with .csv data’s cell phone (which is empty in this case). | |||
| work Phone | +1 919 432-5523 | +1 317 845-1232 | +1 317 845-1232 | As the Import Field checkbox was unchecked, Contact C’s WorkPhone remains unchanged after the import. | |
| home Phone | No updates, no value in any contact. | ||||
| other Phone | No updates, no value in any contact |
This example imports contacts only. The assumption is that the External Org fields in the .csv file are empty.
During the Bulk Import process, the following options were selected in the Import Profile screen:
- Match Contacts by: External ID, Phone Number, and Email Address
- Merge and update all matched contacts: Update first matched contact only
In this example, the order of identifiers searched for is: (The email id comes before ExternalID)
- ExternalID: 123AABC
- email: tom.selleck@sag.aftra.com
- phone: +1 919 432-5523
The Work email from .csv is matched with Contact C’s Work Email. This contact will be updated after the import and the Contact B remains unchanged as the Merge and update all matched contacts option is not selected.
In the following table,
- The Field Name column indicates the field name in the .csv file.
- The CSV Data (Enrich Request) column indicates the data from the .csv file.
- The Contact B column is a curated contact in Genesys Cloud.
- The Contact C column is a curated contact in Genesys Cloud
- The Updated Contact C column is the merged contact after completion of the import.
- The Explanation column describes how the Contact D column data was imported.
| Field Name | CSV Data (Enrich Request) | Contact B | Contact C | Updated Contact C | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| External ID | 123AABC | 123AABC |
The External ID from the .csv record enriches the Contact C record as its primary identifier. The Account ID used by the old .csv import is no longer used or displayed in the contact records. |
||
| firstName | Tom | Tommy | Tom | Tom | No conflict, no change. |
| middleName | T | Update Contact C with data from the .csv. | |||
| lastName | Selleck | Selk | Selleck | Conflict. Update Contact C with data from the .csv. | |
| title | Problem Solver | Problem Solver | No updates since the Import field is unchecked. | ||
| salutation | Mister | Mr. | Mister | Conflict. Update Contact C with data from the .csv. | |
| work Email | tom.selleck@sag.aftra.com | tom@gmail.com | tom.selleck@sag.aftra.com | tom.selleck@sag.aftra.com |
Work email from the .csv is matched with Contact C’s Work Email. This contact is updated after the import and Contact B remains unchanged as it was not the first contact matched and Contact C was the first matched contact. |
| personal Email | tommy@yahoo.com | tom@yahoo.com | No updates since the Import field is not selected. | ||
| other Email | No updates, no value in any contact. | ||||
| cell Phone | +1 317 845-1232 | +1 317 845-1232 | No updates since the Import Field is not selected. | ||
| work Phone | +1 919 432-5523 | +1 317 845-1232 | +1 919 432-5523 | As there is a conflict, Contact C is updated with data from .csv. | |
| home Phone | No updates, no value in any contact. | ||||
| other Phone | No updates, no value in any contact. |
In this example, some contacts are identified, and some contacts are curated. By definition, Identified Contacts have not claimed an identifier in the system yet. Curated Contacts have claimed an identifier at the time of their creation.
Contacts can be one of three types:
- Ephemeral: An autogenerated contact that is associated with a client-side web identifier or cookie, but it has no other information. In other words, it is an empty contact where a web cookie/client-side identifier points to it. They have a 60-day time-to-live (TTL) limit.
- Identified: An autogenerated contact having non-cookie PII and has a 60 day TTL limit.
- Curated: Contacts that have been created or _promoted_ by agents or API calls. They have no TTL limit.
Ephemeral and identified contacts are system-generated and do not appear in search APIs, reverse-whitepages lookups, or scans.
The following two contacts are matched in the system:
- Contact B (Curated)
- Contact C (Identified)
During the Bulk Import process, the following options were selected in the Import Profile screen:
- Match Contacts by: External ID, Phone Number, and Email Address.
- Merge and update all matched contacts: Merge and update all matched contacts.
In this example, the order of identifiers searched is:
- ExternalID:123AABC
- email: johnny@gmail.com
- phone: null
The Personal email field from the .csv file is matched with Contact C’s other Email field.
In the following table,
- The Field Name column indicates the field name in the .csv file.
- The CSV Data (Enrich Request) column indicates the data from the .csv file.
- The Contact B column is a curated contact in Genesys Cloud.
- The Contact C column is an identified contact in Genesys Cloud.
- The Contact D column is the merged contact after completion of the import.
- The Explanation column describes how the Contact D column data was imported.
| Field Name | CSV Data (Enrich Request) | Contact B | Contact C | Contact D | Explanation |
| External ID | 123AABC | 123AABC | The External ID from the .csv record enriches the Merged Contact D record as its primary identifier. | ||
| firstName | Johnny | Johnny | The value from the Identified Contact is used as there is a conflict. | ||
| middleName | Matthew | M | Matthew | As there is a conflict, the value from the newest curated contact is used. | |
| lastName | Banks IV | Banks | Banks IV | Banks IV | The value from the Identified Contact is used as there is a conflict. |
| title | Johnny Boy | Null values are not used from the .csv imports. Contact C’s value is used. | |||
| salutation | Mr | Null values are not used from the .csv imports. Contact B’s value is used. | |||
| work Email | Banks@gmail.com | Banks@gmail.com | Emails are handled carefully during merges to avoid data loss. Therefore although the .csv data’s work email is null, we still preserve the work Email from Contact B after the merge and place it in Work Email for the merged Contact D. | ||
| personal Email | johnny@gmail.com | johnny@gmail.com | Personal email from the .csv is matched with Contact C’s other Email. Value from the .csv is used for Personal email for the merged Contact D. |
||
| other Email | johnny@gmail.com | johnny@gmail.com | Emails are handled carefully during merges to avoid data loss. Therefore although the .csv data’s work email is null, we still preserve the other Email from Contact C after the merge and place it in other Email for the merged Contact D. | ||
| cell Phone | No updates, no value in any contact. | ||||
| work Phone | No updates, no value in any contact | ||||
| home Phone | No updates, no value in any contact. | ||||
| other Phone | No updates, no value in any contact |
External contacts (old import process)
Contact ID is the required key field. Genesys Cloud’s import process uses it to determine unique contacts. It helps identify contacts so that you can easily update existing contacts using the same spreadsheet. For each unique Contact ID, the import process creates one Genesys Cloud external contact record. The import process imports all the contact fields in the row to the corresponding Genesys Cloud external contact record.
When you create a Contact ID, you can use any combination of letters and numbers. For example, you can use a unique identifier from your CRM or ERP system, or you can create a composite key that is meaningful to you. It can be any ID you want to use to uniquely identify the record.
If you only plan to import the record once, you can use any external ID you want. The system generates internal IDs to correspond with those external IDs.
If you have previously imported your contacts and want to update the records, make sure that you use the same contact IDs for the existing contacts. Otherwise Genesys Cloud creates a new record instead of updating the existing one.
For example, suppose that you have a spreadsheet with one record and you import it with A as the Contact ID. Later, you want to update that record by reimporting the same spreadsheet. The Contact ID for that record must be the same as it was with the previous import. If instead, you reimport the spreadsheet with B as the Contact ID for that record, Genesys Cloud creates a new record instead of updating the existing one.
External organizations
The Account ID is the key field which the import process uses to determine unique organizations. For each unique Account ID, the import process creates one Genesys Cloud external organization record. The import process imports all the account fields in the row to the corresponding Genesys Cloud external organization record.
When you create an Account ID, you can use any combination of letters and numbers. You can create a composite key that is meaningful to you.
Associate an external contact with an external organization
To associate an external contact with an external organization, type them on the same line in the .csv source file.
In this example, Kathryn Smith is a Buyer for Office Mart. The import process creates the external organization record for Office Mart and an external contact record for Kathryn Smith. In External Contacts, Kathryn Smith appears as an external contact for the Office Mart organization.
Associate multiple external contacts with one external organization
To associate multiple external contacts with one external organization, assign them all the same Account ID.
In this example, Kathryn, Josh, and Rebecca are all contacts for the Office Mart organization.
- When the import process encounters multiple rows with the same Account ID, Genesys Cloud expects the account data to be the same in all the fields. For example, the Account Name must be identical in all the rows that have the same Account ID. The import process imports only one of the rows of account data when multiple rows have the same Account ID. Genesys does not guarantee which row of account data the process imports. It is not necessarily the first or the last line in the set of rows for the account. Therefore, all rows of account data must be identical.
- You cannot use a .csv file to import members to an organization that you manually created.
