Import and Hold Similar Companies
Typically, when company records are imported, any companies that meet your system’s similarity threshold do not get imported. If you wish to import similar companies instead, and place similarity holds on them for review, rather than not importing the companies at all, you can do so through the Historical Data Tool.
To start, go to Settings > Data Import/Export > Historical Data Tool, and go through the Sheets and Merge Sheets steps of the importing process like normal. You will also need to create a new Export and map the fields. Reference the help center section on the Historical Data Tool for detailed instructions on how to perform these actions. Once you have completed this process, view your data by clicking on your export’s name under the Export table.
Here, it is always recommended to Test and Validate your data to find any errors. You can also run a similarity check to find all the companies that are similar to records that already exist in your system. Fix any errors that are not related to similarity thresholds.
Once again, for more information about validating and fixing data and running checks, please reference the Historical Data Tool section of the help center.
If you wish to import your similar companies and place holds on them, check the ‘Import and place similar items into Import Holds’ button. Then, perform your Direct Import.
If you do not check this option, any companies that meet the similarity threshold will not be imported.
Note
Companies are deemed similar based on the value set in your system configuration ‘Similar Company hold threshold.’
To view and manage imported companies with similarity holds placed on them, go to Settings > Data Import/Export > Import Holds. To access this page, you need the User Permission ‘Merge Inactive Companies.’
On the Import Holds page, you will be able to see each imported company that met the similarity threshold, as well as some basic information about the company.
The company names are quick links which redirect you to the company overview page, where more information about the record can be viewed.
There is a dropdown in the Similar Company column that lets you view the existing companies in your system that the imported record is similar to. Each similar company will show its similarity index and will be listed by how similar the companies are to the imported record. When you select a company in this dropdown, the ‘Similar’ columns will get populated with information from the selected company such as ID and primary contact.
If you wish to merge the imported record with an existing company in your system, once you have chosen a similar company from the dropdown, click on the merge icon on the right side of the table. This will merge the imported record into your existing company.
Once merged, some of the information from the imported company will be retained on the merged company, including company ID and name, as well as sales rep information.
Sales reps from the imported record will be added to the merged company as secondary reps, when applicable.
There is also the option to import the new company without merging it with another company. You would perform this action if it were a unique company and does not need to be merged with another record. To do this, click on the ‘import without merge’ option in the Similar Company dropdown, and once again click the merge icon. This will simply clear the similarity index hold on the company’s record so you can begin creating orders for it.
Note
To perform this action, you need the User Permission ‘Clear Companies that are in a Similarity Hold.’
Additionally, if you clear a similarity hold directly from a company overview page, that record will be removed from the Import Holds table.