The first thing you need to do before starting to import membership data is to determine the membership settings order. This should be done prior to building your template so Importacular will compare the incoming value against the existing value in RE and determine if a change in membership is an ‘upgrade’ versus a ‘downgrade’.

To do this, go to ‘File’ then ‘application settings’ in the top left menu bar, select the membership tab and order your membership levels numerically. The lowest membership level should have number 1, increasing to the highest.

You can also select how to assume a payment for the same level of membership is a renewal, based on the number of days prior to (or after) the renewal date the payment is made.

Importing membership data works in a similar way to the other areas of Importacular. In order to create a membership you must link it to a constituent mapping. This is the main constituent but you can also add membership cards to individual or organisational relationship records too. 

When you set up a membership, under membership type and renewal type there are a number of options. You are able to explicitly select whether or not the import is a renewal, a join, a drop or a rejoin (if the membership is currently dropped). If it is a renewal you can select whether it is at the same level, an upgrade or a downgrade. However more commonly, you will want to select ‘automatic’. This will enable Importacular to determine what the membership types are based on the incoming data and the existing values on the membership. This will change the membership where a match is found based on the hierarchy you created in the membership settings above. So it will determine if a membership renewal or payment is a ‘same renewal’, upgrade, downgrade and whether the type is join, renewal or rejoin based on your list. The automatic processing will never drop a member.