The second item on the Contributions menu allows you to import a file from your bank to import electronic giving into your CMD contributions files without having to do manual entry.

The summary file (that's our term) is comprised of fields that your bank probably has in a comma-delimited, text file that you can download (.CSV file). In most cases, you'll be able to decide the date range of the summary of donations that will be included in the summary file. Just be consistent in your use of the dates you select so that you'll be able to reconcile the Deposit ID of CMD with the donations recorded by your bank.

To use this dialog, first click the Get Path/File button to locate the path to the actual .CSV file to import. Find the path and click on the file to be imported and then click OK. Next, enter the Deposit ID you wish to use. You can then click Begin Import Process to actually start the import.

The import process is very strict in the fields and the order of the fields. Unless your bank's summary file supports these fields, do not attempt to use this facility. Further, the fields have to be in this strict order:

•Envelope Number. This corresponds to the Envelope Number stored for a name in CMD. This is how CMD will know to whom the donations belong. Your bank will most likely have some sort of setup for each name who gives electronically so you should either be able to enter this field into your member's record at the bank, or provide the bank a copy of your Envelope Number List so that they can enter this number in a field for this purpose in the giver's record.

•Account. This is the account name used in CMD. You will need to let you bank know the exact way to spell the account since CMD uses exact matches for this.

•Amount. The actual dollar amount of the donation.

•Date. The date the donation was received at the bank. Note that you can store varying dates in a single Deposit ID.

•Payment Type. Your bank's use of this field may vary. In our tests, web-based giving came through as "WEB", and checks were marked with "Check."

•Check Num. If the Payment Type was a check, then the Check Number is saved.

Note that the field names that head the columns in your bank's report may be different than the field names shown above, but they need to be the same information in the same order regardless of what nomenclature your bank uses.

Split Contributions

As the data is imported, CMD will check to see if succeeding rows of the incoming data have the same Envelope Number and Date. If they do, CMD will assume it's part of a split contribution. In such cases, CMD will properly treat them as splits in a single donation.

What If My File from the Bank has More Fields and in a Different Order?

If the file you can get from your bank has more fields than what we outline above or if the fields appear in a different order, simply open the file first in Excel or similar program, and delete the columns you don't need, then drag the columns into the correct order. Don't forget to save the file once you have made these adjustments.

Do not attempt to import data into CMD unless the correct fields are represented and in the correct order.

Pre-Check

Before any actual importing is done, the first thing CMD will do when you click the Begin Import Process button is check through the data to make sure there is a record in CMD that matches every Envelope Number in the data you are importing. If CMD finds donations marked for a given Envelope Number that doesn't exist in a record in CMD, you'll get a message letting you know which Envelope Number(s) do/does not match and ask if you if you wish to proceed with the import. If you click Yes, CMD will proceed with the imports it is able to do. You'll have to manually enter any data for the Envelope Number in question later on.