File format for importing contacts
Contacts are imported into the FA system in semicolon-separated CSV files using the file columns described below. You can set the following properties of the CSV file in Preference → Importing → File format (see Preference - Importing for details):
File delimiter. By default, FA is configured to accept semicolon-separated values. You can change it to another character.
Encoding (UTF-8 or Windows-1252). To import Scandinavian letters, the files should be Windows-1252 encoded to guarantee the correct handling of Scandinavian letters.
Download the CSV file template:
Update contact values
You can update existing contacts by importing a new file with corrected data. The system identifies the contact to update by the contact ID, so you need to fill in this field. Note that you must specify if you want to keep the old values in each field.
To replace the field value, specify the new value in the import file.
To keep the existing field value saved in the system, add three stars (***) in the field. Note that if you import an empty field, the previously saved value is removed. For multi-value fields, you can import new values while keeping old ones using three stars (***). For example: ***<new value1>,<new value2>.
The fields can have specific syntax for updates, see the field descriptions in the table.
Remove contact values
You can remove existing values in fields by importing a new file with corrected data. The system identifies the contact to update by the contact ID, so you need to fill in this field.
For a single-value field, import an empty value in the field to remove the existing value.
For tags and profile attribute fields, see the details in the table below (rows 28 and 31).
FA Format for importing contacts
# | Code | Required | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | c.contactId | Yes | Contact ID | Unique ID for the contact (e.g. social security number or other unique identifier). |
2 | c.externalId | No | External contact ID | E.g. social security number or other additional identification. |
3 | c.name | Yes | Name | Contact name (e.g. first name and last name, company name, etc.). |
4 | c.type | Yes | Type | Define as a number: 1 = Customer 2 = Asset manager 3 = Broker 4 = Accountant 5 = Issuer 6 = Custody 7 = Lead |
5 | c.juridical | Yes | Juridical form | Juridical form code (configured in the system) |
6 | c.status | Yes | Status | Use the code of the status: A = Active P = Passive C = Closed |
7 | c.taxCountry | Yes | Tax country | Country code (configured in the system) |
8 | c.memo | No | Memo | Text, memo information |
9 | c.classification | Yes | Classification | Classification code (configured in the system) |
10 | c.identity | Yes | Identity | Identity code (configured in the system) |
11 | c.address1 | No | Address 1 | |
12 | c.address2 | No | Address 2 | |
13 | c.zipCode | No | Zip code | |
14 | c.city | No | City | |
15 | c.country | No | Country | |
16 | c.phone1 | No | Phone 1 | |
17 | c.phone2 | No | Phone 2 | |
18 | c.fax | No | Fax | |
19 | c.email | No | ||
20 | c.electronicCommunication | No | Electronic communication | Define as a number: 1 = allow electronic communication 0 = not allowed |
21 | c.marketingCommunication | No | Marketing communication | Define as a number: 1 = allow marketing communication 0 = not allowed |
22 | c.nationality | No | Nationality | Country code (configured in the system) |
23 | c.representatives | No | Representatives | Comma-separated list of contact IDs representing the contact (for example: 1223,1224,1225). To import tag values for a contact representative, add them after ###:
You can use *** syntax to add new representatives and keep existing ones (for example: ***,04012000###...). For details, see Update contact values. To add representatives to a contact without any existing representatives, add "???," at the beginning of the column's content (for example: ???,04012000####...). If the contact already has representatives, existing representatives will be kept and the new ones are not added. You can use the three minus signs (---) syntax to remove a representative:
|
24 | c.language | No | Language | Language code (configured in the system) |
25 | c.subType | No | Sub type | Contact sub type code (configured in the system). When a sub type is given, it will find its own parent contact type and override the given contact type's code (in column 4). |
26 | c.transactionExtIdLevel | No | Transaction no. level | Define as a number: 1 = Portfolio level 2 = Contact level |
27 | c.contactExchanges | No | Settlement place | Comma-separated list of contact settlement places with settlement place code (configured in the system) and counter information with BIC code.
|
28 | c.tags | No | Tags | Comma-separated list of tags. Tags import allows you to add new tags:
You can use three minuses (---) syntax to remove a tag:
|
29 | c.classification2 | No | Classification 2 | Classification 2 code (configured in the system). |
30 | c.classification3 | No | Classification 3 | Classification 3 code (configured in the system). |
31 | c.profileAttributes | No | Profile | Contact-specific profile (configured in the system). Use the following syntax to import / update profile information: <key>=<value>:<type>#<key>=<value>:<type> etc. Note that importing checkbox fields requires you to use the type "boolean" and importing date fields requires you to use the type "date" in the syntax. Profile import allows you to add or modify profile values with a specific key - existing profile values are not replaced or removed unless you specifically include their key within the import syntax. You can use three minuses (---) syntax to remove a profile attribute value. For example: ---<key>. For details, see Remove contact values. |
32 | c.extContactIdList | No | External IDs | List of contact's external ID's. Use the following syntax <ext_id1=ext_name1>,<ext_id2=ext_name2> etc. If ext_id and ext_name combination for the same contact exist just use the existing one, otherwise create new one. If ext_id and ext_name combination exist but for a different contact, will show error message. |
33 | c.keyFigures | No | Key figures | Define the key figure code and individual observations as date-value pairs as a comma-separated list with the format <code>=<date:yyyy-MM-dd>=<value&>&<date:yyyy-MM-dd>=<value>:<code>=<date:yyyy-MM-dd>=<value>,... E.g. AAA=2009-01-01=1.9,2010-01-01=1.10:TAX=2007-01-01=1,2010-01-01=2 When importing categorized key figures (e.g. 1=Low, 2=Medium, 3=High), prior to 3.7.7 you should use the "number" (e.g. 1, 2 or 3), and after 3.7.7 you should use the "text" (e.g. Low, Medium, High). You can use *** syntax to add new observations and keep the existing ones. For example: ***:BBB=2007-01-01=1,2010-01-01=3. For details, Update contact values. |
34 | c.parent | No | Issuer group | Contact ID of the issuer group. Available only for contacts of the Issuer type. |
35 | c.birthDate | No | Date of birth | Contact's birth date. Use the format yyyy-MM-dd or yyyy.MM.dd. |