In order to import your existing account and member data or wait list data into Member Splash it needs to be organized in one of the specific file formats listed below:
CSV - Comma Separated Values
XLSX - Microsoft Excel
To ensure that the migration is as smooth and accurate as possible, we encourage you to, first, review the documents below to assist you in the process of formatting and sending us your data file:
Single Rows of Data Per Account
Each of your member accounts consists of two types of data: account data (like the street address and account type) and member data -- the information for each person on the account. To import your data into Member Splash each account and associated member records should be on a single row in your data file.
Example of Data on a Single Row
Account Type | Address | City ... | m1first | m1last | m1type | m2first |
Bondholder | 123 Any St | Washington | Rob | Smith | Adult | Susie |
Seasonal | 555 Willow St | Bethesda | Rachel | Jones | Adult | Tom |
Standard (and Required) Account Fields
Member Splash has a default set of account fields that are common to all clubs. Each of these fields would be a column in your data file with the field name in the header row.
Required Fields: username, acct_type, payment_status, m1first, m1last, m1type those marked with an asterisk (*).
Field Name | Description |
username * | Username: Clubs typically use the billing contact's email address as the username for the account as it is unique and something they will know. If your data does not include email addresses or is missing some you can use anything else such as a phone number or concatenation of a last name and street number. If nothing is available we will auto-generate a username for the account. |
legacy_acct_id | Legacy Account ID: Member Splash will automatically generate a unique ID number for each account. This is the number that will be used throughout our system to link payments, visits and other information. If your club has an existing account ID that you would like to retain for historical purposes we can import it as the legacy account ID. If you plan to continue using a legacy account ID please be aware that you will need to manage them manually -- Member Splash will not automatically assign them. |
acct_type * | Account Type: Member Splash supports unlimited account types. Typically clubs will have full accounts (usually those who have purchased a bond or paid an initiation fee), summer-only accounts and possibly several others. |
address1 * | The street address for the account. |
address2 | If the address includes an apartment or suite number. |
city | The city for the account. |
state | The state for the account. |
zip | The zip codes for the account. |
guest_credits | Guest Credits: If your members have existing guest credits they can be carried over to Member Splash. |
date_registered | Date Registered: Should be formatted as yyyy-mm-dd. Typically clubs have this information for all of their wait list accounts but not necessarily for their full accounts. |
payment_status * | Payment Status: If your club is already accepting payments for the upcoming season you can mark which accounts should be imported as paid. Use paid and unpaid. |
m1first * | Primary Member First Name |
m1last * | Primary Member Last Name |
m1type * | Member Splash supports unlimited member types. Most clubs just use Adult, Child and House Guest (for a relative or caregiver who will be using the club regularly). |
Custom Account Fields and Notes
In addition to the standard account fields Member Splash supports unlimited custom account fields as well as account notes.
Custom Account Fields are used to track a single value. For example, many clubs require the purchase of a bond upon joining that is refundable if the account is closed. Those clubs may want to track the bond amount paid in a custom field. To do so simply add it as a column after the standard account fields as shown below. Custom fields are stored as strings in the database which means that they can include text, numbers and special characters like currency signs.
Example showing two Account Custom Fields
Zip | ... | Bond Amt Paid | Date Bond Paid |
22202 |
| $500 | 02-18-2010 |
Account Notes are a flexible catch-all type of field that can be used to store more complicated or non-standard information. For example, tracking an issue with a specific account. Accounts can have unlimited account notes and account notes can be categorized. To import account notes add them as columns after the standard and custom account fields, as shown below.
Example showing Account Note Fields
Account Note 1 | Account Note 1 Category (optional) |
John Smith contacted the club on 10/1/2013 stating that they had not received their renewal notice in the mail and consequently felt they should not be charged a late payment fee. Club agreed to issue a credit for $50. | Payment Issue |
Member Fields
Each member record in Member Splash has a standard set of fields, listed below. Those that are required are marked with an asterisk (*). There are two important requirements to note when organizing your data file:
The first member listed in each row is marked as the billing contact. This is the person considered to be the primary contact for the account. Your terminology may vary (shareholder, voting member, etc.), the key is that they must be the first person listed.
Each member field should be prefixed with the letter m and a number. This is what allows Member Splash to correctly link the data for each individual member. Suppose an account has three members, two adults and one child.
Example showing Member Fields
m1first | m1last | m1type | m2first | m2last | m2type | m3first | m3type |
Bob | Smith | Adult | Susan | Smith | Adult | Becky | Child |
In the example above Bob Smith will be marked as the billing contact for the account.
The available member fields are:
Field Name | Description |
m#first * | The member's first name |
m#last * | You must provide a last name for the first member listed. It is optional for each subsequent member. If you do not provide a last name for any additional member the last name provided for the first member will be used. |
m#type | Member Splash supports unlimited member types. Most clubs just use Adult, Child and House Guest (for a relative or caregiver who will be using the club regularly). NOTE: Any members missing the member type will be imported as adults and the members can update their account as needed. |
m#gender | Male or Female. |
m#dob | Date of birth in the format yyyy-mm-dd. |
m#home_phone | Phone number -- can be in any format. |
m#work_phone | Phone number -- can be in any format. |
m#cell_phone | Phone number -- can be in any format. |
m#email |
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Data Formatting and Consistency
The biggest challenges with importing data accurately are inconsistent formatting and incorrectly stored data.
Example of Inconsistent Formatting
m1first | m1last | m1type | m1dob | m1email |
Tom | Smith | Adult | 1980-08-02 | |
Jon | Clark | Adult | Feb 3, 1982 |
Many data formatting issues can be corrected easily in Excel. In the example above using Excel's Cell Formatting options would allow you to specify that the column should be in the format yyyy-mm-dd. Data that is stored incorrectly, however, may require manual cleanup.
Example of Incorrect Data Storage
m1first | m1last | m1type | m1dob | m1email |
Tom | Smith | Adult | 1980-08-02 | [email protected] (home); [email protected] (work) |
In the example above there are multiple email addresses as well as descriptors in the m1email field. Because the importer expects a single email address that record will get rejected.
What to do if your data is a disaster
First, take a deep breath! Most swim clubs have been run more or less by hand for decades. When you're tracking things manually there is nothing to enforce consistency and with different volunteers and policies over the years it's inevitable that the information will get messy.
The team here at Member Splash is adept at advanced scripting to automate cleanup and if you're stumped on how to handle some of your data we're happy to provide data cleanup and formatting services for an additional fee. If interested, please see Managed Member Splash.