Most piano technicians already have their client data including addresses, contact info, and piano info in an electronic format. With PianoCal, you can import your existing data so that you don't need to enter your clients manually or lose your service history.
Your data needs to be arranged in a specific format and a particular order to be uploaded into PianoCal. To do this, you need to use spreadsheet software to manipulate your existing data into the required format. We recommend either Microsoft Excel (commercial software) or OpenOffice Calc (free, open-source software). Please, follow these steps:
After you have signed into PianoCal on your computer (the process here described will not work on a mobile device), click the Clients icon at the bottom of the screen. At the bottom, you will see the button Download client data. Click it and save this file, ClientList, to your computer paying attention to what folder you save it into as you will need to open this file in the spreadsheet program. This file is a sample CSV file in the format PianoCal is able to read. Open this file. This will be your PianoCal CSV template.
Your existing client data may already be in spreadsheet format, or you may need to export it from your existing software. Please contact your existing software vendor if you need assistance with exporting your data. You need the data in a format that can be opened by your spreadsheet software.
Open both the PianoCal sample CSV file and your latest client data file into the spreadsheet application. (In Excel you can go to View > Split > View Side By Side - this allows you to see both, the sample PianoCal ClientList CSV file and your client data file in a split screen.) Click any cell in your client data file, then go: File > Save as, and give a new name to this file. This will preserve your original client data file intact, the way it is, in case any mistake is made in the following step(s) that could compromise the proper order in your data file.
Examine the entries in the PianoCal ClientList file so you become familiar with the field format (including the date fields) as your entries in these fields need to be in the same format. Note that the first and last names are in different fields (columns). If your date information is in a different format, select all your dates and format them into the same mm/dd/yyyy format as in the ClientList file. After you are certain that the field info and format in your client data file columns correspond to the formats in the PianoCal ClientList file fields you can delete all sample data rows in the PianoCal ClientList file.
You should review the data field descriptions (data dictionary) to help you understand the intended use of each data column. Go to Clients > Upload client data. Toward the bottom of the screen you will see Input fields (columns) under which are the description of those fields.
Now you are ready to copy and paste each corresponding field (column) from your client data file into the corresponding columns in the PianoCal ClientList file. Copy into the PianoCal ClientList file (which works as a template) the corresponding fields (a full column at a time) from your client data file. Be careful not to copy your column headers and do not overwrite PianoCal’s Client List file headers in the first row.
PianoCal’s unique database allows you to enter multiple pianos and multiple service locations for each client. This can be done by copying one client data row and pasting it under the first (or, previous) entry and then only changing information applicable to the additional piano(s) and their service location(s).
After all fields (columns) have been copied over to the PianoCal’s Client List file, SAVE the file!
At a minimum, the following fields must be provided: Street Address, City, State/Province, First Name, Last Name. Additional fields, while useful and important in order to utilize all the features of the PianoCal, are optional, including Zip/Postal Code. Even where some fields (columns) may not contain any data, or is not yet available, the blank columns with the headers still need to be there. Review the contents of each field (column) to ensure that the formatting is correct. Make any corrections needed, and save the file.
You are now ready to upload your client data into PianoCal. In PianoCal, browse to Clients > Upload client data. Find the button labeled Upload your client data file. Click Choose File and locate and select the ClientFile (or, whatever you named it, if you changed the name) on your computer.
Your file will now first be scanned for any formatting problems, such as missing columns or invalid data types. If any problems are found, it will stop the upload process and prompt you to download an error report file. Open the file, review, and correct the errors in your CSV file. SAVE corrected file, and repeat this process until your file is error-free and uploads successfully. Congratulations! Your existing client data is now in PianoCal and ready to be used!
Need help? As long as your data is in digital format, we can prepare it for import for you. We offer this service at a reasonable cost because we want to help piano technicians like you be successful in the transition to our intelligent calendar software. (The cost ranges from $100 to $400 depending on the complexity of your existing data files.)
Need help? We offer a data import service.
Ask us today about our data import service.