ImportOmatic Software

We spend more time with donors and less time with spreadsheets

Reduced hand-data entry. Reduction in errors. Increased flexibility.

Pros

I no longer have to prep my spreadsheets for my regular imports. I occasionally forget how amazing of a statement that is. Virtual data fields and dictionaries can be set up ahead of imports, including the ability to skip records that meet certain criteria. It matches or creates records, addresses can be old or slightly different--I choose when to update or ignore It matches on "close" names, if I want it to. I have fewer multi-pass imports, because so many more things can be done with each pass. But the biggest thing is that we are able, with the same number of staff members, to better customize our donor solicitations because we don't have to spend hours and hours pouring over column over column in thousands of lines of spreadsheets. Omatic lets us customize based on what we already know about our donors, which gives us time to continue learning more about them.

Cons

It's sophisticated and robust. Which means if you're someone who hates instructor-led training and just likes to click around to learn, it will take you ages to learn everything it can do. It's SO incredibly customize-able--it will suggest but not dictate for many fields--that people who want full functionality without a learning curve are going to flat-out miss out on all the things it can do for you. If you are constantly in a work environment where you feel it's easier to do something the slow, hard way than figure out an easier way--if there is never an opportunity to slow down and learn something new--you won't realize its full benefits.

ImportOmatic is vital for Raiser's Edge

The ability to import records into Raiser's Edge more easily and seamlessly than with any other product or Blackbaud feature.

Pros

ImportOmatic is the most flexible and precise importing tool available for Raiser's Edge. It integrates seamlessly and makes possible the importation of both new and established records in Raiser's Edge at the same time. As a Raiser's Edge power user and consultant, my first order of business before beginning any major project in Raiser's Edge is to make sure I have ImportOmatic available.

Beyond the base package of ImportOmatic, the ImportOmatic connector for Luminate Online to Raiser's Edge is the best connector available. I prefer to use this connector over the Blackbaud version as it is much more flexible.

Cons

I wish ImportOmatic did a better job of matching phone NUMBERS to established constituents, rather that just phone TYPES. It is my biggest aggravation with this product, and I hope it is resolved soon. I also find the address scoring feature (for matching an incoming address to a constituent's current address) annoying at times because a +4 on a ZIP code will significantly impact the similarity score between addresses, thereby requiring more "touching" of the record than necessary. That said, ImportOmatic is still way better at both of these types of processing that other products.

Fantastic tool & it makes my job much easier. I can work smarter not harder. The staff are amazing.

ImportOmatic allows me to work smarter not harder. I can import files in minutes and know that the information is coming in just the way I want it and not creating duplicate records. I don't have to spend time cleaning each import file because I created a profile once and know that it will take care of the mess for me.

Pros

Setting up the profiles is fun and the tools (dictionaries, virtual fields, automation) are so helpful. I can add or update constituents within minutes with ImportOmatic instead of spending days doing it manually or worrying about issues with the standard import tool in RE. I can setup and change the matching criteria for profiles depending on my trust issues or trust in the file that I am importing. Being able to assign functions and proper casing within the profile means that I don't have to spend time formatting my spreadsheet every time. The training from the Omatic staff is great. Their training method of showing you how to create a profile, creating one with you, and then a following up call for any questions about additional profiles you created is perfect.

Cons

It is hard to think of cons because just in the past year Omatic has expanded the features that I had complaints about before. I miss being able to process a whole import no matter what the size under the validation mode. It just added another safety net to the process.

Best Import Product and User Friendly

Overall ImportOmatic is a great product with more pros than cons. When I've spoken with someone from customer service I have had nothing but great experiences.

Pros

I've been using this product to do imports of various types for 4 years now and I wouldn't use anything else. ImportOmatic takes the guesswork out of getting the data in the database in an effective and efficient way. Having the convenience of Profiles/Templates set up for recurring imports saves so much more time than importing with the database's limited resources. Not having to manipulate the data from the source file is a HUGE time saver! Just being able to create a dictionary to correct the potential "garbage" that could go into the system saves time for me as the only person that does this function in my department and minimizes cleaning up the data. My productivity has increased substantially since I have been using this product.

Cons

The one thing I like least about the product is the limitation of validating only 25 records at a time when you are using ImportOmatic in the hosted environment. Outside of the hosted environment there was no limit on the number of records and the ability to import after validating all the records was seamless. It also seems counter intuitive to allow help tickets to be entered online, but the only way to receive an initial response is a return phone call. I think it would be more productive if there was a chat option.

Allows me to import easier than just thru RE7-also has some drawbacks, updating, exceptions report

Easier Importing!

Pros

I love that I don't have to create ImpID's for every field. I love that it imports so quickly. I love the ease of it.

Cons

Unable to update. Exceptions report has changed since we started using Connector and now I don't receive why something has exception'd out (list the id that it doesn't see, or if it exception'd out because someone has the record open). During a simply import like adding only an appeal code to an existing record it exceptions out and then wants to add as a full constituent.

I want more than a one night stand with IOM. I want a long term relationship.

I've saved time, money, and headaches from this! Using IOM has allowed me to solve problems which were previously unsolvable!

Pros

ImportOmatic is totally dreamy. It has revolutionized my job and allows me to import data in ways that I could not even have imagined in the past. It is incredibly flexible and saves me time, headaches, and money, while increasing data integrity through decreasing human error. I've never wanted to make out with a piece of software until I met ImportOmatic. After the demo and trying it out I realized that I didn't just want a one night stand with IOM - I wanted a long term relationship. And here we are.... more than 7 years as a client and two different institutions. IOM and I are still going strong. I have no plans to end my relationship. :)

Cons

Because the tool is so powerful and flexible there are a LOT of options to set. It is important to go through each of the settings when setting up an initial template to ensure that it is doing everything one wanted from it. But, when it gets tricky, support is there to help as are other users via the forums.

Omatic makes Raisers Edge so much more useful

I can't recommend them enough. It adds so much functionality to Raisers Edge. It will let you integrate basically any third party software with Raisers Edge almost seamlessly – from email marketing to volunteer management to online donations.

Pros

There are a few different import tools for Raisers Edge, but ImportOmatic is the best one by leaps and bounds. The standard Raisers Edge imports work for very basic things, like adding actions, but Omatic is a necessity for anything more complicated. You can add or update name/address/email/phone AND add gifts at the same time. It matches constituents automatically (which actually works well). The best part is that gifts go into a batch, which you can review for accuracy before committing.

Cons

The only downside to Omatic is that because it does so many things, it is a little complicated. You need someone on staff who is tech savvy enough to setup the imports and troubleshoot if something changes. If you add new fields to a donate page, you have to update the import profile in Omatic, and that takes attention to detail. Omatic has really good training and help articles though. It's all in plain English and doesn't need any special coding.

ImportOmatic Makes Batching Easier

I love it and recommend it. It makes using Raiser's Edge much easier and is a tremendous improvement over Raiser's Edge import.

Pros

I love the review of constituent records vs incoming information and the ability to make very specific changes to records before committing import. It's much easier than reviewing record by record in Raiser's Edge batch and going through at least 2 tabs per record. It also makes it possible to edit a batch in a spreadsheet or other database software vs using Batch.

Cons

Some of the updates caused a loss of attribute information or the need to create more than one profile, but it seems like these unexpected outcomes are corrected in later updates.

Overall, I love the product. We've had our issues in the past on various things, but support helps.

Time saver is the biggest thing. Because it's easier to use than RE Import, it saves time on a lot of various tasks, from the use of virtual fields and dictionaries, to easily reloading errors. It's a great product.

Pros

It's a lot easier to use than RE's import and it's move efficient. I love the use of virtual fields. Dictionaries are so helpful too. I appreciate that I don't have to frequently manipulate spreadsheets. Plus, it loads much faster than the RE import and produces errors and makes it easier to identify and import the errors.

ImportOMatic for Raiser's Edge

ImportOMatic and Omatic Softwares are valued software providers that have reduced our processing time. The ease of use has allowed us to widen the scope of data that we include in our Raiser's Edge database.

Pros

Works seemlessly with Raiser's Edge. The duplicate search features and dictionaries drastically reduce the amount of time spent on manipulating data sets that we are importing into our database.

Cons

In interface could be more intuitive to allow for less training of new users.

We've used Importomatic for 5 years...configuration was difficulty, but now easy to use

Streamline out daily import/updates

Pros

Reliable, bug-free product. Adding/configuring multiple data points/record types makes this a much better solution than the standard Import function of RE.

Cons

Error messages are non-user-friendly, not easily diagnosed. There is a current bug in 3.5.1.2 that no longer renames the import file after the import is complete. We've had to change our processes until this bug is fixed.

Good tool that we use daily

Overall we have had a very good experience using the import O-Matic products. We also use another product called Mayo automatic and are very happy with that as well.

Pros

Import O-Matic makes importing all kinds of data into the Raiser’s Edge so much easier than the native import functionality.

Cons

I don’t love the user interface. Wish it could be just a little friendlier. Although importing data is a complex and detailed process.

OMagic

We are very happy with IOM and have been using for the past five years plus. It makes importing easy for all level RE users.

Pros

Ease of mapping fields and detailed process doc makes importing records easy. The added feature of creating a gift batch or adding records to an existing gift batch is also very handy.

Cons

We do not have any negative experience to share

Wonderful experience using this software.

Pros

The profile creation is pretty much seamless. I prefer using ImportOmatci versus the classic RE import option.

Cons

I wish support had a chat option- creating a ticket is often not the option best suited for my needs at times.

THANK YOU! It's a dream product!

It saves us hundreds of hours a year. Plus, the deduping while importing is awesome!

Pros

1. De-duping while importing. 2. Easy mapping. I like the fact that you don't have to type more just to get to the minimum number of characters. I am a database administrator and we value the number of keystrokes. Less is more!

We have been using IOM for 6 years now and have loved how easy it makes transferring data by import.

The ease of use, fantastic support, and ability to move data in and out of my database with ease.

Pros

I love that if I can get the data in a .csv, I can get it into my database. The opportunities are endless.

Cons

Sometimes trying to figure out error codes and what they mean can be hard, but support is always there to help.

Import-O-Everything

The Omatic Software team overall is very responsive and they DO follow-up to customer issues.

Pros

The flexibility to apply profiles to multiple sources and be accurate on all the data being imported.

Cons

It can use a better user interface to manage settings and tools and to organize profiles.

Good, does what is says it will do.

Pros

basic and simple, straight forward. Integration with Google is as we hoped. We hope to continue using this product as it evolves

Cons

renewing the license causes some hickups. As features are added, we needed to change our licenses which caused some issues.

Powerful tool

Omatic helps us uploade data from our Phonathon software to RE every day. We can now bring in our new student record into RE in weeks rather than months

Pros

It provide us with the ability to automate many of our import needs

Cons

Some of the options are not as intuitive as one would think

Importing Phonathon gifts and appeal responses into RE

Pros

The ease and effectiveness of getting a large amount of data into Raiser's Edge. No need to clean the data prior to the import

Cons

No clear explanation of errors when import doesn't go as expected. Pretty complicated way to set up an import profile.