How to finish updating GRP supporter db
How I did it: Long nights of either writing programs to remove duplicates or removing duplicates by hand. Cleaning data and running it through address & phone number list clean up services. We had three databases to merge and it wasn't pretty. Best to start with one database (CiviCRM seems nice) and keep to it.
Lessons & tips: Clean your data first - first/last names switched, sync to common first names, etc. Then write a program to do as much of the merging as possible. Finally sort seven ways til sunday and remove duplicates.
Resources: www.listcleanup.comwas helpful for updating addresses and appending phone numbers. however, be sure that you sort your list so that records without address are at the bottom, then give each record its own id. Did the later, but not the former and the merge back was a pain. Also, be sure to run NCOA services at least once a year or you will miss address changes.
