ImportOmatic Reviews

Automatic omatic

Comments: Not pushy sales people. Willing to show demos and answer questions. Product set up was quick, perhaps too quick. Would have liked the trainer to follow back up with us after our trainings as once we started using the product, we had questions.

Pros:

My organization uses three omatic products. They have continued to show their understanding of our industry and design their products so they are easy to use. The product we have been using the longest is Record Radar. If your fundraisers like to visit geographic areas and want to know who else they can visit, this is the tool you need!

Cons:

They are not pushy at all with their products and I wish they would be more! By this, I mean that I wish I would have purchased this sooner as it has made a world of difference with our data processing team. I do think their implementation could have gone a bit different for import-o-matic.

Importing Made Simple

Comments: Overall, my experience with Omatic software has been and continues to be great. The customer service is awesome and prompt. I would recommend this software to others because of the customer service and the ease of use of the software.

Pros:

The most impactful feature of Import-omatic is the ability to create templates that I can reuse. This takes the guesswork out of determining if I have all that I need to run an import and saves a tremendous amount of time. The product is very user-friendly and integration with existing business processes was seamless.

Cons:

I think the most difficult part of using Import-omatic is the regular expressions area of the dictionary. It’s one of those things that if you don’t use it regularly, you can forget the primary aspects of how to set it up properly.

it has been extremely difficult

Comments: Update – we are now paying a HJC (Luminate Consultants) and trying to get Blackbaud Professional services involved to assist with resolving omatic group-sync issues. currently seeking professional services combination of RELO and Omatic, as these issue remain unresolved with support.

- Run RELO at the same time as Luminate Connector – as the omatic group sync profile is causing too many problems to list
- Can either of these tools bring registrants into the events module, prior to bringing the donations over?
- Can either of these tools prevent the runaway duplicate situation in Luminate Online? I suspect once group sync profile is fixed, this will resolve itself
- Can either of these tools bring constituents over who have not yet made a donation, rather signed up for a newsletter? The omatic constituent import is not working because group sync has overwritten Country from Canada to Cnd and there are thousands of updates (errors) to click through to find one new genuine newsletter subscriber.
- What happens to all the monthly donors that were set up with omatic? a return to RELO would break all those subscribers connections to the original recurring gift.
- Creating an email group takes 3 hours for 30000 records, everytime annual giving wants to send an email – Omatic says that the only resolution is getting faster internet (RE is hosted by Concourse and Luminate Online is hosted by Blackbaud), who needs faster internet?

Pros:

the promise of ease and time saving sounded great, unfortunately that has not been our experience

Cons:

Luminate Connector is NOT a time saving tool, and profiles still not working months after implementation

Import Omatic

Comments: Pretty good. Help has been quite responsive and I am glad that for the most part they take the reigns.

Pros:

Importing and exporting complete data sets - of constituents, gifts, and survey responses - to/from Raisers Edge and Luminate.

Cons:

Adding and changing import/export criteria/fields can be cumbersome.

We spend more time with donors and less time with spreadsheets

Comments: 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.

A Real Time and Headache Saver

Comments: ImportOmatic has enabled me to import lists of constituents, with their address info, multiple phone numbers and email addresses, multiple pieces of education, and multiple constituency codes all in a single import, without ever needing the Import ID. ImportOmatic has saved me all kinds of time and frustration in importing data, doing comparisons, creating queries of external lists. If given the choice between doing a traditional import or using IOM to do my imports, I don’t think I can imagine a scenario where I would choose the traditional import method.

Pros:

It gets data of all kinds into Raiser's Edge much easier than with the traditional import process. And it can import a plethora of vastly different types of data in a single import. Not needing an Import ID for every import makes comparing lists of incomplete information received from external sources against my database a much simpler process than the traditional method. From there, I'm given all kinds of control in whether I want to update the information we have on hand, or simply create a query of people off that list (or both). I can either automate individual options (or the whole thing) or go through them one at a time for full control.

Cons:

My only small gripe about ImportOmatic is the initial learning curve made figuring out how to use it a bit tricky. When we got IOM some 3 years ago and I was setting up my first few imports... that was a somewhat confusing challenge to navigate all the possible options (even with training). Now that I've been using it for a while, they've improved that process quite a bit and I'm able to get even more types of data in than I initially was. I also have several templates built at this point that allow me to get my complex datasets into Raiser’s Edge with minimal need to build a new import every time.

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

Comments: 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.

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

Comments: 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.

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

Comments: 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.

Saves so much time!

Comments: Positive! Now that I fully understand how to use this product it has saved me a significant amount of time and effort

Pros:

This tool, when used correctly, can save you hours upon hours of data entry time. Super helpful and runs really well

Cons:

It can be difficult to learn and get the hang of, and there is a lot of coding and programming that goes in to making the software work that can be prohibitive.

Omatic makes Raisers Edge so much more useful

Comments: 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.

Changers to features reduced useability

Comments: We use Omatic to automatically pull queried information from Blackbaud Altru to Luminate Online for scheduled emails.

Pros:

Omatic has fantastic customer support, and their representatives have worked hard to make the software work for us.

Cons:

There are features that were once available and have been removed as the focus of Omatic has shifted, and the loss of these features have left us with little reason to keep using Omatic.

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

Comments: 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.

Lifesaver

Pros:

My organization imports over 20k records per month, without importomatic duplicates would be a major issue. The ability to match in constituents that are already in the database, select the specific data to correct or modify and edit the import information on the fly, make it an incredible tool.

Cons:

Customer support process is the one thing about the product I like the least. Creating a case and waiting for a response is frustrating at times.

Useful tool for data management

Comments: I use Omatic software to help identify possible duplicate records within our database. The thorough analysis makes it manageable to verify the information and thereby merge records for more useful record management.

Pros:

I like that I'm able to use Omatic software to help troubleshoot problem areas in our database so that our information is correct and relevant.

Cons:

Occasionally the software can contribute to our database running slower, but only during high-traffic periods within our company.

Mubo's Review of ImportOmatic

Comments: I use ImportOmatic to import and update records including graduate students' records, Appeals, and Action Reports (Contact Reports).

Pros:

I like that it is very fast in uploading records into Raiser's Edge. I also like that it scans records and suggests if records being imported into Raiser's Edge should be matched with a record already in Raiser's Edge or if the incoming record should be added as new records, etc.

Cons:

Setting up dictionaries can be a bit challenging.

Importomatic for donations

Comments: Importomatic cannot handle our volume and is not able to distinguish duplicates well. It takes a very long time to maneuver thru all the pop ups and questions it has and then eventually times out because of the volume of data it is trying to process

Pros:

Retrieves Constituents very nicely. It is very fast an efficient with constituents

Cons:

Does not retrieve donations well. Cannot handle our volume

Eases daily work

Comments: I have had good customer experience when troubleshooting. They have been quick to address any situation I have had.

Pros:

Once set up, it allows for quick imports of regular data. It makes the job go so much faster than manual input.

Cons:

It can be complicated to learn and if you don't catch all of the nuances it can import misinformation.

Import-O-Everything

Comments: 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.

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.

ImportOmatic helped us to overcome challenges we faced with appends and updates that are more comple

Pros:

Ease if use! Simple field selections allowusers of all levels to adjust to their departments needs.

Cons:

Minor compatibility issues with Blackbaud products. Stellar staff at ImportOmatic helped us to overcome.

Ever since we got IOM, we've been really enjoying what it can do for us.

Comments: I save time and apply consistencies importing data from multiple sources.

Pros:

I like the fact that it uses Raiser's Edge term, therefore it's very user friendly. And it's easy to share and train others.

More efficient using ImportOmatic

Comments: Before ImportOmatic, we would spend two days importing a new grad class. ImportOmatic reduced our processing time to a few hours.

Pros:

We have used ImportOmatic for several years and have been very pleased with the product. Our import processes are much more efficient now as a result. I really like the interactive side-by-side comparison which allows me to select which data to import record by record.

Cons:

I would like the ability to check for phone and email duplicates based on the actual phone number or email address, not just type.

Best software to import mass data effectively with flexibility

Comments: capabilities to connect 2 databases and analyze more effectively our customers

Pros:

Ability to customize all fields, create virtual fields, score data and preview import before committing

Cons:

minor thing is that the view on certain importing fields is small and training others to create maps and set up is difficult

Omatic

Pros:

the software is good enough to do the job.

Cons:

The software is very slow. I wish it was faster.