Field Mapping dialog window
Source: Displays the column name (such as Unique ID or First Name) from the incoming file.
Sample Value: Displays a sample data point from the file from that particular column (such as 653451).
Destination: Select the scope of the field. Then select the specific field in the scope to map to.
Destinations 2 and 3: To map an incoming data value to multiple fields in Slate, set these destinations. Repeat the steps from the first destination mapping.
Overwrite: If some of the persons or data points being brought in already exist in Slate, select this box to prevent the import from overwriting existing data points.
Unsafe Override: If a field is marked "safe" at the field level, select this box to override this functionality.
Delimiter: If multiple data values exist in a particular column (such as multiple academic interests or courses), indicate how these values are delimited, and by what delimiter. Once a selection is made, Slate will parse these values out individually, as opposed to storing multiple data values in one field. This will be important at the Prompt Value Mappings stage.
Group: Groups are how Slate associates multiple data points with one larger whole item. They are critical if bringing in multiple data values relating to a singular, larger item associated with a given person (such as a relationship of that person, a person's school, or a person's job).
For example, if information about a person's parents was imported, and for each parent, the following data points existed:First Name
Last Name
Birthdate
Email
Gender
...then for each set of data points for each parent, the same exact fields would be mapped twice (such as Relationship > First, Relationship > Last, or Relationship > Birthdate).The difference is all of Parent 1's data points would be assigned a value of Group 1, and all of Parent 2's data points would get assigned to Group 2, and so on. Each group would correspond to one clustering of data points associated with one larger item.
Null Handling: By default, Slate only imports information existing in the source file. However, occasionally a blank or null source value actually indicates valuable data. If you enable custom null handling on a free text field, Slate will set the field value to null if the source value is null.
If you enable custom null handling on a prompt-driven field, Slate allows you to map a null source value to the desired destination value in the Prompt Value Mappings stage.
If Null Handling is enabled on a mapped field, the mapping appears in the Field Mappings Stage regardless of Remap Date. This will be helpful if the column heading of a source file changes from one year to the next.
If the remap date is updated, and a previously-mapped column heading does not exist on a new source file, the field mapping will appear with a sample value of "Deprecated (Null Handling)" so that the field can be unmapped.
Field Mapping steps
Select a field from the Source Field list
Choose Destination from dropdown menus
Select Save or the Arrow icon.
Clicking Save closes the popup window, whereas clicking the arrow will save the current field's destination value and enable you to customize the next source field’s destination.
Repeat these steps for all the Source Fields
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