September 2024: getting an existing round in without retyping it

Part 12 of 39 of Building TradeYoke, the story of how the platform was built, from January 2024 to today. Previous: August 2024: a diary that fills itself from the round. Next: October 2024: why invoicing came next, and what it had to get right. See every part on the build timeline.

Quick answer: TradeYoke can import customers from a spreadsheet (CSV): it checks the file first and shows what will happen to each row before anything is written, flags likely duplicates, and lets you merge two customers with a preview of the record it will keep. Importing the same file again changes nothing.

• A trade business should not have to retype its customer list to try new software.
• Check first, then import: you see what will happen to each row before anything is written.
• Re-importing the same file changes nothing, so a mistake is not a disaster.
• Duplicates are flagged and merged with a preview, never silently.

By September 2024 the app could hold a round, but a round only helps if you can get yours into it. For most businesses that means a spreadsheet, a notebook or an export from something else. If getting started means retyping four hundred customers, most people do not start.

• Check before you write. Import starts with a dry run. It reads the file, shows what it will do with every row, and lists the rows with problems. Nothing is written until you say so.
• Be safe to repeat. Importing the same file twice must not create the same customer twice. Re-importing changes nothing.
• Say what went wrong. Rows that fail come back as your own file with a Problem column added, so you can fix the row and try again.
• Never assume consent. Marketing consent is never imported; it has to be given by the customer.

A spreadsheet that has grown over years has the same customer in it three ways: "J. Smith, 12 High St", "John Smith, 12 High Street" and one with just a phone number. We made duplicate detection part of the customer list itself, grouping likely matches and letting you merge two customers. The merge shows you the record it will keep, so you can see the outcome before you commit. It is also the reason a person is one contact whatever their role.

Import today works from a CSV file, not directly from other software. We would rather it did one thing reliably than many things nearly. Getting your first round into TradeYoke walks through the steps, and paper to app in one afternoon shows what a first week looks like.

By the end of September the build had customers, jobs, a diary and a way in. The one thing it could not do was send a bill. October is when that started.

Related: Customers and CRM · Getting your first round into TradeYoke · Paper to app in one afternoon · Pricing · The build timeline