Sometimes you need to import gifts or other data that you have supplied to a third party. Sensibly you supplied the constituent id so that you could easily bring the data back into Raiser's Edge. However Importacular requires a last name when you map the constituent id. How do you set this up?
Importacular needs a last name because, if you create a new constituent, then you need a last name. However, in the field settings for each field, it is possible to decide whether or not the value should be added for new records or for existing records. By unchecking these checkboxes, it is possible to avoid actually adding a mapped value. If these are unchecked, you could map the last name field to any value either from the source field or a default value.
In field settings, uncheck the boxes as shown below:
This will enable you to map the last name field (surname in some instances of RE) while not bringing in the value itself. This technique can be used for any required field in RE.
Note that should you need to create a new constituent then you will need to map a real value with the check box checked above.