When using the Adoption pre-registration option, there is some administration that needs to be set up before the process works smoothly.

Step 1: Set up a name for the Event/Expo

This will help you manage the data later. It is best to include a year with the heading if it is an annual event so you can keep data from each subsequent event separate.

From the Welcome page, click on the Administration link in the orange left-hand menu
In the Administration menu, click on the option Edit Drop Down Lists
When the page loads, scroll down to locate the heading Person Acquired From
Click the Edit option
In the dashboard that appears, type the name* of your event and simply hit the [Enter] key on your keyboard to save
- *Note: this field does NOT have auto-case.
Your event/expo is now available.

Step 2: Create Acquisition List

This process helps you track each acquisition.

From the Welcome page, click the link Pre Registration / Data Acquisition
The page that loads will show you all existing acquisition lists. Click the button at the top right that reads New acquisition.
The Create Acquisition List will display. All steps are currently mandatory in order to create the acquisition listing. Complete the following:
- Name: enter the name of your acquisition. Unless it is a unique, one-off event we recommend adding the month and/or year to make sure you can easily identify it later, e.g. "Clear the Shelter 2018"
- Is this a fundraising acquisition? (this will show RTS option): If the acquisition is for fundraising purposes only, check this box. This will trigger a button Export RTS to appear on the finished Acquisition list. This, in turn, will later download a CSV file so you can process Return To Sender information.
- Import File: this step technically isn't necessary for pre-registration, but it is still required so you can simply import an excel spreadsheet. It is linked to a separate import function and there are plans to make this non-mandatory for this purpose. See the attached Excel file for a sample of the available columns to be imported.
- Campaign (optional): Select a campaign from the drop-down list the acquisition should be linked to. If you don't have one relevant for the event, you can create one via Fundraising > Campaign Management > Add a New Campaign. For more information on this process see our help doc Creating a New Campaign
- Acquired From (optional): select the Expo/Event you set up earlier from this drop-down list.
Once all fields are completed, click the Create Acquisition button.
The page will return to the Acquisition List page and your new list will appear in alphabetical order here.
You're all set up!

Step 3: Upload additional Acquisitions (optional)

This process allows you to upload additional acquisitions to an existing acquisition list.

From the Welcome page, click the link Pre Registration / Data Acquisition
Find the acquisition you wish to upload additional acquisitions to and click the name to proceed
Click the "Upload Acquisitions" button (top right of screen)
Click Choose File to select the file you wish to import
Click Add Import.
The page will return to the Acquisition List page and the new acquisitions will be displayed once the import has completed.

Import file column info

The below has some info about the more obscure columns and what they refer to.

Column Name	Notes
URN	(Required) This is a unique number/string for the acquired person. This will allow for an acquired person to be re-uploaded and no duplicate created. Note: This will update the existing acquired person if it matches.
TITLE	The title of the person (e.g. Mrs, Mr, Miss, Ms, etc)
STATE	This should be the short abbreviated state (e.g. QLD).
UNDEFINED PHYSICAL LOCATION	Extra Address in Shelter Buddy
DELIVERY TYPE & DELIVERY NUMBER	These refer to the PO Box data
ALLOW_EMAIL_CONTACT ALLOW_MAIL_CONTACT ALLOW_PHONE_CONTACT	These will add metadata to the acquired person as OptedOutOfEmails, OptedOutOfMail & OptedOutOfCalls respectively ("yes" becomes "False", otherwise the metadata value will be set to "True").
ACCEPTED_TERMS	This adds metadata to the acquired person as AcceptedTerms ("yes" becomes "True" in this instance, otherwise it will be set to "False")
ENTER_COMPETITION	This adds metadata to the acquired person as EnterCompetition ("yes" becomes "True" in this instance, otherwise it will be set to "False")

Step 4: Merge additional Acquisitions (optional)

This process allows you to merge any additional acquisitions to an existing Shelter Buddy record, or create a new one.

From the Welcome page, click the link Pre Registration / Data Acquisition
Find the acquisition you wish to upload additional acquisitions to and click the name to proceed
You will see the list of people imported when you uploaded the acquisitions
Against each row, you will see a column that shows the current status of that import:
- Merged means the record has already been merged to your Shelter Buddy site and either a new record created for that person or the acquisition record was merged with a matching existing record.
- Non-merged means the person only exists in the acquisition list.
Click Merge Person to merge a record.
If no matches are found, it will tell you so and you can simply click the Create button
If records are found in your existing data that might be a match, it will show you these and give you the option to Merge with one of these or Create a new person.
- the Create button will disappear.
- you can view the new record by clicking the Shelterbuddy ID number OR
- You can return to the Acquisition list by clicking the Acquired Persons link in the breadcrumbs at the top of the page.
Repeat until all persons are merged to your Shelter Buddy site.

Step 5: View Imports (optional)