Understand Field Mappings

This article explains Field Mappings, a key component of Advanced Mapping, which is the logic used to process Gift Entry, Elevate, and imported data

Field Mappings are a key component of Advanced Mapping. Field Mappings connect fields on the NPSP Data Import object—where you initially bring data into Salesforce—to fields on the target object—Account, Contact, Opportunity, or other objects. 

For example, let’s look at data for Billing City on the Account object.

When you gather Billing City data from a Gift Entry or Elevate form, or import it using an import tool, the data is first stored in a field called Account1 City on the NPSP Data Import object. Ultimately, that data needs to get to the Billing City field on the Account object. A Field Mapping record connects those two fields.

The Field Mapping record within Advanced Mapping looks like this:

Advanced Mapping comes with the Field Mappings that cover typical data entry and import scenarios. For most organizations, no additional customization is needed.

However, if you want to import data into a custom field, or include a custom field on a Gift Entry or Elevate form, create a Field Mapping record and complete some other necessary customizations. For more information, see Customize Advanced Mapping.