I need to import contacts into Sugar each week from a file I generate from our order entry system. This file contains duplicate records and records where the contact name is only a first name. (I am importing the contact name into the last_name field to avoid "first name"/"Last Name" issues when importing 'name').

Using the Sugar import tool I import the accounts first and then the contacts. The contacts correctly link to their account. When I import the contacts with duplicate checking on last name the duplicates are removed regardless of account name which causes my issue.

Records like Mike @ ABC company and Mike @ XYZ company are seen as duplicates and only one is imported. This is amplified in my data because some contacts are a first name only, but it could also happen with a John Smith, or other common name.

Is there any way to get a contact import to check against the account name or account id fields?

I unsuccessfully tried to setup an index on account name and account id for duplicate checking under Advanced Options. Is it possible to setup indexes on fields in tables other than the Contacts table for a contact import?

Also tried the Apatar import tool via SOAP, which worked well except the assigned_used_id field would not appear in Sugar. I could see the values in the MSSQL database, but sugar did not recognize them.

Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated,

Chad