Member since date is being updated on import but we dont want it to!

Question

using CiviCRM 4.4.14. We're trying to update memberships with an import using data from a direct debit processor. In field mapping we're matching the pay out date to 'Membership start date', but some how this is also updating 'Member Since Date' too, despite not mapping this bit.

We really don't want this to happen as we loose how many years someone has been a member and the membership status then sets it's self to 'New'.

It was suggested that we use the start date of the payment plan as the 'Member Since' date, but this would loose any info about memberships that started using a different payment method (i.e. all of them!)

Any help greatly appreciated! Nicola

Answer 1

Confirmed this is happening on Drupal 6 and CiviCRM 4.4.14. In file: drupal\sites\all\modules\civicrm\CRM\Member\Import\Parser\Membership.php

line number 268 reads:- //assign join date equal to start date if join date is not provided if (!CRM_Utils_Array::value('join_date', $params) && CRM_Utils_Array::value('membership_start_date', $params) ) { $params['join_date'] = $params['membership_start_date']; }

You could try commenting out this line if it's not possible to calculate the join_date from your data.

Answer 2

OR, You may need to select "Import new memberships" rather than "update existing memberships".

This is what tells Civi to update the join_date (it's the start_date of the first membership, I believe).

This means you don't need to include a membership ID, so could cause other problems for you.