Helper Help

What will the DST import do for me?
»»   The DST FANMail import is a free service that will import client names and addresses, initial holdings, daily transactions, and prices. It is engineered specifically for mutual funds, variable annuities, variable universal life, and REIT information. Be aware that setting up the DST import is not a simple procedure.

How do I sign up for the free DST service?
1. The DST download is designed to bring in mutual fund and annuity data from most fund families. Each fund family authorizes you and establishes your download separately. For that reason, the initial set-up of DST service can be challenging. Once these fund families are all separately established, the daily process requires substantially less work on your part.

2. In the time that it takes to set up DST service, you MUST back up your database before each import. This backup will prevent data duplication. Until you have all of the fund families brought into the program, this backup is absolutely crucial. (For more information on backing up your data, click on the link.)

3. Contact DST through their website, www.dstfanmail.com, and sign up for the free FANMail service. DST will send you a letter containing four vital pieces of information: their FTP address, your FTP site login, your FTP site password, and your Zip password. Remember that, as you are establishing your DST account, each fund family must authorize you separately. Different fund families will authorize you at different times -- it could take a few days or longer than a month from your sign-up date for each fund family to grant you access. For this reason, begin downloading the Zip files immediately after receiving your authorization from DST. If you sign up for the service and then wait a week to begin entering the information into the system, you may encounter data duplication problems.

4. You will need software to zip and unzip (compress and uncompress) files. One such program is WinZip. The 30-day trial version of WinZip is freely available at www.winzip.com.

5. You will also need FTP software. If you have Microsoft Internet Explorer v5, that is all you need, as it has FTP capabilities. If you use IE, go to Help --> Contents and Index, and search for FTP in the Index for full information.

6. Create a folder on your C: drive called "DST Files."

7. Get the first set of DST files from the FTP. Enter the FTP address from DST into your Internet Explorer browser address bar. The beginning of the address will look like ftp://##.##. It will not contain "http" or "www" -- the numbers begin immediately after the slash marks.

8. Either you will get a prompt for your FTP username and password, or you will get an access error. If you get the error message, click OK, then to go File --> Logon As.

9. Type in your username and password for the FTP site. You will see Zip files appear. The files will be named "DST*.zip" (the asterisk indicates a string of letters and/or numbers).

10. Within Internet Explorer, go to Edit --> Select All. You should see all of the .zip files highlighted. Then go to Edit --> Copy Folder. It will prompt for a location; select the "DST Files" folder that you created, and click OK. The files will download. When copying is complete, close the browser.

11. Open the "DST Files" folder. We recommend that you unzip no more than ten .zip files at a time. To unzip these files, click each filename in sequential order. Extract these files to the "DST Files" folder. During this process, you will be prompted for your Zip password with each file. Again, stop after you have unzipped 10 files. You are now ready to begin the first of your Initial Imports.

How do I do the INITIAL IMPORTS?
1. Back up your database. For more information on the backup process, please consult our instruction guide.

2. Double-click on the Import Program icon. If you have used the Import Program before, it will ask you, "Do you want the Status Log contents deleted?" Click Yes twice.

3. Select Import Data from Your Firm (Initial). If you have done a DST Initial Import before, click OK and skip to Step 7, THE INITIAL IMPORT RUNS (below). If this is your first day importing, put a checkmark by Setup Before Import.  Click OK.

4. In the Firm(s) to Import dialog box, if there is a firm name in the Firms box, highlight that firm name and click Delete.  Then click Add.  Choose DST Systems.  Click OK.  Highlight DST Systems in Firm(s) to Import dialog box, and click View.

5. Click on Update Setup (wrench icon).  In the Database Update Configuration dialog box, put checkmarks by Client & Account, Price, Initial Holdings, and Transactions.  Also put checkmarks by the two options at bottom (Convert Upper Case to Upper and Lower Case and Prevent duplicate clients by comparing the Last Name, Full Name, and SSN Fields).  Click OK.

6. Click OK in Initial Download Configuration File Setup dialog box.  Click OK in the Firm(s) to Import dialog box.

7. THE INITIAL IMPORT RUNS. It will prompt you to locate a file. Find the "DST Files" folder on your C: drive. Click on the first file, and it will automatically process all of the .txt files in the folder.