CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

Does anyone have any ideas or solutions of how we can create batch update profiles for activities, including custom activity fields, as well as be able to export the custom activity fields?  I've read through some of the threads and saw that there are things to consider when batch updating 1-n relationship records.   I also saw that Lobo used some drupal hooks to at least create profiles for activities for his school project.

I've listed 2 scenarios as follows that are related to what we're trying to do.

A "simple case scenario": Staff would like to record responses from individuals they contacted from a call list about a specific issue, or to get folks to commit to an action. We are using activities and custom activity fields to record responses from individuals.   The list is created from a smart group, and the user would like to use a batch update (or data entry screen) to record the responses individuals from the call list.  Information may have been recorded separately on a call list, but ultimately the staff person would enter the responses directly on the batch update screen. Later the staff would like to "analyze" the results of the calling, so they would need to search responses, and then export information recorded in the custom activity fields and/or other contact info.

The typical walk /call list scenario - a bit more "complex":
Being able to do batch updating of activities is key to the CAll and Walk lists that groups use to gather inforamation during a phone bank or a door knock field canvass. Currently, we are using activities with custom fields to gather responses of each individual phone call or door knock.

Here's the scenario -

A grassroots base-building community organizing group conducts periodic phone banking and door-knocking to gather information about their base, to turn people out to vote (GOTV), or get them to act, etc. 
- A targeted list of folks (searched by geographic location, or interests or other criteria) is created as a smart group,
- then a walk / call list is printed with their contact information and some demographic info, along with fields/areas that the canvassers can mark responses.  In addition, a barcode (font) that corresponds to the contact ID is also printed for ease of lookups later.
- the sheets are collected from canvassers, and now the staff needs to enter the information from the call or walk sheets - so they would need to either:
a) record responses using a batch update / data entry screen (use the same smart group, and potentially use a profile to update the activity fields)
b) do a lookup using the barcoded contact id - then enter responses also using a barcoded sheet with corresponding responses to update the activity fields.
Later the staff would like to "analyze" the results of the phone or door canvass, so they would need to search responses, and then export information from activities and/or other contact info.


Does any one have suggestions for solutions for either of these scenarios?

any ideas are welcomed!
alice