CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

*

News:

Have a question about CiviCRM?
Get it answered quickly at the new
CiviCRM Stack Exchange Q+A site
This forum was archived on 25 November 2017. Learn more.
How to get involved.
What to do if you think you've found a bug.



  • CiviCRM Community Forums (archive) »
  • Old sections (read-only, deprecated) »
  • Support »
  • Pre-installation Questions (Moderator: Dave Greenberg) »
  • CiviCRM for Raiser's Edge user....
Pages: [1]

Author Topic: CiviCRM for Raiser's Edge user....  (Read 4888 times)

julianbrelsford

  • I’m new here
  • *
  • Posts: 28
  • Karma: 2
CiviCRM for Raiser's Edge user....
March 18, 2009, 03:00:23 pm
I use Raiser's Edge currently and I'm accustomed to the ways that Raiser's Edge allows you to search (query) for a group of constituents, and "globally" add, change, or delete information on the constituent records. One of the nice things about this is that it is often very easy to "undo" an import by looking for the information that was added and removing it from all records.

I'm looking at how to import records. That seems easy enough, but if I mess up or change my mind about how I think data from our Raiser's Edge system should be mapped into CiviCRM, I won't have a clue what to do.

Can I:
-search/query for a number of constituents, and delete all data from one field (age, for example)
-search/query for a number of constituents, and add data to one field (for example, "graduation date: 5/1/2001")
-search/query for a number of constituents, and over-write data in one field (for example, change all instances of membership type A to membership type F)?

geilhufe

  • I post frequently
  • ***
  • Posts: 293
  • Karma: 33
    • Social Source Software
Re: CiviCRM for Raiser's Edge user....
March 18, 2009, 04:33:00 pm
The tools aren't quite as slick as RE, but you can do this with two general strategies:
(1) Batch Update via Profile
http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Batch+Update+via+Profile
(2) Import
Just import data into the record and update/fill/overwrite as desired.

Batch update handles all the use cases you specify pretty well.

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't change all the memberships from A to B.
You could do the through the import functionality... one import file updates A to inactive and a second import adds the B membership.

Every import I do in CiviCRM gets a tag with the import date so I can go back and undo things if I don't like them... make sure you include a tag in all your imports.

Drupal and CiviCRM consulting, strategy and configuration
http://www.social-source.com/

julianbrelsford

  • I’m new here
  • *
  • Posts: 28
  • Karma: 2
Re: CiviCRM for Raiser's Edge user....
March 19, 2009, 02:31:34 pm
Thanks for the reply.

There's one feature that, unfortunately, does not exist in Raiser's Edge and I'm doubtful it exists in CiviCRM but I would like to know:

formula based addressees / salutations.

For example, a person's record might show first name william, nickname bill, and last name smith.

And we'd want a formula that says, if nickname exists, use "nickname lastname" otherwise use "firstname lastname", with the result being in "Bill Smith", available for use with mailings and e-mail messages.

Any such thing? I'm not sure if there's even a feature similar to Raiser's Edge Addressees/Salutations...

dharmatech

  • I post frequently
  • ***
  • Posts: 280
  • Karma: 53
    • dharmatech.org
Re: CiviCRM for Raiser's Edge user....
March 19, 2009, 02:47:59 pm
One thing to point out about batch update via profile is that it is limited to 100 records at a time and all those 100 must be of the same contact type (all individuals, for ex.).

As for the address/salutations issue, that is definitely not possible in CiviCRM and I don't think it's even possible in RE. I think RE makes addressee/salutation required but not sure.

The corresponding fields in CiviCRM to addressee/salutation would be nickname and greeting but they are not required.

hope this helps

tony
http://dharmatech.org
oss@dharmatech.org
801.541.8671

julianbrelsford

  • I’m new here
  • *
  • Posts: 28
  • Karma: 2
Re: CiviCRM for Raiser's Edge user....
March 19, 2009, 03:42:24 pm
Quote
As for the address/salutations issue, that is definitely not possible in CiviCRM and I don't think it's even possible in RE. I think RE makes addressee/salutation required but not sure.

Addressee and Salutation are required by Raiser's Edge in the sense that if you don't create them manually for each constituent they will be created automatically.

You're correct, the formula based addressee/salutation functionality that talked about (would like to have) does not exist in Raiser's Edge, as I said before.

Donald Lobo

  • Administrator
  • I’m (like) Lobo ;)
  • *****
  • Posts: 15963
  • Karma: 470
    • CiviCRM site
  • CiviCRM version: 4.2+
  • CMS version: Drupal 7, Joomla 2.5+
  • MySQL version: 5.5.x
  • PHP version: 5.4.x
Re: CiviCRM for Raiser's Edge user....
March 19, 2009, 05:11:19 pm

Thanx to the wonders of the hook system this is potentially doable in CiviCRM in a future release (could even be the next release if needed)

We plan to make the display name a "triggered" field in the database and allow the user to customize the format of the display name. I suspect the Addressee and Salutation when introduced could have similar hooks too

lobo
A new CiviCRM Q&A resource needs YOUR help to get started. Visit our StackExchange proposed site, sign up and vote on 5 questions

julianbrelsford

  • I’m new here
  • *
  • Posts: 28
  • Karma: 2
Re: CiviCRM for Raiser's Edge user....
March 19, 2009, 07:07:59 pm
Quote
Thanx to the wonders of the hook system this is potentially doable in CiviCRM in a future release (could even be the next release if needed)

Sounds good. I'd even be willing to help make this feature part of an upcoming release if I can figure out how.

Donald Lobo

  • Administrator
  • I’m (like) Lobo ;)
  • *****
  • Posts: 15963
  • Karma: 470
    • CiviCRM site
  • CiviCRM version: 4.2+
  • CMS version: Drupal 7, Joomla 2.5+
  • MySQL version: 5.5.x
  • PHP version: 5.4.x
Re: CiviCRM for Raiser's Edge user....
March 19, 2009, 08:05:07 pm

you can start by reading http://civicrm.org/architecture/

and then dabbling with some civicrm hooks and getting familiar with the hook system

http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/CiviCRM+hook+specification

lobo
A new CiviCRM Q&A resource needs YOUR help to get started. Visit our StackExchange proposed site, sign up and vote on 5 questions

petednz

  • Forum Godess / God
  • I’m (like) Lobo ;)
  • *****
  • Posts: 4899
  • Karma: 193
    • Fuzion
  • CiviCRM version: 3.x - 4.x
  • CMS version: Drupal 6 and 7
Re: CiviCRM for Raiser's Edge user....
March 20, 2009, 02:03:02 pm
A short term step around might be to swop how you use the two fields, ie put Bill in First Name and William in Nickname?
Sign up to StackExchange and get free expert advice: https://civicrm.org/blogs/colemanw/get-exclusive-access-free-expert-help

pete davis : www.fuzion.co.nz : connect + campaign + communicate
Pages: [1]
  • CiviCRM Community Forums (archive) »
  • Old sections (read-only, deprecated) »
  • Support »
  • Pre-installation Questions (Moderator: Dave Greenberg) »
  • CiviCRM for Raiser's Edge user....

This forum was archived on 2017-11-26.