Birthday Reminder Report

Peter Mckay

Hi, I am looking to create a report that captures all constituent birthdays falling within the current month. I's like to do so using the complete birth dates (mm/dd/yyyy) I have in RE records. To do this, I'm imagining a crystal report where all non-blank birthdates are exported, but only those falling within the current MONTH are shown. The main trick, I think, would be to include a birth date formatted to show month only, like one can do in excel. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Melissa Graves 2

Peter Mckay:
Hi, I am looking to create a report that captures all constituent birthdays falling within the current month. I's like to do so using the complete birth dates (mm/dd/yyyy) I have in RE records. To do this, I'm imagining a crystal report where all non-blank birthdates are exported, but only those falling within the current MONTH are shown. The main trick, I think, would be to include a birth date formatted to show month only, like one can do in excel. Any suggestions? Thanks!

You can do this using something like a datepart() function but I think it would be much easier to just filter your data before it gets to crystal. Use a query that has the criteria of "Birth Date = this month (any year)" and send only those people to the export you use for your crystal report.

Patricia Franklin

Peter Mckay:
Hi, I am looking to create a report that captures all constituent birthdays falling within the current month. I's like to do so using the complete birth dates (mm/dd/yyyy) I have in RE records. To do this, I'm imagining a crystal report where all non-blank birthdates are exported, but only those falling within the current MONTH are shown. The main trick, I think, would be to include a birth date formatted to show month only, like one can do in excel. Any suggestions? Thanks!

We create a monthly birthday report but not in Crystal.  We start with a query with these criteria:

Birth Date equals Next month (any year)

OR Spouse Birth Date equals Next month (any year)

We then use export to get the other information we want and merge into a word document.

 The downside to this method is not being able to sort the birth dates by day - June 1, June 14, June 25, etc. - so I end up manually rearranging the file by day. Since I do this report only for the constituents with an assigned solicitor it's not too bad.  I'd like to know if this can be done in Crystal as that would save me some time each month.

 Pat

Melissa Graves 2

Patricia Franklin:

We create a monthly birthday report but not in Crystal.  We start with a query with these criteria:

Birth Date equals Next month (any year)

OR Spouse Birth Date equals Next month (any year)

We then use export to get the other information we want and merge into a word document.

 The downside to this method is not being able to sort the birth dates by day - June 1, June 14, June 25, etc. - so I end up manually rearranging the file by day. Since I do this report only for the constituents with an assigned solicitor it's not too bad.  I'd like to know if this can be done in Crystal as that would save me some time each month.

 Pat

Yes - that kind of sort by day can be done in Crystal.

Patrick Manning

Peter Mckay:
Hi, I am looking to create a report that captures all constituent birthdays falling within the current month. I's like to do so using the complete birth dates (mm/dd/yyyy) I have in RE records. To do this, I'm imagining a crystal report where all non-blank birthdates are exported, but only those falling within the current MONTH are shown. The main trick, I think, would be to include a birth date formatted to show month only, like one can do in excel. Any suggestions? Thanks!

If you are exporting all records with birthdays but you only want to see those with a birthday in the current month (for example) then you can use the select expert in Crystal.  Use the formula:  Month ({Table.Birthday}) = Month (CurrentDate)

Or for next month:  Month ({Table.Birthday}) = Month (CurrentDate)+1

Cindy March

Patricia Franklin:

We create a monthly birthday report but not in Crystal.  We start with a query with these criteria:

Birth Date equals Next month (any year)

OR Spouse Birth Date equals Next month (any year)

We then use export to get the other information we want and merge into a word document.

 The downside to this method is not being able to sort the birth dates by day - June 1, June 14, June 25, etc. - so I end up manually rearranging the file by day. Since I do this report only for the constituents with an assigned solicitor it's not too bad.  I'd like to know if this can be done in Crystal as that would save me some time each month.

 Pat

What I do is create a query and export.  The operator for query is birthday equals, ususally this month.  If I have the time I do one for the next month and the operator is next month. Once the information is exported into excel with the information listed as month/day/year, there is a function in excel that lets you seperate the column.  You can then sort it in a vaariety of ways.  I hope this helps. 

Melissa Graves 2

Patrick Manning:

If you are exporting all records with birthdays but you only want to see those with a birthday in the current month (for example) then you can use the select expert in Crystal.  Use the formula:  Month ({Table.Birthday}) = Month (CurrentDate)

Or for next month:  Month ({Table.Birthday}) = Month (CurrentDate)+1

There are a few ways to do it in Crystal but then you are exporting possibly a large amount of data, and I do not know about the rest of you but sometimes these exports take a minute or two and if I can skim time off of that I prefer it. I still recommend using a query in RE and exporting only those with birthdays this month vs. exporting them all and then only displaying 1/12 of the data you just exported.

Peter Mckay

Melissa Graves:
There are a few ways to do it in Crystal but then you are exporting possibly a large amount of data, and I do not know about the rest of you but sometimes these exports take a minute or two and if I can skim time off of that I prefer it. I still recommend using a query in RE and exporting only those with birthdays this month vs. exporting them all and then only displaying 1/12 of the data you just exported.

Ugh! Of Course! I was rushing and didn't check for that kind of filter within the query. I'm skipping the crystal report. i'll just use one of the canned Profile reports instead. Thanks everybody :-)

Cindy March

Peter Mckay:
Ugh! Of Course! I was rushing and didn't check for that kind of filter within the query. I'm skipping the crystal report. i'll just use one of the canned Profile reports instead. Thanks everybody :-)

I really like to use query/export for birthday lists because you can export all sorts of information.  My export usualy contains the obvious donor name aand birthdate.  I also like to include last gift, last gift amount and assigned solicitor. 

Terri Chambers

Cindy March:

Peter Mckay:

Ugh! Of Course! I was rushing and didn't check for that kind of filter within the query. I'm skipping the crystal report. i'll just use one of the canned Profile reports instead. Thanks everybody :-)

I really like to use query/export for birthday lists because you can export all sorts of information.  My export usualy contains the obvious donor name aand birthdate.  I also like to include last gift, last gift amount and assigned solicitor. 

 

Wow, this issue is almost 5 years old?  I am not currently using Crystal Reports - but I have a query for those with birthdays in this and next month.  I have them showing up on my dashboard - but they are sorted also by year - so the two months of birthdays are not quite in order.  I understand I can export to excel and sort by month and day only...but like I mentioned, I want it for the in-line/online dashboard of RE - any way to do that?  Thanks in advance!!


~Terri