Questions

Beth Carr

I am very new to Raisers Edge, however I got a pretty good grasp on the subject. But here are my questions. I run a canned report on giving, all non-traditional giving (ie events), and all Board/Leadership giving. I do this by running the canned report gift detail and summary. I put all the information in and get a total. I want to double check my numbers, so I run a query with the same information and get a different total. What am I doing wrong? I know query is used to group, so I do the export and get an even different total.. Where am I going wrong?

 Thanks in advance!

Elizabeth

United Methodist Homes of NJ Foundation

Mary Roundtree

Beth Carr:

I am very new to Raisers Edge, however I got a pretty good grasp on the subject. But here are my questions. I run a canned report on giving, all non-traditional giving (ie events), and all Board/Leadership giving. I do this by running the canned report gift detail and summary. I put all the information in and get a total. I want to double check my numbers, so I run a query with the same information and get a different total. What am I doing wrong? I know query is used to group, so I do the export and get an even different total.. Where am I going wrong?

 Thanks in advance!

Elizabeth

United Methodist Homes of NJ Foundation

Are you giving credit to the same things like s/c and mg; do you have the same gift types; what about date ranges and what about constituency codes. One might be using primary CC and the other the CC that apears first; and then lastly do you have the same date range, if any.  I know the gift detail and summary report has columns with different gift types; make sure those are the same.  Bottom line, make sure all parameters are the same across all reports/queries/exports.

Hope that helps.

Mary Roundtree

Rheumatology Research Foundation

Dan Gomez 2

Beth Carr:

I am very new to Raisers Edge, however I got a pretty good grasp on the subject. But here are my questions. I run a canned report on giving, all non-traditional giving (ie events), and all Board/Leadership giving. I do this by running the canned report gift detail and summary. I put all the information in and get a total. I want to double check my numbers, so I run a query with the same information and get a different total. What am I doing wrong? I know query is used to group, so I do the export and get an even different total.. Where am I going wrong?

 Thanks in advance!

Elizabeth

United Methodist Homes of NJ Foundation

Also, remember that Query is used to group, but is not a good method for "reporting." Query is prone to duplicates (which the Export and/or Reports functions eliminate), especially dependent on the Outputs you've chosen. For example:

I gave $100 at one of your events. I have 3 different Constituent Codes. If one of your outputs is "Constituent Code," my $100 gift will show up on your Query 3 different times - once for each of my Constituent Codes. This can be magnified if you choose another output that may have multiple entries, such as Attributes. This can lead to a Query that has thousands of records, while the same report might only have a couple hundred.

Query should be your first (but never last) step in creating any type of report and/or export. Reports and Exports will eliminate the duplicates.

Chloe Duncan

Beth Carr:

I am very new to Raisers Edge, however I got a pretty good grasp on the subject. But here are my questions. I run a canned report on giving, all non-traditional giving (ie events), and all Board/Leadership giving. I do this by running the canned report gift detail and summary. I put all the information in and get a total. I want to double check my numbers, so I run a query with the same information and get a different total. What am I doing wrong? I know query is used to group, so I do the export and get an even different total.. Where am I going wrong?

 Thanks in advance!

Elizabeth

United Methodist Homes of NJ Foundation

Query is not an accurate way to summarize giving since it can list a donor or gift more than once.  Check the soft credit and matching gift settings to be sure they are not counted more than once.  In queries, it's under Tools, Query options and Gift Processing tab. For reports, it's on the general tab of each report.  In your gift detail and summary report, be sure you are not counting both pledges and the payments that have been made. 

Melissa Graves 3

Beth Carr:

I am very new to Raisers Edge, however I got a pretty good grasp on the subject. But here are my questions. I run a canned report on giving, all non-traditional giving (ie events), and all Board/Leadership giving. I do this by running the canned report gift detail and summary. I put all the information in and get a total. I want to double check my numbers, so I run a query with the same information and get a different total. What am I doing wrong? I know query is used to group, so I do the export and get an even different total.. Where am I going wrong?

 Thanks in advance!

Elizabeth

United Methodist Homes of NJ Foundation

Phoebe and Dan, Elizabeth said in her question that she knows the issues with query and tried an export and got an altogether different number. I think she gets it. Elizabeth whenever this happens I just call support. They can do a screensharing session with you and would likely find the problem faster than any of us even if you shared all of the parameters etc. there is just something about seeing it live that helps. I suggest using support. Melissa

Beth Carr

Melissa Graves:
Phoebe and Dan, Elizabeth said in her question that she knows the issues with query and tried an export and got an altogether different number. I think she gets it. Elizabeth whenever this happens I just call support. They can do a screensharing session with you and would likely find the problem faster than any of us even if you shared all of the parameters etc. there is just something about seeing it live that helps. I suggest using support. Melissa

Melissa,

 Thanks! I am also wondering if I should just take the canned reports at face value and not worry about query or exporting the info?

 I will definetely give support a call!

Elizabeth

Melissa Graves 3

Beth Carr:

Melissa,

 Thanks! I am also wondering if I should just take the canned reports at face value and not worry about query or exporting the info?

 I will definetely give support a call!

Elizabeth

If you tried to verify it and couldn't I would never just leave it alone. Goodness only knows if the mistake is in the canned report.