Use of SSNs in Raisers Edge

Lindsey Wilkerson

Our institution is investigating if we should delete our constituent's SSNs on all our records. Before we take any drastic steps, are there any pros or cons to deleting these?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Helen Wieger

Lindsey Wilkerson:

Our institution is investigating if we should delete our constituent's SSNs on all our records. Before we take any drastic steps, are there any pros or cons to deleting these?

Thanks in advance for your input.

A couple questions to consider prior to deleting:

• Do you have import files/systems based on SSNs? This is not crucial, as you could switch to using import IDs, but do be aware of this.
• Do you have custom Cyrstal Reports that use SSNs? Again, you can switch to using import IDs as unique identifiers; just be aware you'll need to do so.
• Does having a SSN help you with prospect research? with identifying deceased constituents? with avoiding duplicate constituent entries?

I'm hesitant to get rid of any data that we have in our system. It's not easy to re-collect! While there might be good reason to delete SSNs, if you are concerned with too many people having access to SSNs, you can limit who can view them. See BB Knowledgebase solution BB307010.

Nina Williams

Lindsey Wilkerson:

Our institution is investigating if we should delete our constituent's SSNs on all our records. Before we take any drastic steps, are there any pros or cons to deleting these?

Thanks in advance for your input.

 We are keeping our alumni SS#s in RE too.  We are not planning on deleting them because it is much easier to find lost alums when it can be verified by SS#.  That is the only reason we keep them and no one other than the DB admin (me) can even see them.  

 

Nina

Cleveland Institute of Art