Deleting bad phone numbers

Quanitra Thurston

What are some best practices to managing phone types? For example, we like to keep our old/bad phone numbers and just change the type to 'bad phone number', so we have the historical information. Is this the best way to keep this data or is it better to put that historical data in another section?

JoAnn Strommen

At this point I'm keeping bad phone/email and doing as you said just changing type.  I don't know where else one would put it.  I like it there so if someone gives me "updated phone/email" I can see right of way if it is truely and new and corrected info or the same as on record already.  Wouldn't want to have to go somewhere else to check that. 



My 2 cents...

Jen Claudy

If you are on 7.94+, you can use the Inactive checkbox on a phone record.  I have phone types of eHome and eWork, then for bad or unsubscribed addresses, XeHome and XeWork.  I have not yet chosen to use the Inactive box, but may choose to do so in the future if that "show Inactive Phones" box will "stick" like the box for "show Inactive Addresses" box does.  Because I like to see everything, but some of our staff would rather not (they get confused when glancing at information).



I would leave it in the Phones section, because where else would you put it that anyone would think to look?  Plus, BB is actively working on the Phones section, so we don't know what that section will look like moving forward.

Joost Groen

We only delete "old phonenumbers" if we are absolutely sure that this particular phonenumber is obsolete. Otherwise we keep the "old" phonenumber.



For instance emailadresses: the primary emailaddress is type "Email". If we (/our data entry persons) get a new emailaddress and we know the other one is "bad" (for instance when the constituent himself says that he has a new emailaddress) then we delete the old emailaddress and fill in the new emailaddress in the "Email" field.



If however we get a new emailaddress from another source than the constituent, then we move the "old" emailaddress to a new phonenumber type called "Email2" (and we also have email3) and the "new" emailaddress goes to the phonenumber type "Email".



For Mobile and Home numbers we also have Mobile2 and Home2. 



We have 7.94, but we don't use the "primary" function. For us, Email is always the primary Email. And although (since 7.94) it is possible to put multiple "Email" types in RE per constituent, our data entry people are only "allowed" to put 1 single Email phonenumber per record. I have also made a Query/Export check to make sure there are only single Email phonenumber per record in RE.