Hand scanners for gift entry

Andrea Egloff

We just recently converted to RE and would like to know if anyone is using hand scanners for gift entry.  If so, what type of scanner and what type of bar code are you using?  We would like to use the hand scanner for both current constituents, as well as newly acquired.  

Melissa S Graves

I do not use one now but have used them in the past. It is very easy and any simple scanner that can read 3 of 9 font works fine. they were typically around $200 a few years back.


I have never used them for new donors as you would only be getting very little info - appeal and fund maybe and that seems like more work than typing an ID or using defaults in your batch. But it would work.


For existing constituents it is awesome to have it find the exact person and fill in appeal and fund. I would not say it speeds up gift entry significantly but it does increase accuracy.

Cheryl Cummings

Andrea Egloff:

We just recently converted to RE and would like to know if anyone is using hand scanners for gift entry.  If so, what type of scanner and what type of bar code are you using?  We would like to use the hand scanner for both current constituents, as well as newly acquired.  

 

We use the Honeywell Voyager 1250g with the "3 to 9 barcode" font bar codes generated from The Raiser's Edge MAIL module. 

John Heizer

Andrea Egloff:

 

We just recently converted to RE and would like to know if anyone is using hand scanners for gift entry.  If so, what type of scanner and what type of bar code are you using?  We would like to use the hand scanner for both current constituents, as well as newly acquired.  

 

Unless you develop a custom system, barcode scanners just function like a fast way of typing.  The scanner output goes into the PC just as if someone had typed the same characters.  So the cursor has to be at exactly the right place on the screen for the data to be "typed."  If the new donor information isn't already in RE then a single barcode isn't going to magically enter the data for you.


Ages ago I wrote up some tips.  Some of the information is dated, but some is still practical.  http://zamtech.info/html/barcoding_for_re.html