Households - More trouble than they're worth?

Brian Soucie

Hi everyone,


I'm curious if anyone has found a proper use for the household records? We're nearly two years into using BBCRM and I find them to be more of an annoyance then anything. I'm considering something drastic like deleting all on a regular schedule but want to see if anyone has found a solid use case that can't be accommodated elsewhere. 


I should say that we've made business decisions that all communications and reporting are at the indiviudal or organisation level so that has helped make these records somewhat redundant.


Cheers,

Brian Soucie

The University of Western Australia

Lori Lasansky

We don't use household records either (don't mail to them, don't record data on them, train staff to ignore them when searching). However, sometimes we do use the household ID as a way to link the members of the households together (for example, in query/excel and in some custom SSRS reports). There are also some screens in CRM that combine data for members of the household that can be useful. I would be cautious about deleting househould records without extensive testing and checking with Blackbaud support as it might cause problems with CRM spouse relationship functionality.  

Brian Soucie

Thanks Lori.  My finger isn't hovering over the delete key at this point , but I'm willing to consider that kind of step provided it doesn't negatively impact the spousal realtionships functionality.  There isn't any limitation from the system in going ahead and deleting individual household records based on my testing so far as the spousal relationship remains in tact from what I can see.  But given that we don't actively use the households, I'd be curious to hear from anyone that does if there's functionality that I don't know about that would be adversely affected.


 

Erin Kilburn

We also find them problematic, and that they generate a lot of questions and confusion. We are about to try using constituent security groups, so that inactive records and household records are hidden from all but the data teams.


I've considered deleting them as well, but have concerns like preivously identified. Hopefully this hiding route helps!

Brian Soucie

Erin Kilburn:

We also find them problematic, and that they generate a lot of questions and confusion. We are about to try using constituent security groups, so that inactive records and household records are hidden from all but the data teams.


I've considered deleting them as well, but have concerns like preivously identified. Hopefully this hiding route helps!

Hi Erin,


I'd love to hear how your testing of constituent security groups goes.  


Thanks,

Brian

 

Lori Lasansky

Brian Soucie:

Erin Kilburn:

We also find them problematic, and that they generate a lot of questions and confusion. We are about to try using constituent security groups, so that inactive records and household records are hidden from all but the data teams.


I've considered deleting them as well, but have concerns like preivously identified. Hopefully this hiding route helps!

Hi Erin,


I'd love to hear how your testing of constituent security groups goes.  


Thanks,

Brian



 

When hiding households, you may want to test the Primary Relationships tile to see if it hides the link to the Household.

 

Kathi Martin

Brian Soucie:

Erin Kilburn:

We also find them problematic, and that they generate a lot of questions and confusion. We are about to try using constituent security groups, so that inactive records and household records are hidden from all but the data teams.


I've considered deleting them as well, but have concerns like preivously identified. Hopefully this hiding route helps!

Hi Erin,


I'd love to hear how your testing of constituent security groups goes.  


Thanks,

Brian

 

Erin:


I would also be interested in hearing about how the testing of constituent security groups goes. I would love to be able to hide household records. 


Thanks, 

Kathi

 

Daniel Wood

Brian Soucie:

Hi everyone,


I'm curious if anyone has found a proper use for the household records? We're nearly two years into using BBCRM and I find them to be more of an annoyance then anything. I'm considering something drastic like deleting all on a regular schedule but want to see if anyone has found a solid use case that can't be accommodated elsewhere. 


I should say that we've made business decisions that all communications and reporting are at the indiviudal or organisation level so that has helped make these records somewhat redundant.


Cheers,

Brian Soucie

The University of Western Australia

We are very similar to Lori. We don't use household records and instruct must staff to ignore them. We do use the household record for reporting but mainly as a way to combine household when generating mailings. I believe Marketing Effort uses them in the same manner. Using security roles would be the best approach in my book.