Can you screen "guest" info from event forms before you download/commit to RE?

David Dines

My org has recently been increasing our use of OLX event forms. What we're finding, after increased use, is that the way donors fill out the "guest" information into the form really, really, really makes for messy data in the events module in RE.  There has got to be some way to screen and attempt to merge guest info (rather than just that of the purchaser) before downloading and committing in RE.


For example: Bob Smith buys 5 tickets for himself and 4 friends to an upcoming dance performance. 


What I've found is that Bob can do a variety of things that all have different results and unnecessary work for me:


1. Bob could not know who the other people are just yet and will add his name as the first guest and leave the rest of the names blank/fill out later.  This is the best result because after I download this registration to RE, I'm left with Bob and 4 guests as new registrants in RE. No extra work for me other than following up with Bob to try to get his guest names.


2. Bob could not know who his guests are and then not enter any information into the 5 guest records; I then get 5 unnamed guests and then Bob as just a purchaser. I have to then delete one guest and update Bob's participant record to show that he's attending and registerd.


3. Bob could also enter his info into the guest fields for all 5 tickets; I then find 5 separate instances of Bob in my event. I then have to delete 4 Bobs and create 4 guests within his participant record.


4. Bob could also pay for the transaction as Robert but say that he is attending as Bob; I'm left with then having to delete the Bob participant record and update the Robert partipant record.


In the end, I feel that there has to be a better way to screen this guest info before I download and commit it to RE. This is greatly compounded when I've got a weekend of 4 shows with a few hundred tickets sold for each. I find that I have to do so much extra work to get a relatively clean attendee list.


Am I missing something?

Nancy Hartman

David Dines:

My org has recently been increasing our use of OLX event forms. What we're finding, after increased use, is that the way donors fill out the "guest" information into the form really, really, really makes for messy data in the events module in RE.  There has got to be some way to screen and attempt to merge guest info (rather than just that of the purchaser) before downloading and committing in RE.


For example: Bob Smith buys 5 tickets for himself and 4 friends to an upcoming dance performance. 


What I've found is that Bob can do a variety of things that all have different results and unnecessary work for me:


1. Bob could not know who the other people are just yet and will add his name as the first guest and leave the rest of the names blank/fill out later.  This is the best result because after I download this registration to RE, I'm left with Bob and 4 guests as new registrants in RE. No extra work for me other than following up with Bob to try to get his guest names.


2. Bob could not know who his guests are and then not enter any information into the 5 guest records; I then get 5 unnamed guests and then Bob as just a purchaser. I have to then delete one guest and update Bob's participant record to show that he's attending and registerd.


3. Bob could also enter his info into the guest fields for all 5 tickets; I then find 5 separate instances of Bob in my event. I then have to delete 4 Bobs and create 4 guests within his participant record.


4. Bob could also pay for the transaction as Robert but say that he is attending as Bob; I'm left with then having to delete the Bob participant record and update the Robert partipant record.


In the end, I feel that there has to be a better way to screen this guest info before I download and commit it to RE. This is greatly compounded when I've got a weekend of 4 shows with a few hundred tickets sold for each. I find that I have to do so much extra work to get a relatively clean attendee list.


Am I missing something?

I have the same issues, so I don't download the registrations, I copy and paste them from the transaction data tab and manually enter. Otherwise it is constant cleanup.

Nancy