Batch editing Constituent Records in a Group to share same Attribute

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M OConnell
M OConnell
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in Blackbaud Luminate Online® & Blackbaud TeamRaiser® Discussions
Hi All -

Is there a task/query you can use to batch edit the attributes of Constituent records in that group?

 

If an anecdote will help, here’s what I’m doing:

 

Someone in the organization sent a group of emails directly to some donors, a portion of those recipients asked to not receive any email from the organization.

This initial email was done through Outlook and not using Luminate Online Email, so all the unsubscribe data was parsed manually.

I have now a decent list of emails that I used the Import tool as a specific Custom Group.

Almost all the records ended up having matches with existing Constituent IDs

Many of the records also had these attributes:
  • Accept Email: Yes
  • Solicit Code: (blank)
  • Luminate Attribute: (blank)
I’m looking around for a process to edit at least the first two. The third, below, I think is a segmentation flag from BBeCRM.

We did it by hand last time, so we're looking for a quicker process via tasks/query or anything else.
  • Accept Email: No
  • Solicit Code: Do Not Email
  • Luminate Attribute: Exclude – Convio Online
Most solutions I read on this forum suggest adding this group as a "Do Not Email" Exclude when sending an email.

But that won't work for when we do a query in the future and use those names for sending offline "custom and direct "emails to people through Outlook.

By making their solicit codes/accepts as DO NOT EMAIL, we want to make sure they can't be pulled and commnicated ever again.



Thanks for your help in advance!
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  • Erik Leaver
    Erik Leaver Blackbaud Employee
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    M OConnell:
    Hi All -

    Is there a task/query you can use to batch edit the attributes of Constituent records in that group?

     

    If an anecdote will help, here’s what I’m doing:

     

    Someone in the organization sent a group of emails directly to some donors, a portion of those recipients asked to not receive any email from the organization.

    This initial email was done through Outlook and not using Luminate Online Email, so all the unsubscribe data was parsed manually.

    I have now a decent list of emails that I used the Import tool as a specific Custom Group.

    Almost all the records ended up having matches with existing Constituent IDs

    Many of the records also had these attributes:

    • Accept Email: Yes
    • Solicit Code: (blank)
    • Luminate Attribute: (blank)
    I’m looking around for a process to edit at least the first two. The third, below, I think is a segmentation flag from BBeCRM.

    We did it by hand last time, so we're looking for a quicker process via tasks/query or anything else.
    • Accept Email: No
    • Solicit Code: Do Not Email
    • Luminate Attribute: Exclude – Convio Online
    Most solutions I read on this forum suggest adding this group as a "Do Not Email" Exclude when sending an email.

    But that won't work for when we do a query in the future and use those names for sending offline "custom and direct "emails to people through Outlook.

    By making their solicit codes/accepts as DO NOT EMAIL, we want to make sure they can't be pulled and commnicated ever again.



    Thanks for your help in advance!

     

    Hi, I think creating a new custom constituent import is the way to go here. When you prepare your csv file to upload into Luminate you can include the fields you want to bulk update. In this case it would be "accept email" and you'd want the field to read "false" for each. I'm not sure what fields you have mapped for solicit code or luminate attribute, these may be custom fields you have created or they may be existing fields (like source code or subsource code) that you are calling something different here.


    Here's the Luminate help file that covers all of the fields for custom constituent uploads: https://www.blackbaud.com/support/howto/coveo/luminate-online/Subsystems/DataManagement/Content/Ref/Admin_ImportExport_CustomConstituentImport_UnderstandingCustomConsImportData_Table.html


    Best,

    Erik  

  • M OConnell
    M OConnell
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    Thanks for your answer, Erik! I've looked at the the different Data Import/Export tools and hadn't seen this chart. Pointing it out does help; I will probably have more questions as i dig in further :)
  • M OConnell
    M OConnell
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    As promised, i do have additional questions...


    When doing an Import/Export of data - the column headers are required to be labelled in this format "PRIMARY_EMAIL"  or "CONS_ID" or "ACCEPTS_EMAIL"


    The table of possible Custom Constituent Import Data Field columns (link) merely lists the name of the columns as "Email" or "Contact ID" or "Accept Email"   but does not show the proper format of them like they actually need to be in an Import/Export.  While there is some documentation with the common / essential column headers and some additional formats in our own Results from previous syncs, i don't see or know how to figure out where anyone can obtain this information.


    Where would i find some of the less common data fields built into the system, for example "Employer Industry" or Matched Donor or Interest Assignments, or custom ones we created on our own??

     
  • Philip Nawrocki
    Philip Nawrocki
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    Hey there,


    The attached can at least get you started. I cannot remember where I got this, but use it all the time.


    Hopefully someone from BB can provide more.


    Thanks,


    Phil
  • M OConnell
    M OConnell
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    Phil - this is very helpful and has much more inputs than i had collected! Thanks! Since this is my first foray in the Cons360 side of things, i should probably ask: is figuring out custom records something that Luminate support should be contacted about or is this a per-client issue above our head and should be handled by Luminate Support due to custom Sync and the data whereabouts?

     
  • Philip Nawrocki
    Philip Nawrocki
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    I would hope they would know the database names of the fields you are trying to import on. I would definitely contact support to get that information. The file I provided usually gets me where I need to go.


    I read back through your comments and you can change interest assignments via the file I provided. if you import new users with the interest, the corresponding group will be populated.


    You would need to ask support about about Employer Industry, Matched Donor and your custom ones.


    Are you changing the sync from Luminate to RE? Cuz that would be a different converstion than this.


     
  • Colleen Gutierrez
    Colleen Gutierrez Blackbaud Employee
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    Sorry for the confusion on this.  You'll find that sample file in this help topic here.


    So, new custom imports do not require the column headings to match exactly.  During a custom import, you'll be given the option to map a column named X to a field named Y. Additionally, Luminate Online will try to match a column name in the file to a field name, so naming them in a similar way helps with quick matching by Luminate Online, but isn't required to match. You'll be offered an option to alter which columns go to which fields.


    At the top of this Custom Import topic, there is a statement:   "Note that you do not have to specify field headings that exactly match those shown in this list."


    One caveat is that if you save your import and want to reuse it, then you'll need to exactly match the same columns in your file, but otherwise, new imports will match the columns for you.


    I hope that helps!
  • M OConnell
    M OConnell
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    Helpful to know, thank you!


    I did run some tests with a handful of fields and Test Names, and am finding some header/values are not going through (i.e. not revising the value of the Constituent record) even if mapped. Anyone run into that? Maybe we're trying to hard, but we're contacting Support about it now (will post if have a solution...)
  • Philip Nawrocki
    Philip Nawrocki
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    Did you use the 'Overwrite fields with non-blank values from the import file' for your import?


    There are four radio button choices to use depending on what you are trying to accomplish on the last step before the import starts.
  • M OConnell
    M OConnell
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    I have actually --  I even tried the other values (like Fill in Blank values only) to make sure I'm not shock-and-awe'ing the system into not recording data.


    Once in awhile the values do resolve after a period of time. Maybe the system --despite its onscreen message of completeness -- acutally does take awhile to run the updates?
  • Philip Nawrocki
    Philip Nawrocki
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    I haven't personally experienced that on a constituent record. I have had to rebuild groups after importing new users to them. But for a first name/last name/e-mail address etc on a Cons360 record... that is instantaneous for us.


    Let us know what support says.

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