Attributes - any way to tell if they are being utilized?

Diane Zempel · April 2018

Any way to tell when the last time a particular attribute was added to a constituent record? Note that the date field is blank in the attribute tab. Hoping there is a properties type field that tells Date last added or something like that.

Steven Cinquegrana 2 · April 2018

Hi Diane,

This question isn't a million miles away from this one, in terms of the available data, either via the front- or back-end.

The back-end doesn't appear to record information about when an Attribute is added (or by whom), unfortunately, so you're probably stuck with some kind of event tracking if this is really important to you.

Sorry it's not better news.

Cheers,

Steve Cinquegrana | CEO and Principal Developer | Protégé Solutions

Diane Zempel · April 2018

I was pretty sure there wasn't a way, but hey, you never know. Thanks!

Karen Stuhlfeier · April 2018

Going forward can't you just use the date field in the attribute? Tell everyone to use the date field when adding one?

Diane Zempel · April 2018

We're doing a major database clean up so was hoping that I could narrow things down by Date Added. Once the clean up is complete only a select few will be able to add data. And yes, add those dates:)

Katherine Mannion · April 2018

I always have a hesitation about the date field on attributes (and other places too). I guess it's because I am too literal. Like, if you add an attribute of (Category) Political Affiliation (Description) Clown Party (Date) 4/12/18, does that mean they joined the Clown Party today? Or we just found out they've been a Clown their whole lives and we added the information today? And then what do you do if they change from the Clown Party to the Circus Party? I know you can use comments, but you see what I mean about the date?

Diane Zempel · April 2018

Ha! I love the analogy:) Comment are tough too because one typo and you're sunk. I'm thinking, if we're tracking a Committee, then Category = Committee; Description = which committee; date = 'as of' and Comment would be fiscal year. And hopefully I can get the attributes from a gazillion to about 1/2 gazillion. Unless they are being utilized in a way that brings value.

Joshua Bekerman bCLO bCRE · April 2018

Another way you might approach the clean up aspect of this is to see how many there are of each attribute. You could export them and do count subtotals in Excel. Then you can see how many records have an attribute or if any attribute can be combined. For example, if only one record has an attribute do you really need it?

Steven Cinquegrana 2 · April 2018

Diane Zempel:

... we're tracking a Committee, then Category = Committee; Description = which committee; date = 'as of' and Comment would be fiscal year.

Off-topic, but would Constituent Codes work better/as well here? Or are people on lots of committees?

Cheers, Steve

Diane Zempel · April 2018

Good point, Steve. Currently, there are very few Constituent codes and they're vague. ex: Board or Committee Member. Then about 5 times as many attributes. If a board member is on a committee that would require 2 attributes. But not all committee members are Board. So I agree with you. Const Codes would be a better place.

Darrel Spacone bCRE · April 2018

Katherine Mannion:

I always have a hesitation about the date field on attributes (and other places too). I guess it's because I am too literal. Like, if you add an attribute of (Category) Political Affiliation (Description) Clown Party (Date) 4/12/18, does that mean they joined the Clown Party today? Or we just found out they've been a Clown their whole lives and we added the information today? And then what do you do if they change from the Clown Party to the Circus Party? I know you can use comments, but you see what I mean about the date?

Changing from the Clown Party to Circus Party and vice versa is comparable to our political party system.

Attributes - any way to tell if they are being utilized?

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