Addressees/Salutations Clean-up

Thanks for tagging me in, Dariel! I've been swamped these last couple weeks and haven't been keeping up on the Community forums.


I can say that I have been (mostly) successful at cleaning up my name situation. I never got around to cleaning out the worst of the crud on the most obscure records before moving to a new organization, but at that point, I was doing more manual search and change, so it was only a matter of time.


Suzi, I don't know if this will be useful for you, but because I had such a headache trying to get help a couple years ago for the project, I'm in the habit of sharing the relevant details to active threads to help other folks now or using search in the future.


I find that it's helpful to define the terms you're using for this project:

Add/Sal = full set of data fields applied to a record that include A) the TYPE and the DISPLAY

Formula = the combination of data parts that create the Addressee/Salutation entry in the Add/Sal Configuration and are used to create the DISPLAY

Type = the configurable table of labels that can be assigned to aid in data processing (Primary Addressee, Thank You Note Salutation, Name Tag Name, etc.)

Display = the result of the formula, accounting for variable data on a record

Editable = the checkbox that allows overwriting of a display name has been activated, most likely because none of the formulas fit


There are several places where either the Addressee/Salutation elements live or where they are used to pay attention to. As far as I remember, this is a complete list:

1. Add/Sal *Formula* Configuration

2. Add/Sal Type Table

3. Constituent Add/Sal Tab

4. Relationship 2 tabs for individual and contact non-constituent relationships

5. Membership "Name on Card"

6. Event "Place Card" and "Nametag"

7. Default Sets

8. Import-o-matic rules, or other data entry tools you may use

9. BBNC defaults

10. All output configurations (Report and Mail parameters, Query and Export criteria/output)


When doing a clean-up, the goal is to remove redundant formulas, assign the correct formulas to one or more types, and ensure that the table data feeding into the display is correct. You will then need to check that everything which uses the formulas or references an Add/Sal is pointing to the correct type(s), and that no old/redundant ones are being called by your data entry tools.


What I found is that the most difficult place to do cleanup - where the Global Change and Imports resist efforts - are in the Membership and Event records. The interface for choosing a name display for nametags, placecards, and membership cards is different from everywhere else. It uses a drop-down menu that first calls on any assigned Add/Sal from the constituent record, then lists all of the display results of the various formulas. In every other place in Raiser's Edge, you are able to choose either the Type or the Formula, rather than both Type AND Display.


When you attempt to delete a formula from the config table, you will get a message specifying Event or Membership if the formula is being used in one of those places. If it's just a generic "this is present on a record", it's attached to a constituent, individual relationship, contact, or it may be present in one of the output options, or in a Default Set.


For this reason, I recommend first establishing the good. Set up what you want an ideal record to include in terms of add/sal, both the formulas and the types, and where you would use each type. Update your records to be good. Then go in and clean out the stuff you don't want - you'll get rid of some headaches that way.


Some of the tips I have for cleaning out the crud and maintaining a clean add/sal structure:

- when choosing a Membership or Event display name, if you leave the field blank before choosing the Editable option, it will NOT associate with a specific formula/type. However, if you chose an item from the table, then make it Editable, that formula and type will be "locked", and you will have a fine time tracking it down.


- on Constituent or Relationship records, if you choose from the formula list, then make the display editable, the underlying formula is NOT locked.

Example:

* Formula - #52 in config - [Title] [First] [Middle Full] [Last] [Comma] [Suffix]

* Mr. James Alexander Jones, III wishes to be addressed as Mr. J. Alexander Jones, III

* The suffix table already includes a comma for numeral suffixes

* The display based on this formula is Mr. James Alexander Jones, , III

* If you mark it editable and revise it to shorting the first name and remove the extra comma, it will still be associated with #52, but that association will be hidden. You can't delete #52, because it's being used.

* However, if you were to globally change all #52 formulas to #53, which does not include an extra comma, the editable Add/Sal will now be associated with #53

* You can test this by marking the display not editable again - it will revert to the drop-down menu, but will be the new formula.


- It is not possible to merge add/sal formulas, as much as we wish we could. The work-around is to globally change one formula assignment to another, then attempt to delete the one you don't want. If you can't, that formula is being used in a Membership or Event. Adding extra, unique text to the beginning of the formula will help you find any non-editable instances via query. Then, you can look at all editable Membership and Event name displays to check what the underlying formula is.


Depending on how extensive your Event names are used, you might find that it saves time to export all editable nametag/place card data, delete all nametag/place card data, then re-import the original data on top of the blank in the drop-down.


For Membership...you can't change the name on card for memberships which are in Dropped status. And once you change the Name on Card, it applies retroactively to all previous membership transactions. I would simply reset the default membership name on card, then look at the Editable ones to manually comb through.


When it comes to relationships... keep in mind that these are often multi-level. If you take care of your constituents' names first, you can then leave them out of future clean-up queries on individual and contact relationships, which will save time. Spouse is a type of individual relationship with a few upgrades that make it a little easier to adjust the add/sals for them.


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My big wish for the developers is to fix the way membership and event names work! They muck up a lot of the process and make things very difficult.

I would also like to have an in-the-background merge option for the add/sal formulas.

Finally, it would be nice to be able to easily query ALL add/sal related fields by which data parts contribute to the display without having to look up the formula configurations or go through export/import.


Oh, and if i'm doing a Relationship query, please let me open the relationship record from the results!!! At my last org, I had identical Relationship and Constituent queries running, but some records showed on one but not the other. It was very strange and no one could tell me why. (It seemed to be artifacts of an old conversion of data from a decade previous, but we weren't 100% sure.)