Queries

Debra Hildred · May 2015

I've been working with RE for about a year now and it always seems I get a last minute rush request for a what I consider a complex query. Any suggestions for practicing queries? I've taken Q1 and Q2 and while the scenarios are useful, they never come close to what I'm being asked to query (I do not do queries often). Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks,

Joshua Bekerman bCLO bCRE · May 2015

Do... or do not. There is no try.

-Yoda

I don't have suggestions for practicing, but do recommend being familiar with:

the fields that are available in queries and how they are structured.
the differences between the different query types (constituent, gift, action, etc.) and when to use each
summary fields and how to use them
the different query merge operators (SUB, AND, etc.)

Then let your coworkers know that you need more than 15 minutes to fulfill their query requests.

Teddi Taylor · May 2015

I always tell people that they can't break anything in query as long as they don't act on it, so anything they wonder about, they should try to query and see what you get!

JoAnn Strommen · May 2015

When you don't do queries often it can be a challenge to remember where all the fields you're looking for are and how they go together. As Josh said be as familiar as possible and don't let co-workers rush you. That's the easiest way for me to mess up - think I have what they asked for only later to realize that I forgot to filter on say 'gift type' and have double entry due to pledges and payments because I was in a hurry.

If RE scenarios aren't helpful and you want to practice, perhaps take the queries you been asked to do and change them up. Add/change some criteria - practice finding it, working with it. Still not the most realistic.

Carolyn Moatz · May 2015

I've also found that sometimes when people ask for something and want it as a query, it's sometimes easier to do a report and create a query of the results. For example, when I'm asked for donor listings or leadership lists, I'll use a donor category report. The report more easily lets me break down soft credits, matching gifts, and specific constituencies.

Katherine Mannion · May 2015

I would suggest you creat a Query Request form, and make your co-workers use it. I'm in a small shop and we're all friends, but when they just shout what they want across the hall, there's no paper trail on what they really asked for and what they think they asked for. Also, I use the form to write down what the query is called...my mind is not as good at remembering as it used to! Then when they say "remember that query..." I can go right to it!

Julie Hiland · May 2015

Query isn't really a reporting tool in and of itself, merely a "grouping" tool. You can pull your queries into Export or Reports to get the more complex results your colleagues are looking for. May I suggest you also look into training courses for Export and Reports. Also, what types of reports have you been asked to provide? The Community can help!

Joshua Bekerman bCLO bCRE · May 2015

Here's a sample form

LaShawnda Woods · May 2015

I agree with Katherine a query request form helps with organizing the need and deadlines. Also for me it helped me to write out the query first so I can decide how to create the query before I even began. I did this a lot in the beginning.

Debra Hildred · May 2015

Thanks for the form - this will be a great strating point for the office.

Debra Hildred · May 2015

Thanks to everyone who offered me suggestions (especially for form suggestion and the an actual form from another member). I appreciate all of them. I'm also new to the community and not really sure how it works but I am hoping this post gets to all of you. Not even sure how to request "friend" should I need to ask another question related to this. I work for a large community college and our Foundation office consists of the Director and myself.

Barbara Van Handel · May 2015

The hardest thing in writing queries is knowing what the thing you need is called in the record. Some things are called one thing on an individual record yet something else because it is on a relationship contact record in an organization record. It took me a while to learn what to look for on the record to find it in the query. The other issue is the same things are not found on the query and the export. You can sometimes find it on one but not the other. So you may have to write a query and run it through export to get the bit of information you want.

I had to learn these things by trial and error as my supervisor does not believe in budgeting very much for training. When I started I "was lucky enough" to get to take the online class for Query Essentials, Export in Raiser's Edge 7, Mail Essentials, Report and Dashboard Essentials and How to Globally Add, Edit and Delete Data. That has been it. I started in my position in April 2011 and got to take my first class in November 2011 which was Report and Dasboard Essentials,took Query and Global Add, Edit and Delete in December 2011, Mail in January 2012 and Exports in February 2012. That has been it. Not the order they should be done if I had to do it again, but that's what was available. That did not mean I wasn't expected to do my job. I had to do the best I could by reading the User Guides and calling support(this was before online chat was developed). I then used (and continue to use) the knowledge base to get answers when I'd get stuck. Support chat is a good tool now. You can get help much quicker than calling Support. Calling Support is frustrating as you are put on continuous HOLD and may or may not speak to anyone.

If I can help you I'd be happy to do so.

John Heizer · May 2015

A form is great, but I find that probably 75% of my job is "making sure that what you asked for is what you really want" and that takes sitting down together and discussing it.

JoAnn Strommen · May 2015

Ditto John's thoughts. I think I'd need a form so complicated that it wouldn't be used. Even the simplest things like I want a list of donor names. What format do you want names, formal or casual, donor and/spouses, donors with pledges or just with payments, all amounts or above what amount. what date range, fund, etc. etc.

A form can be a starting point but the communication is crucial.

Debra Hildred · May 2015

Barbara Van Handel:

The hardest thing in writing queries is knowing what the thing you need is called in the record. Some things are called one thing on an individual record yet something else because it is on a relationship contact record in an organization record. It took me a while to learn what to look for on the record to find it in the query. The other issue is the same things are not found on the query and the export. You can sometimes find it on one but not the other. So you may have to write a query and run it through export to get the bit of information you want.

I had to learn these things by trial and error as my supervisor does not believe in budgeting very much for training. When I started I "was lucky enough" to get to take the online class for Query Essentials, Export in Raiser's Edge 7, Mail Essentials, Report and Dashboard Essentials and How to Globally Add, Edit and Delete Data. That has been it. I started in my position in April 2011 and got to take my first class in November 2011 which was Report and Dasboard Essentials,took Query and Global Add, Edit and Delete in December 2011, Mail in January 2012 and Exports in February 2012. That has been it. Not the order they should be done if I had to do it again, but that's what was available. That did not mean I wasn't expected to do my job. I had to do the best I could by reading the User Guides and calling support(this was before online chat was developed). I then used (and continue to use) the knowledge base to get answers when I'd get stuck. Support chat is a good tool now. You can get help much quicker than calling Support. Calling Support is frustrating as you are put on continuous HOLD and may or may not speak to anyone.

If I can help you I'd be happy to do so.

Thanks Barbara!

Aldera Chisholm · May 2015

Half the problem with queries is getting the asker to tell you what they really want. They often will come to me and tell me what query they want "hey, can you run me a list of all gifts from x to y..." to which my reply is invariably: what do you need to use this query for? It's a simple question, but forces them to think about it a bit side-ways and sometimes give me back the information I really need to know. For example, they will then tell me if they are looking for numbers or a list to contact people for invitations or whatever.

Re: needing fast responses to complex query requests.... I keep a library of basic query 'starters" that have some of the bones of my most oft asked ones. This way I can jump in and edit and save some time. That may be common sense to some, but the people before me in this position certainly didn't do it.

Dawn Lee · May 2015

Come up with really simple queries that you can create (like how many of a certain type of constituent you have), something that is EASILY verifiable. Then start adding fields, and each time verifying that you are getting the right information that you want----like phone number and not fax, or director and not volunteer, etc. I've gotten to the point that I really have one "go-to" query that I use a lot, and then I just add or remove fields depending on the results I'm looking for. I'm not as well-versed in Export, but I'm trying!

Gina Gerhard · May 2015

I would just strongly caution against getting in the habit of using queries to EXPORT information. It's really not what query is meant for, it's your tool for creating your group based on criteria. You then should use export or reports to output information about your group of records.

You can sometimes make inadvertent mistakes by exporting out of a query, so it's always safer using export.
If you're getting the request to 'run a list of' or 'give me data about' then this should ring both the 'Query' and 'Export' bells.

Katherine Mannion · May 2015

Attached is the form I use. Josh's is so much fancier....I may have to steal it! My form is a starting point for conversation, and it is where I mark any changes that happen while we are talking. Again, the paper trail.

Nicole S · May 2015

Gina Gerhard:

I would just strongly caution against getting in the habit of using queries to EXPORT information.

I concur! I know that for people not experienced in Export it can seem daunting, but think of the fields as the same thing you are looking at on the output tab of query. And the criteria is similar to reports. I know at first it can seem like you are doubling your effors and pulling your output fields again, but honestly I don't even bother with complex outputs in query most of the time. I do the work in export and then I'm not repeating myself. I can only think of 1 instance when I prefer to use query for export and it has to do with the way export handles split gifts.

Queries

Comments

Categories