Reducing database size - tips and tricks

Out of curiosity, what is that threshold?

My favorite one is to have EVERYONE search the database EVERY TIME before adding any new records.  My search function works very well when applying the following ideas.  Say you have a name like Bryan Smith, where the last name is very common, and the first name more common, but less so.  I put into the last name field in search the whole Smith name, but only put Br into the first name, in case we've mis-spelled him as Brian.  My name - Heather MacKenzie - I would put only the Mac or %Kenz% into the last name field, and just enough, Heat, into the first name field to find me.  With a very uncommon name, such as Zamitly Savoran (real name - an employee at my hospital I work at) - I'd put Savo into the last name, but only need Z for the first name field. 



Make sure your data entry people have lots of the check boxes checked when searching too.  This brings up results when limiting doesn't.  The 2 people who are data entry folks in my office have all the boxes checked except "Exact Match Only."



Hope this is helpful!

First, assess your media file usage. Do you really need to keep the pdf of the donor's letter, or can you store that elsewhere on your own server? Or, simply summarize the letter's contents in a brief Notes entry? In Appeals, do you keep pdf images of your mail pieces, or can your Communications officer keep those in a separate folder on your own server?



Second, consider constituent cleansing. Although it is true that it is easier to re-activate lapsed donors than to acquire new ones, there are also instances when you just have to prune. If you have constituents who have never given a gift, and are 10 years old in your system, (and are not an Alumni), you may want to simply delete these records.



That being said, the goal for all fundraising databases is to keep growing. In an ideal world, as you acquire new donors and since you can't delete donors who have ever donated if yoru organization also uses Financial Edge, your number of constituent records will increase from year to year. If your trimming efforts do not work, you may have to simply strategize a way of increasing revenue to cover the additional costs.

If I kept my batch queries for 3 years I'd easily have 800+.   Not to hard to create a query batch # equals XXX if needed.



I fairly regularily go through an reveiw list of queries.  I will almost always delete any I find that have not been run in past 2 years. Generally they are not that difficult to create and as our use of RE has gotten more saavy maybe even better if created differently. 



You may want to check with your account rep or someone from BB to find out what type of data / records / reports / queries etc use the most storage space.  I would assume most is constituent records and start with any clean up there.



 

Hi FO,



Omatic does a lot of data services and very frequently we see RE databases that are incredibly large for the number of constituents/gifts they contain. It's always fun to analyze the tables to see which are the largest, and there is almost always a single "smoking gun" reason for the database bloat. There are many different causes, but one I've seen a few times is a notepad added automatically to many, many records, and the notepad rich-text has a large image in it. If so, it's possible to delete the rich text version of the notes and just keep the plain text, freeing up plenty of space. If you'd like us to analyze your DB to see if there's a smoking gun (just for fun), just let me know.



Jeff



Jeffrey Montgomery

Founder, Omatic Software

 



 

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