| Summer User Group Leaps to next level strategy & learning |
August 4, 2016, New Haven -
LEAP hosted a dynamic roundtable of the DTS Database Summer Networking Group in August. This roundtable addressed Database Mailing List for Import & Export Strategies. With such a dynamic set of development professionals gathered, many best practices shared for tactical and strategic database functions tied to these critical processes.
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| LEAP hosts productive User Group! |
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| Rachel Kline Brown, Director of Development for the LEAP team, welcomed the group and shared the mission of the organization. As teams arrived from around the New England area, users brainstormed the latest trends in online fundraising and crowdfunding, as well as the database challenges of mapping newer fields changes in gender and prefix. DTS CEO Christime Mansfield shared recent client successes in updating survey and registration materials to expand and capture more demographic and contact information proactively. DTS consultants then trained clients on database tools to globally update fields and clean-up missing codes.
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With the group's arrival, Mansfield kicked off the presentation of Mastering Lists & Puzzles of Import & Export. Users from healthcare, entertainment, university, cause and other non -profit corporations shared mailing list management and database processes that worked -- and some that didn't. The group discussed common challenges including:
- Missing data
- Mismatched fields
- Inconsistent data entry or lack of protocols
- Unfamilarity with the import tools
- Manual, timely processing of constituent and address changes
- Overwritten address updates
DTS' Mansfield identified data entry clean-up prior to input and checklist for import. Demonstrating the four import stages, we emphasized the criticality of identifying, mapping and carrying unique ID fields for existing and new record updates. The group discussed tips to accurately pull third party list data into the system. Mansfield also shared the importance to establishing data entry protocols, management prioritization for field and table clean-up and the link to strategic database projects. For many, software upgrades loom as they justify shifts to cloud based data storage, module purchasing or technology shifts. The best practices discussed in the User Group apply not only to day to day import and export processes, but to the strategic planning initiatives as well.
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