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Constituencies vs Attributes

Grant Offermann
$organization

Hi All,

We are getting ready to do some name captures (with contact information) and are trying to decide if it's better to apply a Constituency to them or an Attribute.  Any advice?  We most likely will be using list manager to pull the info but want to make sure we know all the pros/cons before we decide.  Here is what we have:

 

Constituencies:

 

Pros:

  • Can have it show up on constituent header
  • They have start and end dates
  • Can be controlled with different security objects (Add, change, view)
  • Just create it in TR_Constituency

 

Con

  • Lack of detail, no dropdown.  Their either have it or they don’t.



Attributes:

 

Pros:

  • Can add a subset to the attribute.  Eg: Dropdown to choose from.
  • Can be used with control group

 

Cons

  • A little more work creating them since you have to use multiple tables
  • No end date
Parents
  • $organization
    Grant,

    I’m not in my office right now.  But thought that I’d share the following additional thoughts from memory.  (Please check the documentation.)

    Constituencies: 

    Pros: 

    • Automated Utility to add Constituency Codes based on Lists “Manage Constituency Code”
    • Can be used easily in Pricing Rules (Check this one)
    • The Constituent Import Utility can not set constituency codes in the standard setup.  You can customize to do this.  (Customizations cost time and money.)
    • Various parts of the system can set consistency codes automatically.  Membership for sure.  Some ticketing elements.  (Don’t remember how to do this right now.) I think when you donate to a fund you can set a constituency code.  
    • Best for things everyone needs to know.

    Cons:

    • If you get too many Constituencies it can be confusing to operators.  For this reason we are rather restrictive in adding new constituency codes.  We are rather liberal in creating new Attributes.  We over did when we started.  Over the years we have cut down Constituency Codes.
    • There may be some end date bugs currently in the system.  Particularly with start date and end date on the same day.  These consistencies  

    Attributes: 

    Pros: 

    • They are hidden off on the Attribute Screen.  Even if control groups are not used.
    • There is an automated utility to add attributes, however only one value choice.  (This one value choice can be a bit awaked.)
    • There is more semantic expressiveness with Attributes because they are an item type value pair.  New values “answers” can be added in the future.  
    • The Import constituent utility supports one attribute by default.  (This can be helpful.)

    Cons

    • May be able to used with Pricing Rules based based on Lists. (Check this one.)

    You will get this wrong some times.  (We did for sure.) Don’t let perfect get in the way of making the best guess and then move forward.  You can use the standard utilities to populate both of these if you make “mistakes”.  
    On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 5:07 PM, Grant Offermann <bounce-grantoffermann2464@tessituranetwork.com> wrote:

    Hi All,

    We are getting ready to do some name captures (with contact information) and are trying to decide if it's better to apply a Constituency to them or an Attribute.  Any advice?  We most likely will be using list manager to pull the info but want to make sure we know all the pros/cons before we decide.  Here is what we have:

     

    Constituencies:

     

    Pros:

    • Can have it show up on constituent header
    • They have start and end dates
    • Can be controlled with different security objects (Add, change, view)
    • Just create it in TR_Constituency

     

    Con

    • Lack of detail, no dropdown.  Their either have it or they don’t.



    Attributes:

     

    Pros:

    • Can add a subset to the attribute.  Eg: Dropdown to choose from.
    • Can be used with control group

     

    Cons

    • A little more work creating them since you have to use multiple tables
    • No end date



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  • Former Member
    Former Member $organization in reply to Tom Brown (Past Member)

    Hi all,

    Just wanted to clarify/point something out here as I'm not 100% sure if it's known - you can use either Constituencies or Attributes (or Lists or Exclusion Lists or Appeal/Source or Ranking) in Pricing Rules.

    B

  • $organization in reply to Former Member

    Wow! What a great response.  Thanks everyone. 

    And Pricing Rules can be used with both Constituences and Attributes.  

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