Hello everyone!
I am wondering if anyone has a solution for the following:
When importing New Constituents, you can either select Yes or No for allowing duplicates when doing an import. Because I don't want duplicates in our system, I always select No. However, I don't get any updated information that might be in the import. (e.g. new phone)
I thought maybe I should choose YES instead - let the duplicates in, and then I can let the merge program find them for me and make sure I use the most up-to-date phone, etc. information when merging. I don't know that I like this solution, however.
In a perfect world Tessitura would recognize the duplicate, like it does today, but you could choose Yes if you want to apply any new info (phone, email). I realize this probaby wouldn't work on addresses - but it would still be helpful to have the newest phone and email data.
I'd appreciate hearing how orther organizations are dealing with this issue.
Thanks!
Hi Shellie,
To get around this issue, we use a customized version of the Constituent Import utility that adds the new information to the record that already exists in Tessitura. I shared an older version of our custom utility a few years ago -- it's solution #184 in TASK. Tessitura's utility has been updated since I posted it, but I hope my old code might help!
~Katie Lachance-Duffy
Application Systems Analyst/Database Administrator
Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia
I prefer to allow duplicates and then merge, for the reason you cite. I have found that if I disallow duplicates, some records are bumped from import that aren’t really duplicates at all.
Lucie Spieler
--------------------------------
IT Development and Training Manager
Editor, Season Program
Florida Grand Opera
8390 NW 25th Street, Miami, FL 33122
Phone: 305-854-1643 x 1521
Fax: 305-856-1042
Ticket Office: 800-741-1010
www.fgo.org
From: Tessitura Technical Forum [mailto:forums-technical@tessituranetwork.com] On Behalf Of Shellie Sullivan Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 11:45 AM To: Lucie Spieler Subject: [Tessitura Technical Forum] Importing New vs. Updated Constituent Info
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Since most of our uploads come as a request from a specific department (i.e. Group Sales bought a list groups to call for a certain exhibit and wants them imported) we don't import dupes, but do give a list of potential dupes back to the requesting department for them to look through and manually enter or update as needed. It's a pretty non-technical solution but it's worked so far.