Offices Closed - Good Friday - April 2nd
Help desk will be open but technical support will not be available
Data mining can be overwhelming for some users. All you need is some basic understanding of the process to open the door to all the possibilities.
The first concept is that a simple Data Mining Operation (DMO) is typically divided into two sections. The first section selects accounts and the second section extracts (retrieves) information about the previously selected accounts. Let's look at the details.
Section 1. A data mining operation usually starts by selecting accounts. You can select individuals, organizations, or related pairs of individual/organization accounts such as employer/employee, company/contacts, etc. Each of the account selection methods have numerous tabs containing the possible conditions for selecting accounts. Remember that the selection process results only in a list of account numbers (or account number pairs). This list is actually held in a temporary account warehouse referred to as the "*Current" account warehouse. So, an account warehouse is just a list of account pairs (one account in a pair can be zero). Each warehouse is given a name for convenience. The "*Current" warehouse is special in that it disappears at the end of the DMO.
Section 2. Once you have your list of account numbers, the next step is to extract information about these accounts. The easiest way to do this is with the section called "Extract Data and Download". Click the various tabs to select data to be extracted. Most tabs can be selected more than once. For example, you can click the gift tab and select only specific transaction types and then click the gift tab again to select a different set of transaction types. The result is a spreadsheet of information for your selected accounts.
Once this is done, save your DMO and submit it for execution. Once it completes, you’ll have your spreadsheet ready to use.
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Read the DMO Simplified Guide...
After selecting your accounts, you can optionally save them in a mailing list or in a permanent account warehouse. Account warehouses can be very handy for running standard Andar reports. Many reports in Andar can be run for accounts in a warehouse. In fact most reports can also be included inside an actual DMO. Just click "Insert Section" and then "Reports" to insert one. For these reports, just select the "*Current" account warehouse to run the report on the accounts selected so far in your DMO.
Furthermore, you can e-mail the output generated by a DMO from inside the DMO itself. Just click "Insert Section" and "e-Mail Output". This new feature will e-mail all output generated so far by the DMO to anyone you wish.
Another exciting feature is the ability for plans to automatically run a DMO. The individual or organization account associated with the plan will be loaded into the "*Current" warehouse as the DMO starts. So, using the new advanced workflow features, completing a task can automatically run a DMO that will run a report for that donor and e-mail it to a staff member.
Read the DMO Guide...
Do you want to select only the primary contact of a combined giver group? Mailing lists offer this feature as well as the ability to select only one copy of individuals that may appear with multiple employers.
Here's how to do it using a DMO. Select the accounts with the desired criteria and save them in a mailing list. Then add a "Create Mailing List Usage" section to your DMO and make sure you check the boxes to "Merge Combined Givers" and/or "Remove duplicate individuals at different organizations." Then add a "Clear Selected Accounts" section to start a fresh selection instead of adding more accounts to the already selected list. Finally, select the accounts from the mailing list and on the mail usage tab, select the "Last Usage". Leave all other options to their default values. You can now proceed to extract data or use these accounts in reports.
Read how...
April 20, 2010 - 1:30 ET
New! Andar now provides a good way to 'package' and streamline the agency data entry of forms, demographics, budgets, etc. and allows you to easily manage multi-cycle funding, and to provide forms focused on specific impact areas. This session will show you how to setup, publish, and manage packages.
Pre-requisites: Must be currently using Community Building online or have completed CB Training.
Target audience: For everyone currently using Community Building.
For fee and registration information,
please contact the Helix Help Desk, toll-free, at 877-479-3780 x314.
Fashion your life as a garland of beautiful deeds.
Buddha
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