[dyednwool]

Anyone have any systems in place for naming conventions that help identify and organize their queries? This seems like it should be simple but I keep coming up with ideas that are fairly complicated. What are other people doing out there? Does your system help you maintain/clean out your queries also?

Gina Gerhard

[mwittman]

It's a good question, Gina, and I'm still working out the best conventions that balance out the needs in naming. The following example just touches on one area, but here's what we've done with a set of queries used as a basis for Receipt and Acknowledgment letter mail merge templates:

Name: Letter A Camp External 10K above
Description: Letter Acknowledgment Campaign External greater than or equal to $10,000.00

Name: Letter R Dev Award or Scholarship 500 above
Description: Letter Receipt Development Award or Scholarship greater than or equal to $500.00

So, to unpack this a bit, each "word" (e.g. "Letter", "A", "Camp") is most encompassing to least ("Letter" is the broadest category). It makes the natural sort work well. You'll notice a mix of abbreviations and full words -- there's no right answer, but a consistent pattern that avoids names becoming either too long or too cryptic is good. The description then expands on the abbreviated words. If further description is warranted, it goes after the "expanding of the name" portion.

On the topic of naming queries, the most common convention I walked into here has been [User's Initials][colon][space or no space][Rest of Name] such as "JD: Alumni Board & Positions". Starting with the user has its advantages, but I'm still not convinced it's the best naming convention overall (maybe I’m bucking the trend here, but so be it). By and large, users in the system come and go, but business functions remain relatively stable.

Any comments on this (from any of the passengers on the Bus)?


It would be great to keep the discussion going -- thanks for bringing it up, Gina.

[Nina Williams]

I inherited a database where the previous manager labeled all her queries in a code system ie. at-hr-2.
This was great for her, but she passed away and I had to figure out what she did , or start from scratch. I usually did the later. Anyway, I am naming this a clearly as possible, in real english, ie. AFfall2007donors and then putting in the description more info "Donors $500 and above for fall 2007 mailing". It might be overkill, but should make things easier, should I leave -- and also easier next year when I am looking to see what I did this year. I try to start with the same word if the queries are related -- All my Annual Fund queries start with AF, Annual Report quiers AR etc. This groups them together in the list.

[Melissa Siobhan]

I use the following naming conventions for my queries.

AUDIT - in front of all queries I use for my monthly audit of the database.
CLEAN - in front of all queries I use for short term and long term cleanup projects (deleted or converted to an AUDIT query once completed)
FINANCE - in front of all queries used for my monthly financial reconciliation reports.
FIND - in front of standardized search queries (FIND Gifts by date, FIND Board - Current, FIND Constituents by City, State) Most all have ask operators in them
MAIL - in front of all queries for mailings and then I put the appeal ID. (MAIL 07-11DR - mailing for November 2007 Direct Mail Renewal)
RULE - in front of all queries used for business rules.

All others must have the initials of the user in front of them.

[n1ugu]

I was always in a shop that named queries, exports, reports, etc. with the user's initials first, then a colon or semi colon and a short description. Once a year I would tell all my users to cull out their queries, exports, reports, etc. that weren't used that year. I would further tell them that if they didn't do this I would do it for them, and of course I would...erm, but I'd make a print out of it first, just in case it was a query, export, report, etc. used every couple of years!! This worked very well with keeping the amount of queries, exports, reports, etc. to a minimum. I also "allowed" naming conventions like AF (for annual fund), AR (for annual report), AP (for Appeal), etc, etc. and then I would look at those once a year and purge out what wasn't used during that year.
If you are the dba and are considered the "owner" of the db, then I would strongly suggest that when you set your naming policies and that you keep to them. I've seen many a place have a policy in place, but then were wimpy in controlling it!!

[laura_wsc]

Naming conventions are nice and it's good to stick with them. I am in the process of trying to decipher what my successor - who just left after 2 years - had done with his "new" naming convention. His method was to use the initials of the person who requested the query/report/export as the beginning of the name. Not working very well. Many times the requester was not the person who needed the query and is actually running it. And if it is an annual event/appeal/etc someone else may make the request for "same as last year". This is proving to not be much fun. My best suggestion is whatever you do add a description to the query/report/export explaining what criteria you are using. In those cases were he did, I've had an easier time figuring out what he did and used. It's also made it easier for me to find my old stuff when my titles are cryptic. ;-)

And while folders in query/reports/export will be nice, if people don't file the same way, it's still a mess. ;-)

My 2 cents,
laura

[dyednwool]

Thanks everyone for your responses - however I don't see any responses relating to how to encourage people to use a TEMPLATE version of a query.

I would like to create standardized "templates" that would be used as a basis for commonly used or more complex queries. I'd like system users to go to this template first, then do a Save As under another name (following a convention of course!).

We are making lots of system changes that will affect how queries are structured, so I'd like to encourage our users to go back to the templates periodically so they can create a fresh query that picks up any changes. Wondering if some type of marking system might work - for example: name the templates *TEMPLATE-xxxx. When users save their query originating from this template, they would name their query *INTIALS-xxxx. The asterisk would show them that this query originated from a template. So when they use their query the following year, they would know that they should go back and recreate from the original template (but how would they know which template?).

Any ideas on how to encourage users to use templates and a good mechanism for making it work?

[Melissa Siobhan]

All of my FIND queries are templates. They can not be changed but they can copy them and save them with their initials in front of it. I actually do not encourage them to save them with their own name but they can if they want to. I actually encourage them to use my FIND queries in their reports.

For example, if they want a report of new donors in Hartford they simply need to go to the new donor report and use the FIND Constituents by City, State and the ask operator will appear when they run the report asking which City, State(s) they want. If they want a giving report on past board members they can go to the gift detail and summary report (or whatever report they want) and simply use my FIND Board - Past query.

I prefer to encourage them to use my templates and not go off on their own making queries without proper training. I have seen some funky reporting in my time from people thinking they can query on their own. I do not have the manpower to do all querying for staff so I can not restrict them from doing it but these templates can really help.

[dyednwool]

Melissa -

Great reply - thanks and I for the most part agree. I do find, however, when people are asked to use templates that they ALSO have to ask themselves the "checkbox" questions - do you want to include/exclude deceased and no valid addresses. This is always a question when they are considering using the data for a mailing - so it will depend on what they intend to do with the query data.

Yes, they can also exclude this in the export/mail, BUT I like to encourage people to think about this at the first stage of the process. If you force them to use a template with those selections made, then they can forget later that they have to make those decisions.

That's why I have this mindset of - use the template - then save it out under your name for whatever specific thing you are working on. That way you are sure to have those settings properly selected.

However, this does tend to propogate queries that are identical or very close to the templates.

Comments?

[Melissa Siobhan]

I have centralized who is allowed to do mailing data pulls - ONLY ME. Because as you've said so much can be ignored (silly things such as deceased, inactive, has no alid address, solicit codes, mailing attributes, etc.) I do not let anyone who isn't fully trained even attempt it. Because no one has gotten that in depth of a training I do them all.

This system may not work for you but I think that some type of policy that centralizes it to the best people possible could be instituted. I let them do their own internal reports but any mailings or financial reports that will leave the department (reports to the board, president's office or finance office for example) must be done by a trained individual - ME.

A mistake in a mailing or in an externally reported financial report is a huge problem for the department and the institution so why risk it.