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We hold two major events each year with roughly 3,000 to 4,000 tickets sold each. This event has a quick turnaround time, and assisgned seating for 1200 people. I was wondering if anyone had a streamlined approach to adding participants and in some cases linking to constituents, in the event module. Any suggestions would be appreciated. In the past, the box office used an access table and could enter tickets purchasers quickly so they are not happy with the speed of the event module.
I had exactly the same problem previously. We had two major events, one where they used an Access database that was integrated with RE nightly so that reports could be drawn from RE based on the participant's giving. The other event didn't use Access but relied on entering pariticipants directly into RE. This was a real problem and, however we tried to streamline the process, each year we got complaints that entering participants en masse into the event module was cumbersome and problematic. I had hoped that Blackbaud would have developed a batch module for this kind of thing but unfortunately they have not.
The first year we started with the participant and entered the details Later we linked to a gift that was batched. The year after we first entered gifts into batch and linked them to the participants, going on to enter all the participant details. Neither way was particularly satisfactory.
If I were to start again with this I would probably create an Access application and integrated it with the RE events module on a nightly run or alternatively update it in realtime as the user enters the data. Of course I have then benefit of being able to write VBA and API customizations for these.
i believe last year we had a suggestion to BB to create a participant batch so that this could be easily done in RE through batch and I do not recall if it made it to the conference or not but if it is not already an Idea it should be one. It is, for certain, a suggesion in knowledgebase. Until this happens you may need to continue to use an outside system like Access.
I'm not sure what is causing the difference in time it takes to enter participants in Access as compared to RE. Are you entering less in the Access database? One thing that helps us is offering online registration. Then the event registration is processed through the plugin. Information is gathered easily, linked to a constituent and the fees go into a batch.
We have quite a few events. We do offer online registration and payment. We have one person who puts in any registrations that come in by phone or through the mail. The gifts are linked through to the participant by the gift data entry person.
For our walks, info is daily as we receive it, walk day of info is entered in the days after the walk by a dedicated data entry person.
__________________ Nora Isaac
Senior Manager Information Technology
The ALS Association, Greater Phila. Chapter www.alsphiladelphia.org
When entering in Access vs. directly into the events module you have the option of entering in a spreadsheet like environment similar to batch. RE does not offer a batch entry system for participants and having so many tabs etc to get participants entered is a huge pain. Yes NetEvents helps if your participants are registering online but when entering by mail for such a large event I would also complain about the data entry procedures in RE. I complained for our 300 person event... much less 1,200.
I still ask... how can Net Events or Net Community help with this if the donors are replying to the event by mail?
Any paper replies by mail would have to be done by hand by office staff no matter what the function, unless had some type of elaborate barcoding thing going.
You could try to slowly ween your repliers to the web, making it necessary eventually, and then they are doing their own input for you...
We hold two major events each year with roughly 3,000 to 4,000 tickets sold each. This event has a quick turnaround time, and assisgned seating for 1200 people. I was wondering if anyone had a streamlined approach to adding participants and in some cases linking to constituents, in the event module. Any suggestions would be appreciated. In the past, the box office used an access table and could enter tickets purchasers quickly so they are not happy with the speed of the event module.
Thanks so much for any suggestions!
Amy Macione
I've added this to the ideas page (it's a quick entry - so please ADD your vote & comments to it there!)
Thanks,
Elaine
__________________ Elaine Tucker Stewardship Coordinator St. Mark's School of Texas USA www.smtexas.org
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