Experience.FellowshipOne.com

We are just getting ready to start using WebLink.  Just wondering about others' experiences with dealing with the "new from website" records and matching them up to existing people.  Has it been easy, problematic, etc?

Hi Brian,

We have quite a few weblink forms in use and have found that we need to merge new from check-ins on a daily basis. Depending upon the amount of information that is in the existing (old) record determines how easy or hard it is to match the records. Whenever possible, include a middle initial - this helps.  If you determine that two records with the same names are not a match, put that information in the status notes area so that someone else doesn't come a long at a later date and merge them by mistake. Remember to always merge from right to left. Merging from left to right causes the first record date to be overwritten with the newer record's date.

Hope that helps?

Debbie Doell, Cornerstone Fellowship

debbied@cornerstoneweb.org 

 

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Debbie Doell
Fellowship One Coordinator
Cornerstone Fellowship 348 North Canyons Parkway Livermore, CA 94551
www.cornerstoneweb.org

Debbie, that sounds like some good advice.  We'll keep it in mind!
 

I agree with everything Debbie said in her response.  I made myself an Outlook appointment reminder 2 times a day to check/merge New From Website.  I usually have about 15-20 a day (which includes contact form submissions and new WebLink id's).  It helps to keep up with it daily, rather than letting it pile up.  This will also help eliminate the amount of time you have duplicate records in your system.

If they created a new WebLink ID, we also send out confirmation emails letting them know that their "My Parkview Account" (what we call our weblink id's) is up and running.  We also include a FAQ to explain WebLink and Online Giving.

The only time it can be confusing is when you have two people who look like they could be the same, but you don't have enough information to merge them without apprehension.  For this, you'll want to come up with your own best practices - whether that is giving them a different status, status comment, or some other sort of tag so you can keep track of the ones that MAY be duplicates, but you don't know inconclusively.  

 

Hope that helps!
Sierra Purvis
Parkview Christian Church
Orland Park, IL

Oh, I also forgot...

I usually run a query for those who have a System > New From Website status, and then do a print-screen of the results.  That way, while I'm going through the merge process, I can make a note of a phone number that needs to be corrected, someone who needs to be emailed our "My Parkview Confirmation," or just a question I have that I want to revist after I've finished merging.

This has helped a lot, keeping me organized and not letting any information slip through the cracks.