Book Image

Using CiviCRM - Second Edition

By : Hommel, Murray, P Shaughnessy
Book Image

Using CiviCRM - Second Edition

By: Hommel, Murray, P Shaughnessy

Overview of this book

CiviCRM provides a powerful toolbox of resources to help organizations manage relationships with constituents. It is free, open source, web-based, and geared specifically to meet the constituent relationship management needs of the not-for-profit sector. Beginning with broader questions about how your organization is structured, which existing workflows are critical to your operations, and the overarching purpose of a centralized CRM, the book proceeds step by step through configuring CiviCRM, understanding the choices when setting up the system, importing data, and exploring the breadth of tools available throughout the system. You will see how to best use this software to handle event registrations, accept and track contributions, manage paid and free memberships and subscriptions, segment contacts, send bulk e-mails with open and click-through tracking, manage outreach campaigns, and set up case management workflows that match your organization’s roles and rules. With specific emphasis on helping implementers ask the right questions, consider key principals when setting up the system, and understand usage through case studies and examples, the book comprehensively reviews the functionality of CiviCRM and the opportunities it provides. With this book, you can help your organization better achieve its mission as a charity, industry association, professional society, political advocacy group, community group, government agency, or other similar organization and position yourself to become a power user who efficiently and effectively navigates the system.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
15
Index

Chapter 5. Collecting, Organizing, and Importing Data

At the end of the day, any CRM solution is only as good as its data. You can have the latest and greatest software tools available, perfectly customized to meet the needs of your organization, but if your data is incomplete, practically nonexistent, or filled with duplicates and inaccurate information, all of those wonderful tools will be useless.

In the previous chapter, we walked through the CiviCRM interface, understanding the different types of records that will be attached to contacts. However, we did not answer the questions of how we collect data, organize it, and import it into the system.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

  • Understanding and creating custom data fields to store data
  • Organizing data fields in profiles for the purpose of creating online forms and other tools
  • Integrating profile forms with membership forms, event registration, contribution pages, and online petitions
  • Updating multiple contact...