Use this link to share with your colleagues:
Changes to Qualification (June 2013): https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/119482
This article is old! Wouldn't you rather read something... fresher?
There may be outdated information or suggestions in this article that made sense at the time of the release, but no longer. For the most up-to-date information about this topic, use a keyword in the search bar above. If you're looking for more current release notes, you can find those here.
The second headline feature in this release is a pretty significant change to the way PatronManager handles data "qualification," or the process of merging contact data from online transactions into your database.
Why did we make this change?
Lots of reasons! From a technical perspective, this consolidates all three kinds of qualification into one, which makes it easier for us to keep it up to date. Also, it lays the groundwork for some other features we'll be building in the future, including gift certificates and group sales.
What does this mean for me?
This change doesn't have to have a major effect on your day-to-day use of PatronManager. From now on, when Ticket Orders or Online Donations are submitted, they'll be attached to a "To Be Qualified" Contact. You can still qualify ticket orders in the same way you always have, but now there's ALSO a new, more streamlined way to qualify everything.
All three types of records (orders, donations, and contacts that come from your e-mail sign-up form) can be qualified directly from the Unqualified Contact List tab. When you navigate to that tab (remember to click the "+" sign if you don't see it in the navigation), you’ll have the option to select which type of records you want to qualify:
This means that you can now do all your qualifications in one place.
You can still qualify things in other ways too, though -- in the rest of this lesson we'll show you a few important changes you should be aware of.
Ticket Orders
The first changes you’ll notice when qualifying ticket orders are aesthetic:
- The qualification page is now purple instead of red.
- We've moved the patron’s contact information toward the top of the screen...
- ...with the order details below.
Another change affects the Contact field on the ticket order itself. This field will no longer appear blank on "To Be Qualified" orders:
...because the unqualified ticket order *is* attached to a contact record now, it's just not a "real" contact. The ticket order links to the provisional "TBQ" contact that you'll be qualifying on the purple screen when you're ready.
A Note About Ticket Order Qualification
You will be able to do almost all of your qualifying from here. There is one type of transaction that will not show up in this area. As you know, not all ticket orders need to be qualified. Sometimes your box office will create a ticket order directly from a contact record (this is called pre-qualifying and it's a good habit to be in). Other times, an online ticket order will come in and will match an existing contact record perfectly, and so no qualification is necessary. If these ticket orders also include an extra donation, that donation will still need to be qualified, but will not show up in the unqualified contacts tab. For this reason, it's a good idea to still periodically check the list of To Be Qualified Orders, to qualify these and send donation acknowledgments.
Donations
This is a significant change to qualifying Online Donations... that will make your life significantly easier! We’ve eliminated the "Online Donation" object entirely. Now all donations that come in from your website will be just that: Donations. (Since we don't separate "online ticket orders" from "regular ticket orders," we're now handling donations the same way, so everything is consistent.)
Instead of going to the Online Donations tab, click on the "Donations" tab instead, and choose the "To Be Qualified" list view:
You'll see a list of all the donations that came from your online form that need to be qualified.
Click on each one, and you can qualify donations directly from the Donation record using the Qualify button.
Once again, you’ll notice that the qualification page is now purple.
Sign-ups
There's no change to the way you'll qualify e-mail list sign-ups! They'll be on the Unqualified Contact List tab, same as before.