TIMSS 6: Call Topic Security

For Contact Tracking (MRM001 & MRM003) you can add security to control who can see certain call Topics and their Subjects.

In Types and Codes (APP005) pull up the CALL_TOPIC type. For the topic you want to add security to, make sure the Public Code is not checked (Save and Refresh screen if needed). This will activate the Special Security button at the bottom of the screen.

This will allow you to choose security groups that have access to these topics and their subjects when creating/updating a contact as well as when searching.

Applies to: TIMSS6

Extender Scripting: Birth Date Validation

Someone at TAUG asked if it was possible to do validation on a customer's birth date. You can use the script below in the OnValidated event for the Birth Date field on the Individual screen (CUSoo1I) to do just that.

Public Sub dtBirthdate_OnValidated ( ByRef MyForm As Object, ByRef MyControl As Object)
dim Age as String
If Myform.getformControlByName("dtBirthdate").text = "(none)" Or Myform.getformControlByName("dtBirthdate").text= "" Then
Exit Sub
End If
Age=year(now())-year(Myform.getformControlByName("dtBirthdate").value)
If Age>100 or Age<15 then
MsgBox("The age of the person is "+Age+". Please make sure the birth date is correct.",MsgBoxStyle.Information, "TIMSS - Information")
End If
End Sub

If the person is over 100 or under 15 (ok, the calculation isn't exact but it's close enough) the user will get the following box:

Applies to: TIMSS6

TIMSS 6: Ad-Hoc & Search Grids

When searching or running an Ad-hoc Query in TIMSS 6, there are a few of things you can do to manipulate the table to make it easier to look at your data in the grid (the thrid April showed me at TAUG).


Sorting: You can sort on any of the columns by clicking on the name of the column. When you do so, you will see a grayed out arrow pointing up and the data will be sorted in ascending order. Clicking on it again will flip the arrow and change the sort to descending order.

Move Columns: You can move columns in 2 ways. First you can drag and drop them. Second, you can click on the little black arrow next to the column name and choose which column you want to see displayed.

Splitting the Grid: At the bottom left of the grid, you will see a little bar that you can grab and drag over. This will split the grid in two. This is handy when you are looking at a lot of fields and want to keep the customer ID or name on the left while scrolling on the right.

Applies to: TIMSS6

Crystal Reports: Conditionally suppressing a Field

In Crystal Reports, you can suppress fields based some conditions you define. To do this, right click on the object and click the Format option to get the Format Editor window. The click on the button to the right of the Suppress check box.

This opens the Formula Workshop screen. If the formula returns TRUE then the box is checked and the object is suppressed. If it is FALSE then the box is unchecked and the object is not suppressed.

So in the example above when PROSP_Filter is PROSP, the object should be shown. Otherwise it should be suppressed.

Applies to: TIMSS5 & TIMSS6

TIMSS 6: Ordering Multiple Products

Here are a couple quick ways to order multiple products that I learned at TAUG.

1. On the Call Center, you can select mulitple products from the Quick Pick Products and enter one in the Product Code at the bottom of the screen; then hit Enter Orders to create an order with all of them. They can't be sub-products.

2. On ORD001, when searching for a product, you can hold down Ctrl and select multiple products to be added to an order.

Applies to: TIMSS6

TAUG 2006 is over

TAUG 2006 is over now and I'd have to say it was a pretty good one. TMAR always puts on a great event and this was no exception. Not only was it great to see the old familiar faces, but it was also great meeting all the first time attendees.

Thanks to all of you who told me that you get a lot out of this blog. One person told me that something he found here saved his organization $8,000!

Even thought it was my sixth TAUG I still got a lot off good ideas and tips, one of which will save my staff a lot of time when entering orders. Don't worry, they will show up here soon. :)

Although once again my favorite session had to be the open training session for 5 hours! Thanks to April and Parag for staying the extra hour and answering all our questions. It's always fun trying to stump you.

What next year's TAUG really needs is new presenters (I need a rest). I know you all are doing some neat stuff, present it. You've got a year to prepare.

See you all at the next TAUG in Albuquerque, April 22-25!

Applies to: TIMSS5 & TIMSS6 & TIMSS7

Crystal Reports: Using Parameters to Control a Report

When you add a Crystal Report to the TRS, you can control the behavior of the report using paramters that are passed to the report. Using the Select Expert you can use an or to control what happens.

For example the PROSP_Filter parameter is used to pass either ALL, PROSP or NON-PROSP to control what USR_COF_STATUS is pulled for the report. In the statement below, only one of the conditions is true because of the paramete value:

({?PROSP_Filter}="ALL"
or ({?PROSP_Filter}="PROSP" and {CUSTOMER.USR_COF_STATUS} in ["PROSP","RMEM"])
or ({?PROSP_Filter}="NON-PROSP" and not({CUSTOMER.USR_COF_STATUS} in ["PROSP","RMEM"])))

For the or statements, both parts must be true, so the PROSP_Filter controls which USR_COF_STATUS is pulled for the report. You could obviously add more conditions to the or statements to give the parameter more control over what data is pulled for this report.

Applies to: TIMSS6

Customer Class and Status

We use these fields extensively, but had to change slightly when we moved from 4.7.2 to 6.1.9.

We use Customer Class to define what type of organization the customer is (or works for). For example a Community Foundation, a Family Foundation, an Attorney/Law Firm, or a Hotel.

We were using Customer Status in TIMSS 4.7.2 to show how the customer was related to us. For example, a member, prospect, resigned member, or a collegial group. However in TIMSS 6, customer status had to be ACTIVE for a customer to be allowed to do things (I think this has been changed in a later version where you can define which codes mean ACTIVE).

So I created an extender field to hold the converted status called usr_cof_status. This has worked splendidly.

The main thing I would suggest is that when you have similar groups you want to be able to pull together, name them similarly so you can use the LIKE operator to pull them all in queries.

For example, we have several forms of members that we want to count/pull as members, but we want to be able to easily differentiate them. So they have been named:

MEMBER- a regular member
MEMEMG- an emerging member
MEMSUP- a supporting organization of a member
MEMAFF- an affiliate of a member

Using LIKE 'MEM%' (or Starts With in ad-hoc query) I can pull them all instead of listing them all out. More importantly, when searching on screens in TIMSS, one can just enter MEM to get them all since TIMSS also searches with the LIKE operator.

The same was done with customer class, where we have

CORPFDN- Corporate Foundation
CORPGP- Corporate Giving Program
CORPBO- Corporate Foundation & Giving Program
CORPNON- Non-US Corporate Foundation

And if only my international foundation classes end in NON in them, I can search for LIKE '%NON' to get all the international foundations.

Applies to: TIMSS5 & TIMSS6