Marie Kondo Your Database

Becca Rosin

April 2021 in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT® Blog

Springtime is finally here!

Some of us take this time to do an annual spring cleaning. If it’s been a while since you’ve done a possession purge, it can seem overwhelming. Decluttering guru Marie Kondo has many tips to make tidying up an effective and constructive experience—such as beginning to excise by category, not space and to discard anything that no longer sparks joy.

These are solid starting points for an individual, but what about when it comes to a family living under one roof? One partner might adamantly insist that their stack of old comic books “sparks joy” while the other partner may worry that said items might spark a fire. Moreover, cleaning by category becomes slightly more difficult when one child categorizes their possessions in groups such as “Pretty Rocks” or “Sticks I Found in the Yard,” while another child’s room can only be categorized as “Category Five Hurricane.”




This challenge presents itself in other realms of life as well, including the workplace. Spring is a great time to commit to cleaning and tidying up communal workspaces—both physical and virtual—but how to go about doing so presents similar difficulties as within our own homes.
Luckily, our new Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT course, Best Practices - Policies and Procedures offers insight to help you and your organization declutter and organize your shared data system in ways that will satisfy everyone!

Best Practices - Policies and Procedures covers constituent and gift record scenarios in both web view and database view and imparts tips—like arranging your constituent codes in order of importance—that will accommodate the different needs at your organization. You’ll also receive suggestions on how to create or update a policies & procedures guide to promote clarity and efficiency among staff. Most importantly, this course offers space for reflection and guidance to help you tailor these ideas into the right balance of data entry and information for your organization.

This course may not resolve some of the disputes you’ll have at home over old college trophies or “flora better left out in the yard,” but it will certainly help give both your data and co-workers a fresh, clean view.

This course is included with your Blackbaud University Learn More and Learn Everything training subscriptions. Not a subscriber? Chat with us now!

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Comments

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  Katherine Mannion

  

  April 2021

  Great article! Love the idea of Marie Kondo-ing the database!

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  Daniel Moody

  

  August 2021

  Tidying up is important both in life and in the DB!

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