Director of Things That No One Else Wants to Do: Tips from the DBAs

Director of Things that No One Else Wants to Do

The Make-It-So Fairy

These are just a couple titles I've heard for our database administrators. Regardless of what you call your DBA, here's what these Altru-experts have to say about their current roles:

From  Sophie Mendoza, Portland Museum of Art:

I literally schedule time with my assignments on my outlook calendar – then my colleagues know that I am working on their projects and wards off the temptation to put things off.  Also, just set realistic expectations, “Yes, I can get that data out of Altru, however, it will take me some time to format it and get it to you the way you want. Does middle of next week work?”

It comes back to being a librarian and having a reference interview – find out what they want, why they want it (they may need something else entirely and asking the wrong question), and when they need it. Tell them what else you have going on for whom and then reach a compromise.

From Marcya Burton, Telfair Museum:

From my experience, no one wants to create queries, and no one wants to contact Blackbaud directly or create a case. They want me to magically create the query, clean it, and then get their results. If it is not what they want, do over. So, I have tried to create a request which is most specific to our needs. I used the one from Kristina Gerard as a template and her post on cleaning up the database. I still get many requests by email. Many have ideas on soliciting for different needs and requests, but do not realize exactly what they are pulling. So, it is a matter of over-hearing their ideas, and putting it into action. Because half of our data is still not clean from the conversion, it does not magically pull as quickly as they wish. I try to keep a step or two ahead. I know I tend to think analytically, and living in the database (Tron), I tend to know who is the better candidates rather than going after the same top donors time and time again.

If it is something that needs to be run on a regular basis, they want to be able to be able to run the process, and have it done correctly each time. We have had trouble with some with parameters being changed so I have had to go in and lock most of these.

If anything goes wrong for whatever reason albeit Altru or computer, I am the go to. First, try and determine, is it really a computer issue or Altru issue. Then try and solve it from there. I am learning to push back, and making them go to their Supervisors, or contact Blackbaud directly as I feasibly can’t do the job I am supposed to do plus that.

I also follow the Community and classes, and encourage others here to follow, like or take a class that would be in their specialty. I am the Altru cheerleader! Trying to encourage everyone why and how this will benefit everyone if everyone inputs correctly. Trying to pull everyone into the technological future.

My joke here is that I am Tron and live in the database. I come in, sit down, and then it is time to go home. As I maneuver around, I find potential in lower members that for some reason have not been approached or new members that would make great candidates for our Director Circle, one of our museum groups, or as a potential donor for an exhibit, education program, or event. As I locate these gems, I forward the information to the person(s) who would benefit.

 From Jessica Thrift, Hands On Children's Museum:

I find the Smart Queries to be really useful for quick tasks that would otherwise require actual brainpower. I actually encourage the staff I support to be interesting in subjects that I can use smart queries for. Also, using Altru shortcuts saves me a lot of time for hunting for specific tasks.

From Shannon Knight, Rhode Island School of Design:

Probably the thing that makes my life the easiest in terms of data integrity is for the folks I work with to take ownership of their parts of the application. When THEY care about the information going into the system, they're much more effective about policing others to ensure data is entered correctly and procedures are followed. My job is not to oversee the data itself. Rather, my job is to support them in understanding how the system ties in to their day-to-day work life and how it can help them do things better. Once they see the system as something that's supporting them -- and not something to be avoided or circumvented -- they end up being a better Data Czar than me.

That said, I also have a whole slew of queries that let me catch data entry mistakes. :-)

Another tip: Take the training that your staff takes. Even if you don't do those things on a day-to-day basis or if it seems too basic from a technical standpoint. Other people at your organization don't speak Database, but you should be conversant in their language since it's likely that they'll ask you about that functionality in terms of how they operate, not how the system works. For example, I have no background in fundraising and don't deal with contributors in any way. But it's extremely useful for me to take the classes so that I can understand what my co-workers are talking about when they're trying to get the system to do something to support their work.

Connect with DBAs in the community or in one of our weekly Skype chats!