Primer For New eTapestry Database Administrators – Part 1

Have you just dauntingly inherited the responsibilities of your former database administrator? Or have you just received a well-deserved promotion to manage your organization’s database? Well, congratulations—you are now in charge of, arguably, your organization’s most valuable asset. And maybe you’re still trying to figure out the landscape of your new role and responsibilities, despite all the information someone might have handed down to you. To help you get started, I’ve put together a two-part series on key tasks that should be at the top of every system administrator’s list. In this Part 1 blog posting, I’ll provide an overview of key configuration settings. In a future blog post (Part 2), I’ll review maintenance tasks that are often critical to the health of your database.

Security
Security in eTapestry is defined by users and security groups. Every user in your database must be accounted for and placed in the correct security group. Each security group must be set up with the appropriate security rights. An oversight in your security procedures can cause your organization unnecessary headaches and also lead to more serious issues. Make sure you have a current list of users/user rights, and be sure that information is reflected in eTapestry.

User Defined Fields
If there is one eTapestry feature that makes it truly customizable, it is User Defined Fields. Because it is virtually impossible for the system to include all fields that a nonprofit might need, eTapestry lets organizations build the exact fields they need and specify the field location. For example, an animal shelter might want to track the names of the individuals who adopt pets (in the standard Name and Recognition fields) as well as the pet names (with user defined fields). The process for building these fields is straightforward but proper planning is essential.

Donation Strategies
Certain fields in eTapestry, such as Fund, are required fields. Funds, along with campaigns and approaches, are part of eTapestry donation strategies. Once you define the values of these fields, you can associate each gift with one of those values and then use the pre-built standard reports to determine the success of your initiatives. For example, if your organization is running a capital campaign, you can set up a capital campaign and then associate each campaign gift with the capital campaign, making it easy to tell which gifts fall under the capital campaign umbrella. You can perform additional analyses such as how the donations were allocated (funds) and the methods used to bring in the donations (approaches). Combined with user defined fields, the possibilities for tracking your fundraising efforts are endless.

So here you go. There’s a lot you can do with eTapestry and, as the database administrator, it may be tempting to try to tackle everything and lose focus in the process. But I’ve just given you my top three tips for what to dive into as soon as you take charge of the system. If you are about to implement eTapestry, or if your system is established and you are just taking over as the new “sheriff in town,” start with these tips. You may not need to change anything, but at least you should become familiar with the current settings and their purpose.

Now I’d like to hear from you. If you are new to eTapestry database administration, what are you planning to tackle first? If you are a pro, what recommendations do you have for those taking on the role of database administrator?

And of course I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to our newest virtual instructor-led class, eTapestry: Database Configuration. Making its debut in January 2017, this class is the perfect way for you and your system to start the year!