Creating a Constituent List Based on Relationship Data

Bernard Nemis

Hello, Everyone.

Without using Custom Field/Attributes, is there a way to pull a list of constituents based on a relationship data?

For example, our current parents. If I want to pull all current parents who has a child (current student) who is a Junior. Currently we only can identify current parents and what level they belong to based on the level of their child (which is a constituent relationship in the current parents' records).

In the database view, I can pull these group of current parents because Export is a lot more extensive than NXT. I'm just wondering if there's a way to pull this group in NXT also (ie. create a List).

Thank you.

Alex Wong

@Bernard Nemis
RE NXT webview by default do not have the ability to have in depth filtering of relationship information. You will need to use database view, or invest (time or money) into building custom report via SKY API that is “integrated” into RE NXT directly.

Bernard Nemis

@Alex Wong
Thanks Alex! I guess I will be doing a workaround in the database view by creating an attribute for the past/current parents with the years of their children as the value. NXT can filter the list based on this custom field.

Karen Diener

@Bernard Nemis:

@Alex Wong
Thanks Alex! I guess I will be doing a workaround in the database view by creating an attribute for the past/current parents with the years of their children as the value. NXT can filter the list based on this custom field.

Give some thought to this!

Blackbaud is going to be working on List enhancements, and will also be adding Query functionality to webview. It was announced in the April PUB and while it is impossible to know how well it will meet your need or exactly when it will be released, it is coming.

I would hate for you to spend a lot of time on a workaround that will potentially not be necessary in a year. If there is a really good reason to have this all available in webview RIGHT NOW, then you might need to do it. Just make sure you also have a plan to remove all of those extra attributes when they are no longer needed. But if it can wait, I'd sit tight and see if the enhancements to Lists and release of Query will meet your needs.

Karen

Dariel Dixon

@Karen Diener: I don't know if it's a good thing to plan around Blackbaud's proposed timelines. They are all subject to change without notification. While I welcome these enhancements whenever they arrive, I will have to work with what I know works right now. And your point about not knowing how well they will work is critical. Hypothetically speaking, I'd would hate for someone to wait for a enhancement to realize that it doesn't fit their needs, and then have to develop another workaround at a later time.

Give some thought to this!

Blackbaud is going to be working on List enhancements, and will also be adding Query functionality to webview. It was announced in the April PUB and while it is impossible to know how well it will meet your need or exactly when it will be released, it is coming.

I would hate for you to spend a lot of time on a workaround that will potentially not be necessary in a year. If there is a really good reason to have this all available in webview RIGHT NOW, then you might need to do it. Just make sure you also have a plan to remove all of those extra attributes when they are no longer needed. But if it can wait, I'd sit tight and see if the enhancements to Lists and release of Query will meet your needs.

Karen

Bernard Nemis

@Karen Diener
Thank you very much for sharing, Karen.

Bernard Nemis

@Dariel Dixon
Thank you, Dariel. I agree with you. The ability to query in NXT that Karen shared was very exciting though. I love the query in the DB even if at times I end up doing trial and error. I learn a lot about the system and how it “thinks” just by playing with the query. Hopefully the NXT improvement will help us with regard to relationship pulls. Until then, yes, I will have to use my work around.

Karen Diener

@Dariel Dixon:

@Karen Diener: I don't know if it's a good thing to plan around Blackbaud's proposed timelines. They are all subject to change without notification. While I welcome these enhancements whenever they arrive, I will have to work with what I know works right now. And your point about not knowing how well they will work is critical. Hypothetically speaking, I'd would hate for someone to wait for a enhancement to realize that it doesn't fit their needs, and then have to develop another workaround at a later time.

My point was just that since the data can be generated in database view, I'd need a pretty solid reason to develop a workaround so that it could be generated from webview. If there is a compelling reason, then absolutely go for it. But if it is one person griping because they don't want to log in to database view and click two buttons, I have a lot less tolerance for setting up new workaround systems.

I agree with you 110% about relying on Blackbaud's enhancements. They too often miss the mark in terms of functionality.

For me, this is all about how realistic the need to use webview really is, balanced with how much work it will be to maintain it. I've been caught in that trap before - doing a lot of extra work because someone refuses to do a little bit of work. :-)

Karen