Fixing Constituent Codes

John Mosley

At some point in the past, my organization added constituent codes to records that should not exist. For example, “Responds to emails” is a constituent code on many records in our database. I want to delete constituent codes like these from the database entirely, but it looks like Raiser's Edge does not allow you to globally delete constituent codes. I don't think manually changing the constituent codes for each record is a realistic option, as these incorrect codes are on thousands of records. Is there a quick way around this?

JoAnn Strommen

@John Mosley Have you checked out this knowledgebase article? It is possible.

Knowledgebase

1. Article 39095

How to globally delete constituency codes

John Mosley

@JoAnn Strommen Thanks for that article! I see how to globally delete constituent codes now. The only thing is, if I do a global delete for a constituent code, is it possible I might accidentally delete some constituent records when their code is deleted? Thanks again!

JoAnn Strommen

@John Mosley Deleting a constituent code should/would not delete any constituent records. Deleting records is a different process. Good question, though.

It could leave a record without a constituent code if the code deleted were the only code on the record.

Joe Moretti

@John Mosley Create a query of the awful constituent codes you have and then decide the constituent code you want to use and then do a Global Change (not a global delete) with that query. But also remember when you change the constituent code, any gifts that have that code will need to be changed as well. This is why it is so important to decide appropriate consitituent codes that actually are useful. Have no idea the thinking that goes into creating, I will just say it, DUMB consituent codes that serve no purpose.

Beverly Porzelt

@John Mosley I don't believe there is any danger of deleting constituents when deleting a constituent code. We do it monthly during our cleanup and have never run into any issues.

Audrey Morris

@John Mosley We had the same issue “likes sports” was one of mine. I feel you. I created gift queries that included the constituent code (one at a time) and would go in and remove the CC for any gifts that contained it as step 1. If i remember correctly (it's been a couple of years) I did this through a global change to that gift query specifically. Then once it was removed from the gifts I did another constituent query and did a global change to that. Some of the codes I was able to consolidate into something useful, and I did a change/replace for those. I removed others from the records completely and then once they aren't on anything you can delete them. If you haven't already found a workable solution let me know and I can post screenshots of my queries which may help.