The people screens are fairly self-explanatory. Points to bear in mind are:-

Finding people.

Sm* finds surnames beginning with Sm, Smith, Smithson (in the field you are searching in).
sm*  finds absolutely nothing! Searching is case sensitive.
N19* finds people living in N19
(The asterisk cannot be used in the SQL text in selection cells (see 4.6 below).

Hint! The more information you search on, the quicker it will find your quarry. This is especially true if you are searching for a name like Smith J, which takes ages. Try to state the post-code, or part of it, if possible - the more info the better..

Using later than or greater than ( > )

>1-jan-92 finds things after that date

>195 finds selections with numbers higher than 195

Supporter Flags.

We store a number of flags against each supporter. Flags provide a means of excluding unwanted types of supporters from your selection (eg 'dead, goneaway, deleted, suppress_all'), or of selecting segments of the database (eg high_donor).

When a new supporter is created, they are given a default set of flags, and these will be altered during the life of the supporter, usually as a result of a communication from them. If we set the suppress_all flag to 'Y', this automatically causes several other flags to be set.

The high_donor flag is automatically set when a donor gives more than 400 in any one year, although the High Donor Officer can re-set this if she decides that it is not worth treating a particular supporter as a High Donor.

You have to remember to exclude supporters either by:-

• using a View.
• deliberately eliminating them using an exclusion cell.
• deliberately eliminating them by adding an exclusion clause to an ordinary cell.

Adding a person.

This is normally done by SSU, but you may have to do this occasionally.

Let InFoE deal with any capital letters (but beware of O'Leary or MacDonald)!

Let the Post Office Address File (PAF) do the work: just type in a postcode, and the house number, and the system does the rest. Do not attempt to record anything else on the address: as far as PAF is concerned "Flat C, 11 Meadow View" is just "11 Meadow View", as the Post office haven't recorded most of the flats. We are occasionally asked by supporters why we haven't quoted their full address, including a quaint (?) house-name - the answer is that we only use exactly the address that the Post Office has approved.

(Remember to alter any flags, if necessary)!

Table of Contents
Keys Used by Infoe | What is Infoe? | People | Creating Selections | Real Examples of Selections
Source Codes | Selection Output | Running Selections | Selection Results | Fulfilments | Answers
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