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July 2021 | Issue #105

Current Releases: SM 8.0.101 (7/12) | AW 3.5.065 (7/21)

Report Wizard Webinar Series - 8/11, 8/25, 9/8 11a CDT

ACEweb Bootcamp! - 9/13-16, 12 - 2 CDT

ACEware Software Update - 10/6 2p CDT

ACEware Systems Newsletter

Information to Run Your Program

Date of Birth Identifier

I was surprised to hear at conference that some people rely on the date of birth (DOB) to identify people. For one thing, about 385K births happen every day worldwide, 11K of which are in the US. Additional clarification revealed DOB is combined with name. I am a statistical anomaly! There was a person who grew up one town over from me with the exact same name (first, middle, and last) AND we were born on the same day! So, I was reluctant to use DOB and name as a unique identifier.

To accommodate those of you who do use this identifying information to dedupe on, I've added a new choice to the mass combine names tool. Make sure to either report on it or go through the checklist to be sure of your duplicates as I don't want to be combined with my name twin.

Another way we are cutting back on duplication is that the name/registration import wizards will look for birthdate and name fields. If those are there, you are asked if you want to dedupe on them (registrations would get attached to the existing name if doing a registration import). If email is also there, you get to choose that as we have offered that choice for a while now.

Hopefully, these tools will help you keep your database cleaner!

Contributed by Matthew Olson

Tell Us How You Feel!

ACEware is always improving our software solutions for you. One way we do that is by listening to your wish list requests based on your day-to-day work. We need your honest feedback to inform our development priorities.

Your feedback also helps software buyers decide if our products and services are a good fit for them!

Please take a moment to complete a review for us. I know we can count on you to be completely candid, It’s a win-win – helping others and helping yourself!

Your response by July 30 is appreciated. Help us build a better experience for everyone!

Thank you for your continued confidence in us!

Contributed by Sharon Brookshire

PS - The first 100 verified reviewers receive a $20 gift card!

Tech Tip of the Month: Where Should I Put My Report?

I had a customer who made a confirmation letter report in the Mass Receipts area. The report wasn't printing as she thought it should.

The reason? The Receipt area sorts registrations by Group first then person. She had several registrations that were not grouped together, so she was getting two letters for some people, each with registrations for that group, instead of one per person with all their registrations listed like she wanted. (See image below.)

The solution? We decided her report would work better if we moved it to the Deadbeat area. Deadbeat doesn't look at the Registration Group. It sorts by person then course. So she could get one letter per person, with all their registrations listed on it.

The Takeaway? Where you put your report will depend on how you want the data sorted and displayed. Here are some examples for printing a letter:

Mailing Labels [Reports > Demographics > Mailing Labels] - this area has one record per person (it dedupes records meeting your query criteria and leaves with one per person). This is a great area to put a basic info letter where you don't need to include course and registration information. For example, your Refund Policy is changing and you need to send a letter to people informing them of the new policy.
Deadbeat [Reports > Accounting > Special 1 Reg/1 Line (Deadbeat)] - this area has one record per registration. It's a great area to put a letter when you need one per person with registration data on it for each course they took that meets your query criteria. Note, it includes fields from Names, Course, Register, and Location but has no payment fields so it may not be the best area if you also need to include payment data on the letter.
Receipts [Reports > Registrations > Receipts]: - the Receipt area will work for letters if you want to send one per person in a group with the registrations in that group listed. Just remember if you have registrations meeting your query criteria that are not grouped together, it will print a letter for each of those groups instead of one letter per person.

These are some areas that are great for letters. However, if you don't think these areas will get you what you need on your report, please contact your ACEware technician for suggestions. We are happy to help you find the best area for your report!

Contributed by Cheryl Scott

Report of the Month: Top Dog Statistics

You can get a quick glance of who your top performing students are by running a Top Dog report. You can choose to report on either names or firms, and scope by a multitude of data points, including money paid, number of courses taken, and CEU’s/hours/credits.

This is a great way to recognize or award your top performers, or find out who your best sources for feedback are!

Contributed by Jason Allen