MLS 3.1 Phone/Email changes
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:01 pm
Here are the results of my initial research into how MLS 3.1 handles the individual phone and email fields:
Individual Record
The Contact Information panel of an individual record now has Individual Contact Information with a Phone Number and an E-Mail Address field. It also has a Household Contact Information section, with a note that the household contact information is shared by all household members.
Reports
For reports that list households (such as the Directory of Members), only household phone numbers (and household e-mail addresses, where applicable) will be shown. Individual phone numbers and e-mail addresses are never shown on such reports (which seems entirely appropriate to me).
For reports that list individuals (such as organization lists), there is now a column for "Phone and E-mail". This column will contain the individual phone number if present, or the household phone number if there is no individual phone; then comes the individual e-mail address if present, or the household e-mail address if there is no individual e-mail address.
Custom Reports
There is no change to the criteria, except that "Primary Phone Number" is now called "Household Phone Number"; there is no way to have an individual phone number or e-mail address, or the household e-mail address in a criterion.
In the Format area where you select the columns to include, there are:
If you had a report that included the Secondary Phone Number, that field is simply removed from any such custom reports.
Export
In Membership.csv, where we previously had three fields: Phone 1, Phone 2, and E-mail Address, we now have four fields: Household Phone, Individual Phone, Household E-mail, Individual E-mail. The two household fields contain the same values that Phone 1 and E-mail address always contained; the two individual fields are blank upon conversion to MLS 3.1, but of course may be filled in on individual records.
The whole export issue is probably worthy of a separate post, but that is a start.
Individual Record
The Contact Information panel of an individual record now has Individual Contact Information with a Phone Number and an E-Mail Address field. It also has a Household Contact Information section, with a note that the household contact information is shared by all household members.
Reports
For reports that list households (such as the Directory of Members), only household phone numbers (and household e-mail addresses, where applicable) will be shown. Individual phone numbers and e-mail addresses are never shown on such reports (which seems entirely appropriate to me).
For reports that list individuals (such as organization lists), there is now a column for "Phone and E-mail". This column will contain the individual phone number if present, or the household phone number if there is no individual phone; then comes the individual e-mail address if present, or the household e-mail address if there is no individual e-mail address.
Custom Reports
There is no change to the criteria, except that "Primary Phone Number" is now called "Household Phone Number"; there is no way to have an individual phone number or e-mail address, or the household e-mail address in a criterion.
In the Format area where you select the columns to include, there are:
- Household E-mail Address
- Household Phone Number
- Individual E-mail
- Individual Phone Number
- Contact Phone Number
- Contact E-mail
If you had a report that included the Secondary Phone Number, that field is simply removed from any such custom reports.
Export
In Membership.csv, where we previously had three fields: Phone 1, Phone 2, and E-mail Address, we now have four fields: Household Phone, Individual Phone, Household E-mail, Individual E-mail. The two household fields contain the same values that Phone 1 and E-mail address always contained; the two individual fields are blank upon conversion to MLS 3.1, but of course may be filled in on individual records.
The whole export issue is probably worthy of a separate post, but that is a start.