User Support Forum

I am a new database administrator.

1. How can I delete a record that has been created twice? E.g. Jane Smith entered twice. Full nformation is the same on each record.

2. We have an issue that some new members cannot remember their baptismal or confirmation dates. The previous administrator
preferred that we have them just estimate the year that the event occurred then put in 01-01-YEAR (e.g. 01-01-1996). Some new
members can get a little irritated when you go back to them a second time and they say "I told you I didn't remember." Will the
system accept a default date, like 01-01-1111 or do we actually have to note a specific year? What I a trying to do is to establish a
default that anyone who uses the system can recognize as the "I did not remember date."

3. If we can establish a default date will it impact any records that are related to baptismal or confirmation dates?

Patrick Blanchard
Outreach Coordinator
Christ Lutheran Church
Wyoming, Michigan

CLC_2007 wrote:I am a new database administrator.

1. How can I delete a record that has been created twice? E.g. Jane Smith entered twice. Full nformation is the same on each record.

Are you talking Mailing List Records and Personal Profile, or just the Personal Profile? In the first case, delete the duplicate Mailing List record, the attached Personal Profile will also be deleted. In the second, go to the Personal Profile and delete.

2. We have an issue that some new members cannot remember their baptismal or confirmation dates. The previous administrator
preferred that we have them just estimate the year that the event occurred then put in 01-01-YEAR (e.g. 01-01-1996). Some new
members can get a little irritated when you go back to them a second time and they say "I told you I didn't remember." Will the
system accept a default date, like 01-01-1111 or do we actually have to note a specific year? What I a trying to do is to establish a
default that anyone who uses the system can recognize as the "I did not remember date."

Nothing says that you NEED to enter a date for that area. If you just don't know, don't enter it. If they have a year, but not a specific date, use Jan 1st and that year. That said, the help system says you can use 9999, as the year:


Note: To exempt someone from the Adult: Y/N functionality, enter the year 9999 in their birth date (05/06/9999). Use this method to also handle dates where the year has not been specified.


So you can get away with using 01-01-9999 .

3. If we can establish a default date will it impact any records that are related to baptismal or confirmation dates?

Patrick Blanchard
Outreach Coordinator
Christ Lutheran Church
Wyoming, Michigan

Only in the sense that if you sort a report by date, it will show a lot of people baptized on the same date. Its best to leave it blank unless you at least know the month and day so you can use the 9999 for the year.

To combine two duplicate profiles you can use the Merge Duplicate Profiles option under Membership -> Personal Profiles -> Setup -> Merge Duplicate Profiles. This will combine more information than just deleting. For example, it will combine attendance history, if one profile is marked present and the other is marked absent, it keeps the present record, etc.

If you combine the last profile out of a family, it will delete the empty family record automatically.