Contents
Introduction
NeonCRM’s Material Tracking tool is useful for keeping track of which constituents have received specific materials from your organization. A material can be anything that you might give to a large number of your constituents. The tool combines the reporting module with an inventory tracking interface. The idea is that you set up a material, build a list of constituents who are supposed to receive it, and then check them off as you deliver the material.
Here are a couple of scenarios where you could use it:
- Your organization sends gift baskets to its senior citizen members every year at the holidays. You could query your database for constituents who were born before 1945, and add them to your “Gift Basket” list. As you send out the baskets, check them off the list.
- Your organization holds a bike ride every year. Use the Material Tracking to track your riders’ Race Packets. Query your database for all constituents who are attending the race, and add them to your Race Packet material tracking list. At the table where riders pick up their race packets, check constituents off the tracking list.
Track letters and other sent materials under Letters Campaign Letters & Tracking.
Creating Material
To create material for tracking, navigate to: Letters Campaign Letters & Tracking. Click the New External Material button at the top of the page.
Since your constituents won’t have any interaction with the Material Tracking module directly, the Material Name, Code, and Description fields are mostly for internal reference.
Inventory refers to how many of the items you have to send. Enter a number here. If you leave this blank, you will still be able to use the feature; NeonCRM just won’t keep track of how many of this material have been sent.
Status determines whether you want to be able to assign new constituents to the material for tracking.
When you click Create Material, you are taken to the details page for the material you just created.
If you return to Communications Material/Letter Tracking, you will see that the material has been added to the Material/Letter Tracking list.
Adding Constituents to a Material Tracking List
Once a material tracking entry has been created, you can add constituents to the tracking list in four ways:
- Adding a constituent from their account page
- Adding a group of constituents from the Material page via a report
- Adding a group of constituents from the Material page via a spreadsheet
- Adding a Group of Constituents from a Report
Adding a constituent from their account page
Whenever a constituent is being tracked for a Material, this is reflected on their account page. This section is called Campaign Letters & Tracking. Here, you can see all materials that have been tracked with this constituent, when they were sent, and the status of each material. You can add tracking for a new material by clicking New Tracking.
From this menu, select the Tracking Item you’re sending them, how many, the date, and the status of the material. If you add a Note, it will only appear on the constituent’s record.
Once saved, the material displays on the account's record.
Adding a Group of Constituents from the Material Page via a Report
If you want to add a group of constituents who match a specific criterion to your material tracking list, you can do this from the Material's page. Navigate to:
Letters Campaign Letters & Tracking
Find the name of the material you want to track, and click the name to go into Material Details.
From this page, add a group of constituents by clicking From Report.
Then, from the dropdown, select a new report (either a Mailing Report or a Household Report), or a saved report. In this example, we'll be selecting a new Mailing Report.
This brings up the reporting module. Use the filters as in a report to find the group of constituents you want to add, then click Run Report.
To add the group to your Material Tracking list, click Add All to Material/Letter Tracking.
Adding a Group of Constituents from the Material page Via a Spreadsheet
If you have a list of account IDs you wish to add to your material tracking list, you will need to do this from the Material's page. First, assemble a list in Excel of Account IDs, adding a header (such as "Account IDs" on the first row. (You may include other information such as first and last name, but these are optional.) Save the spreadsheet as a CSV (comma-separated values) file.
Then, navigate to:
Letters Campaign Letters & Tracking
Find the name of the material you want to track, and click the name to go into Material Details.
From this page, add a group of constituents by clicking Import Account IDs.
On the next page, click the Choose File button, and navigate to and select the CSV file you saved earlier. Change the other fields as necessary, then select Continue.
On the next page, you are being asked to "map" one of your data columns to the Account ID field. Map the column as shown in the illustration below, then click Import Accounts by ID.
After a successful import, you will be returned to the Material Details page for the material you added IDs for. There will be a message stating how many account IDs were added.
Adding a Group of Constituents from a Report
You can also add a group of constituents to the Material Tracking list by running a Mailing Report.
This guide explains the process for adding constituents from a Mailing Report.
Managing Tracked Constituents
The real utility in using material tracking is being able to filter your tracking list by status. As you “check off” constituents, you will need to change their status. A constituent can have these statuses for material tracking:
- Pending – The constituent has been added to the list, but no action has been taken yet.
- Processing – The constituent has been marked as Processing.
- Deleted – The constituent has been Dropped or ignored, but not removed from the list.
- Complete – The constituent has been marked Complete.
To filter your results by Status, use the drop-down menu above the Search button to choose the category of records you want to see, and click Search. You can also search by date range, or by Constituent Name.
To change the status of your constituents for a material, check the boxes by their record and click the button that corresponds to the status you want to give them. These are located at the top right of the recipient list.
You can also export the selected records to Excel or CSV.