Setting Up Initiatives

This chapter provides an overview of initiatives and discusses how to:

• Define initiative types.

• Define audiences.

• Define initiative goal types.

• Define methods.

• Use action components for initiative setup.

• Define budget categories.

• Set up appeal information.

• Set up campaigns.

• Set up membership initiatives.

• Set up volunteer efforts.

• Set up event initiatives.

See Also

Managing Initiatives

Understanding Initiatives

This section lists prerequisites and discusses initiatives in general, as well as specific initiative types.

Prerequisites

In general, before you set up initiatives in the system, consider these questions:

• What type of goals does the institution track for initiatives?

  Goal types will differ, depending on the initiative type, but may be number of attendees, volunteers, or members, or percent increase over the previous year.

• What types of audiences do you appeal to for each initiative that the institution runs?

  Create a spreadsheet of attributes and audiences for each of the initiatives to help you plan the setup. An attribute is the system field or view containing the information that you use to segment the audience.

• What communication methods do you use to evoke participation in the initiatives?

  Examples of methods are letters, emails, and personal visits, which are set up as communication methods.

• What types of appeals do you use to reach constituents during initiatives?

  Appeal types are categories of appeals such as direct mail, phonathons, and personal solicitations. What specific appeals does the institution use for each type of initiative? Create a spreadsheet of each appeal and its type to use when you go live and as part of the conversion of gifts and pledges. Appeals can be linked to all types of initiatives and to gifts and pledges, depending on the check boxes selected on the Setup Appeal Code page.

• What categories of expenses do you track for the initiative budgets?

  These are set up as budget categories.

• What aspects of actions do you want to track?

  You can track four aspects of actions with the system. These action components are used for both initiatives and prospect management. You must set them up carefully. Create a spreadsheet of all four action components. Make sure that each action type can be linked to appropriate action contact types, statuses, and results.

  • Action types are the general kinds of actions that you use when tracking initiatives and prospects, such as an ask or cultivation.

  • Action contact types are the specific actions that the initiative staff engages in for initiatives, such as mass mailings, phonathon calls, and personal visits.

  • Action status and action results are necessary for each action type and action contact type.

• What types of contact does your staff have with constituents, and for what purposes?

  Create a spreadsheet of all four action components.

• What types of communications does the institution engage in for each initiative?

  Much setup is necessary to produce communications from the system that are tailored to the company's needs. Communications is part of PeopleSoft Enterprise Campus Community, which is shared by all areas on campus. You might establish some naming conventions for each office that uses communications, to make communications more manageable.

In addition to the questions above, which are prerequisites for setting up any type of initiative, you should consider additional questions for each major type of initiative.

Before you set up the system to manage a campaign, consider this question: What phases, such as leadership gifts, major gifts, and general campaign gifts, do your campaigns encompass?

Before you set up the system to manage memberships, consider these questions:

• How are setIDs, record groups, and business units set up at your institution?

  Membership types and membership categories are defined by setID. When you set up membership organizations and view information by business unit, the values that you see depend upon the values that you define for the setID and the setID that you associate with the AV01_MBR record group.

  See Defining and Securing PeopleSoft Enterprise Contributor Relations Business Units and SetIDs.

• Does your institution allow gift entry to be completed when membership dues are processed?

  You specify this information on the Institution Installation page.

• How many days before a membership period ends do you need to roll dues over to the following year’s membership period?

  You specify this information on the Institution Installation page.

• What types of memberships can constituents have with a member organization?

  Examples of membership types are life, annual, and sustaining.

• What are the various categories for membership in an organization?

  Examples of membership categories are single, joint, family, and complimentary.

Before you set up the system to manage volunteers, consider the following:

• What phases do your volunteer initiatives encompass?

• What specific appeals does your institution use for volunteer recruitment?

  Examples of volunteer appeals are an invitation to participate in a career network or a request to help with the annual alumni phonathon. Create a spreadsheet of each appeal and its type. You can link appeals to all types of initiatives.

• What responsibilities does your institution assign to volunteers?

  These are set up as areas of responsibility. Responsibilities include programs, food, and entertainment.

• What areas of responsibility do you want to categorize?

  For instance, event logistics might be an assignment type that comprises registration, entertainment, food, and program.

• What volunteer structures does your institution use to accomplish its goals?

  You can set up leadership types that act as templates. When you create a new leadership structure for an initiative or member organization, you can import the volunteer structure. Examples of leadership types are Board of Directors, Reunion Committee, and Fund Raising Team.

Before you set up the system to manage events, consider this question: What phases do your event initiatives encompass?

Understanding General Initiatives

When developing a strategic plan for Contributor Relations, an institution must identify the initiatives that will be the basis from which the plan will be carried out. An initiative is any organized effort with an expressed purpose. It can be a campaign, a membership initiative, an organized volunteer effort, an event initiative, or any other type of initiative defined by the institution. Initiatives can consist of multiple parts with other initiatives related to them, enabling the institution to track individual parts or the initiative as a whole.

To create an initiative, regardless of its type, you:

• Define a time frame.

• Define participation and financial goals.

• Assign responsible resources.

• Define the target audiences.

• Determine how this function relates to others at the institution.

• Develop a communications or public relations plan to reach the target audiences.

The four main initiative types are:

• Campaign.

  An organized institutional effort targeted to a specific constituency that occurs over a specified period of time, with specific purposes and goals.

• Membership initiative.

  A campaign focused primarily on membership.

• Volunteer effort.

  After you create an initiative or define a membership organization, you can create the volunteer structure necessary for the effort to succeed. You then assign volunteers to the positions within the volunteer structure and assign additional volunteers to perform specific tasks.

• Event.

  Any occurrence that you set up to achieve a particular result.

  Events are one of the most effective ways for the institution to reach both existing and new constituents.

Understanding Campaigns

A campaign is an organized institutional effort targeted to a specific constituency that occurs over a specified period of time, with specific purposes and goals. Although all initiatives in Contributor Relations share common setup pages, a campaign initiative has its own audience, resources, related initiatives, and PR plan. Some initiatives, such as campaigns, require additional setup that is specific to their purpose.

Understanding Membership Initiatives

A membership initiative is a campaign focused primarily on membership. Although all initiatives in Contributor Relations share common setup pages, a membership initiative has its own audience, resources, related initiatives, and PR plan. Some initiatives, such as membership initiatives, require additional setup that is specific to their purpose.

Understanding Volunteer Efforts

After you create an initiative or define a membership organization, you can create the volunteer structure necessary for the effort to succeed. You then assign volunteers to the positions within the volunteer structure and assign additional volunteers to perform specific tasks. Volunteer efforts are associated with both volunteer initiatives and member organizations, and are set up as initiatives. Although all initiatives in Contributor Relations share some common setup pages, a volunteer effort has its own audience, resources, related initiatives, and PR plan. Some initiatives, such as volunteer efforts, require additional setup that is specific to their purpose. The volunteer-specific setup is covered in this chapter; overview information for all types of initiatives is discussed elsewhere in this PeopleBook.

Understanding Event Initiatives

An event initiative is any occurrence that you set up to achieve a particular result. It is a combination of processes. Events are one of the most effective ways for the institution to reach both existing and new constituents.

Although all initiatives in Contributor Relations share some common setup pages, an event initiative has its own audience, resources, related initiatives, and PR plan. Some initiatives, such as events, require additional setup that is specific to their purpose. The event-specific setup is covered in this chapter; overview information applicable to all initiatives is located elsewhere in this PeopleBook.

Understanding Other Initiatives

Other-type initiatives refer to initiatives that do not fall within the boundaries of a campaign, event initiative, membership initiative, or volunteer effort. Although all initiatives in Contributor Relations share some common setup pages, other-type initiatives have their own audiences, resources, related initiatives, and PR plans. Setup information applicable to all initiatives is located elsewhere in this PeopleBook.

Defining Initiative Types

To set up initiative types, use the Initiative Type Table component (AV_INTV_TYPE_TABLE).

Before you can create and manage an initiative, you must define the types of initiatives used by the institution.

This section discusses how to define initiative types.

Page Used to Define Initiative Types

Defining Initiative Types

Access the Initiative Types page.

There are five delivered initiative types, which you should not modify. Institutions can define additional initiative types that fulfill their needs. Institution-defined initiative types are classified as OTHER.

Initiative Type Required Values

These values are required in the INTV_TYPE field that resides in the AV_INTV_TYPE_TBL table:

The system treats any initiative types that you add in addition to those listed in the preceding table as Other Initiative types. Other Initiative types appear as options in the Initiative Type field on the Other Initiatives page.

Defining Audiences

To set up audiences, use the Attribute Type component (AV_ATTR_TYP), and the Audience Criteria component (AV_AUD_CRIT).

The values that you define here are used when creating an initiative audience.

This section discusses how to:

• Set up attribute types.

• Set up audience criteria.

Pages Used to Define Audiences

Setting Up Attribute Types

Access the Attribute Type page.

An attribute type is a characteristic that you can use to identify someone to communicate with in the system for an initiative or member organization.

Warning! If you are defining an attribute for a person, the EMPLID field must exist in the Attribute Process table. If you are defining an attribute for an organization, the EXT_ORG_ID field must exist in the Attribute Process table.

The system supports these types and lengths of fields for attribute types:

The system searches for the attribute that you selected in the locations that you entered in the previous fields. The system generates an actual audience through the Initiative Audience Build COBOL process (AVPINT), which retrieves the attributes that you select. You can access the Initiative Audience Build page to run this process.

Example

To maximize the potential of audience attributes, a view could be created for all mailable alumni by selecting people who have constituent types of 1 and 2, an active address, and no date of death. By using this view as the first row in an audience criteria record, multiple tables are combined in a single view, leaving five more rows in audience criteria to narrow the audience selection.

Another way to maximize audience attributes is to create worksets and use the AV_WORKSET_MBR record as the process table to select members into an audience.

Setting Up Audience Criteria

Access the Audience Criteria page. The appearance of this page changes, depending on the audience Selection Process you use.

Audience Detail Common Fields

Selection Process

When you add a new audience criteria using the Audience Criteria search page, your selection process options here depend on the value you enter in the Person/Organization field. If you select Person or Organization in that field, you can select either the Build/Merge Process or Population Selection on this page. If you select Both, you must use the Population Selection process.

Population Selection

Select this option to use flexible methods to load audience data into the system. This group box appears when the Population Selection process is selected.

Population selection is a method for selecting the IDs to process for a specific transaction. The Population Selection group box is a standard group box that appears on run control pages when the Population Selection process is available or required for the transaction. Selection tools are available based on the selection tools that your institution selected in the setup of the Population Selection process for the application process and on your user security. Fields in the group box appear based on the selection tool that you select. The fields behave the same way from within the group box on all run control pages and application processes.

If your institution uses a specific delivered selection tool (PS Query, Equation Engine equation, or external file) to identify IDs for a specific transaction, you must use it.

Warning! Any query you select for audience criteria cannot contain prompts.

See Using the Population Selection Process.

Selection Criteria

Select this option to combine various attributes to narrow the audience. To retrieve the expected results, place the largest set of records in the first row, because the system selects that population first. Subsequent rows select populations from within the first group. For example, to select all alumni in Denver or Miami, first select all constituents with alumni as the constituent type, then select those with Denver postal codes, and then select those with Miami postal codes.

Note. You can create up to six rows of selection criteria. A single criterion can be based on a view that combines multiple attributes in a single view. For example, mailable alumni could be based on a process view that combines constituents with a constituent type of 1 or 2 who have active addresses and do not have a date of death. Further, other views combining multiple process tables can be used in the additional five criteria rows to expand the selection ability of the audience process.

Technical Information for Build/Merge Process

These rules apply when you specify audience criteria:

• The ID or EXT_ORG_ID is selected from the first table that you specify in the Selection Criteria group box.

  For example, if you selected an attribute from the Involvement table as the first row of criteria and included an attribute from the Ethnicity table, then the result would include anyone in the Involvement table who also matched the ethnicity type in the second row of criteria. All IDs come from the table associated with the first row of criteria.

• All attribute types using the OR operator must be grouped together with parentheses in the Selection Criteria group box.

• Whenever two different attribute types are immediately linked by AND, they are joined by their ID or EXT_ORG_ID.

• When you link two values with OR, they must be part of the same attribute.

  For example, you cannot select all constituents with a constituent type of Alumnus or an ethnicity of African American. In cases such as these, create two separate audiences and assign them both to the initiative or member organization to achieve the results that you want.

• When no prompt values are available, enter dates, using the format MM/DD/CCYY.

  Round decimal numbers to whole numbers. Do not enter decimal points.

Defining Initiative Goal Types

To set up goal types, use the Goal Type Table component (AV_GOAL_TYPE_TABLE).

This section discusses how to define goal types for the initiative.

Page Used to Define Initiative Goal Types

Defining Goal Types

Access the Goal Types page.

Examples of goal types are attendance levels, percentage of participation, and financial goals.

Select the appropriate option to make the goal appear as an Amount, Number, or Percentage.

Defining Methods

To set up methods, use the Method Table component (AV_METHOD_TABLE).

This section discusses how to define communication vehicles that are used to distribute public relations plans.

Page Used to Define Methods

Setting Up Communication Methods

Access the Methods page.

Using Action Components for Initiative Setup

The Prospect Management feature in Contributor Relations contains four action components that are useful when you set up an initiative: action types, action contact types, action status codes, and action results. Use these components with campaigns, membership initiatives, and event initiatives, as well as for prospect management.

This section discusses how to:

• Define action types for initiatives.

• Define action contact types for initiatives.

• Define action status codes for initiatives.

• Define action results for initiatives.

Defining Action Types for Initiatives

Use the Action Types page to define general types of actions taken for a particular initiative, such as an ask.

See Defining Action Types.

Defining Action Contact Types for Initiatives

Use the Action Contact Types page to define the actions that the initiative staff can engage in. When you create an assignment, you select the contact type. The contact type determines whether the action will occur through a telephone call, letter, email, personal visit, and so on.

See Defining Action Contact Types.

Defining Action Status Codes for Initiatives

Use the Action Status page to define the status codes that appear in the Action Status prompt dialog boxes throughout the system. Action status codes and action results are necessary for each action type and action contact type.

See Defining Action Status Codes.

Defining Action Results for Initiatives

Use the Action Results page to define the values in the Result field on the page used when completing an initiative action. Action status codes and action results are necessary for each action type and action contact type.

See Defining Action Results.

Defining Budget Categories

To set up budget categories, use the Budget Table component (AV_BUDGET_TABLE).

This section discusses how to define the valid categories within an initiative budget.

Page Used to Define Budget Categories

Setting Up Budget Categories

Access the Budget Table page.

When creating a budget, you can allocate funds to each category that you include in an initiative budget. Budget expenses are subsequently applied to the categories within the established initiative budget.

Setting Up Appeal Information

To set up appeals, use the Appeal Type Table component (AV_APPEAL_TYPE_TBL) and the Appeal Code Table component (AV_MTVTN_TBL).

This section discusses how to:

• Set up appeal types.

• Set up appeals.

• Set up appeal details.

Pages Used to Set Up Appeal Information

Setting Up Appeal Types

Access the Appeal Types page.

Setting Up Appeals

Access the Appeal page.

Examples of appeals are an annual phonathon, a publication insert, a capital campaign flyer, an honor roll, and so on.

When you select one or more of these check boxes, the appeals appear as values in the Appeal field when entering an appeal code throughout the system. Campaign appeals appear in Gift and Pledge Entry. Membership and campaign appeals appear in Membership Entry.

In the previous example, ALUMAN appears only in the Membership Initiatives and Membership Entry components. When you select more than one check box, this appeal appears as a value in the Appeal field for initiatives whose type is the same as any you selected here. For example, if you also selected Campaign Appeal, the ALUMAN appeal would appear as available options in Appeal fields for all campaigns as well as in the Membership Initiatives component.

Setting Up Appeal Details

Access the Appeal Detail page.

Appeal Goal	Enter the amount of revenue that you expect this appeal to generate.
Number of Pieces	Enter the number of pieces or contacts that you expect to make through the appeal. For example, if the appeal involves sending a letter, this value should be the total number of letters that you expect to send.
Appeal Budget	Enter the overall expense budget for the appeal.
Institution	Select the institution associated with the initiative.
Initiative Type and Initiative	Select each initiative type and initiative that uses the appeal.

Note. If a membership appeal is attached to initiatives, the Membership Progress page for the initiative displays the appeal and its results for that initiative.

Setting Up Campaigns

To set up campaigns, use the Campaign Donor Phase Table component (AV_DONOR_PHASE_TBL).

This section discusses how to:

• Define donor phases.

• Set up an anticipated gift table.

• Define reporting rules.

Pages Used to Set Up Campaigns

Defining Donor Phases

Access the Donor Phase Table page.

After you define donor phases, you can use them in the Gift Table page.

Setting Up an Anticipated Gift Table

Access the Gift Table page.

Created By	Select the ID number of the person creating the gift table. The default value is the ID of the person entering the gift table information but can be overridden.
Donor Phase	Select which section of the campaign, such as Major Gifts, Leadership Gifts, Special Gifts, or General Campaign is being defined in the gift table. Donor phases are defined by your institution.
Gift Level	Enter the minimum amount of a gift required at this level. Gift levels cannot be duplicated, and the amount generally decreases by donor phase when you create a table from the major gifts level down to the general campaign level.
Nbr Donors (number of donors)	Enter the number of donors needed at this gift level for the campaign to be successful. This number generally increases with lower gift levels. For example, you can project a need for five major gifts, and a need for 5,000 general campaign gifts.
Nbr Prspcts (number of prospects)	Enter the number of prospects needed at this gift level to generate the required number of donors. This number generally increases with lower gift levels and is generally greater than the number of donors.
Total	Enter the amount expected from the gift level.
Financial Goal	Displays the campaign's financial goal.
Gift Table Total	Displays the sum of the Total column.

Example

This is an example of a standard gift table for a 25,000,000 USD campaign:

Defining Reporting Rules

Access the Reporting Rules page.

Note. The rules that you establish on this page are used for CASE campaign reporting. Setting up these rules enables you to create your own version of these reports; it does not affect the data that you view on inquiry pages throughout the system.

Campaign Scope

Maximum Pledge Payment Period

This selection indicates an institution’s preference for how long a pledge can be outstanding. When a campaign is in the post-campaign reporting phase, any pledges that have exceeded the maximum payment period and are not yet fulfilled should be subtracted from campaign totals. Select Other to indicate a maximum payment period greater than five years. Enter an explanation if you select Other. CASE recommends that no campaign period exceed seven years in duration.

Bequests

Life Insurance

Indicate the institution’s preference for accepting life insurance as contributions to the campaign. If you select any option other than Do Not Include Insurance, life insurance that has not been realized is included in campaign totals based on the selected value.

Advance-Gifts Phase in Totals

Important! All gifts to campaigns are counted. No featured objective totals are calculated.

Setting Up Membership Initiatives

To set up membership initiatives, use the Membership Type component (AV_MBR_TYP) and the Membership Category component (AV_MBR_CAT).

This section discusses how to:

• Set up membership types.

• Set up membership categories.

Pages Used to Set Up Membership Initiatives

Setting Up Membership Types

Access the Membership Type page.

Examples of membership types are Annual, Sustaining, and Life. Use membership classifications when setting up the dues levels for a member organization.

Membership Type Required Values

The following table describes the values that are required:

Setting Up Membership Categories

Access the Membership Category page.

Examples of membership categories are Single, Dual, and Family. Use membership classifications when setting up the dues levels for a member organization.

Setting Up Volunteer Efforts

To set up volunteer efforts, use the Areas of Responsibility component (AV_AREA_TYP_TBL), Assignment Types component (AV_ASGN_TYP_TBL), and the Leadership Types component (AV_LDR_TYPE_TBL).

This section discusses how to:

• Set up volunteer resources.

• Define areas of responsibility.

• Define assignment types.

• Define leadership types.

• Define volunteer initiative goals.

• Structure the leadership group.

• Define subgroups.

Common Elements Used in This Section

Pages Used to Set Up Volunteer Efforts

Setting Up Volunteer Resources

Use the Define Volunteers, Roles, and Volunteer Roles pages to create the volunteer resources that you require when managing volunteer efforts.

See Also

Assigning Volunteers to Roles

Defining Areas of Responsibility

Access the Area of Responsibility page.

Areas of responsibility are linked to assignment types. For example, when you define an assignment type of Student Recruitment, you can select High Schools as a valid area of responsibility for that assignment type.

The areas of responsibility that you define here determine the available selections on the Volunteer Assignments 1 page, on which you assign volunteers to specific tasks.

Defining Assignment Types

Access the Assignment Type page.

Before you can use this page, you must define areas of responsibility on the Area of Responsibility page.

See Also

Defining Areas of Responsibility

Defining Leadership Types

Access the Leadership Types page.

This page defines a template structure that can be used and built upon for an initiative or a member organization.

Examples of leadership types include Board of Directors, Reunion Committee, and Fund Raising Team.

You can assign two lines per Role in the volunteer structure—one for a required position, and one for an additional number of positions that can be filled.

Important! If you select the Required check box, the system prevents you from saving the volunteer structure without first assigning a volunteer to the position.

Defining Volunteer Initiative Goals

Access the Volunteer Goals page.

Financial Goal and % Particptn Goal (percent participation goal)	The system displays the financial goal and the participation percentage goal for the initiative. These goals are defined on the initial page on which the initiative is defined.
Target Date	Enter the date by which the goal may be reached.
Goal Type	Select the measurement by which you track the progress toward the goal.
Audience Code	Specify the population to which the goal pertains. Available options include all of the populations that are defined by the institution on the Audience page with the type of Segmentation for this initiative.

Structuring the Leadership Group

After you have created an initiative or set up a membership organization at your institution, you might want to define the volunteer structure that is necessary for the effort to succeed. Volunteer structures outline the various leadership roles for volunteers within a group and specify how many volunteers are needed to fill each role. In addition, volunteer structures can contain subgroups or groups of volunteers that report to the initial leadership group.

Access the Volunteer Structure page.

Leadership Group	Enter the name of the leadership group or the highest level of volunteer leadership for the initiative or member organization (up to 50 characters).
Leadership Type	Select a volunteer structure defined on the Leadership Type page.
Build Default Structure	Click to populate the Volunteer Structure Detail group box with the template structure specified by the leadership type that you selected. You can edit the structure if you use this choice.

If you do not use the default structure, make selections and enter values in the Role, Number Needed, Term Length, Selection Process, and Required areas of the page.

Important! If you select the Required check box, the system prevents you from saving the volunteer structure without assigning a volunteer to the position.

Defining Subgroups

Access the Sub-Groups page.

Subgroups are committees or groups of individuals that report directly to the leadership group.

If you do not use the default structure, make selections and enter values in the Role, Number Needed, Term Length, Selection Process, and Required areas of the page.

Important! If you select the Required check box, the system prevents you from saving the volunteer structure without first assigning a volunteer to the position.

Setting Up Event Initiatives

To set up an event initiative, you must set up event types. Access the Event Type Table page in Campus Community to define the specific types of events at your institution, and to specify the event types that you want to use as default values in your system.

See Also

Setting Up Campus Event Planning