Virtuous, Please Report to Me
Feeling a little limited by working with just queries, filters, and standard Virtuous reports? Want to spice things up a bit and get some clearer insights into your data?
Well you are IN LUCK!
With this release, we are proud to introduce our new Custom Report Builder! Now, you can create your own reports, add charts, and make your data more easily digestible — and actionable.
The new report builder will walk you through the steps of building your report, adding a chart, and selecting options to summarize your data.
If you look closely at the above screenshot, you'll notice that reports will have the option to be set up as private (only for you) or shared with your team (remember this, it's going to come up again in a bit here).
You'll be able to choose from one of four types of reports, on Gifts, Pledges, Recurring Gifts, or Gift Asks. Any custom reports that you have access to will be listed on the main Reports screen.
You can use filters and the search bar on the left to quickly find the reports you need.
And even set reports as favorites to be run directly from the Reports menu on your dashboard.
Intrigued? Of course you are! Check out this support article to learn more about creating custom reports, and then head on over to this article to learn some tips and tricks for running and managing your reports.
A Little Love for Queries
Custom reports may be a big deal, but queries are not about to be overlooked. This release will include some big improvements for the Query Tool.
When building a report with the new report builder (wow, we just can't stop talking about reports this month!), you'll need to select a saved query in order to set the parameters for which data to include in your report. Because of this, we've also added a bonus feature to queries! Now, you can choose to set a query as private when you create it. (We told you this would come back!)
Keep in mind that once a query is created, however this setting cannot be changed - you would need to make a new copy of the query to edit the privacy settings.
Ever wondered if a query is being used in a nested query, or in a workflow? (Is that a "yes" I hear?) Well, WONDER NO MORE! Now, you can click to view query details and see for yourself.
But we know that one challenge, for a long time, has been identifying Passthrough Givers in Gift queries. In particular, it's been impossible to target Passthrough donors via automation.
So, we decided to fix that.
That's right! Now, you'll see a new nested query option, "Passthrough Contacts." You can use this to identify all of the Passthrough Donors in a particular Gift query.
Those of you out there who look closely at the screenshot above (and why wouldn't you, really?) may notice yet ANOTHER new addition to queries. When nesting a query, you'll see an edit icon that will allow you to open THAT query in another tab, to view the details or modify it. (And if that query has a nested query, you can drill into THAT query - you can turn queries into Matryoshka dolls in a hurry!)
Finally, we heard from a lot of users that they really missed the search bar on the All Queries tab. But the filter option also offered a lot of benefits. So, we decided, WHY NOT BOTH?
That's right, you can type into the search bar and hit enter to search for queries by name. You can even search multiple times to add additional criteria and zero in on the exact query (or queries) you want.
BUT...
(Come, on, say it with me, you know you want to)
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
We've also added some new statistics that can be used in queries to identify a Contact's First Gift, Last Gift, and Largest Gift, regardless of whether it was a direct or Passthrough Gift.
These are identified as "Overall" statistics. You can easily use them in a Contact query by searching "Overall" when building your query, or export them from your query results to make advanced segmentation and analysis THAT MUCH EASIER.
Important News to Impart About Imports
Those of you who are avid readers of our release notes (or users who import Contacts, of course) may remember that in the September 2020 release, we allowed users to include a Secondary Individual when importing Contact files via the Gift & Contact Import Tool.
Well, this time around, we are adding that same functionality for Gift imports!
When manually entering Gifts, you'll see the option to click and show fields for a Secondary Individual. This means no extra tabbing through fields in cases where you don't have a spouse to add.
Secondary Individuals can also be included in csv imports, which means you'll want to make sure you download the updated version of our import template.
BUT
(Wait really, AGAIN? Yes, AGAIN!)
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
This release also includes our new header mapping feature.
Yes, we did say header mapping!
If you've ever made a mistake in naming fields in an import file, you've also experienced the pain of having to delete your import, correct your file, re-save it, then reimport. Now, your import may appear with a status of "Input Required."
Click on the import, and you'll have the option to review and remap your headers to the correct import fields. Any headers that cannot be mapped will be flagged in red, so you can easily scan and see which fields need attention.
And...you are never going to believe this...
THERE'S STILL MORE!
That's right, we've also made some updates to what were previously referred to as legacy imports. You'll find these in the new settings menu under "Bulk Data Tools." Specifically, we've added new bulk update import templates, which will allow admins to easily update a large volume of records.
Bulk imports also include our new header mapping feature, making it easy to map your data correctly with just a few clicks.
What's Better Than Tools? More Tools!
Yes, there's one change that we're sure you'll notice: we've updated our menu navigation a little bit. In place of "Settings," you'll now see "More Tools," which will open a new sub-menu that you can use to more quickly access the tools you need.
Some options can only be accessed by clicking on "All Settings," which will bring up the same, familiar Settings screen you've come to know and love.
...And the Rest
As with every release, this month's update also includes a number of other fixes, tweaks, minor modifications, and assorted nudges. Among this month's assorted fixes:
- This release has so many new features, we haven't even mentioned our Gift Ask upgrades. Now, you can link a Pledge to a Gift Ask. This means that organizations tracking Pledges as receivable can see Pledges counted toward their weighted totals for closed asks.
- We've also included some new Gift Ask widgets, including widgets with bar charts for weighted and actual totals, and a Gift Ask Forecast widget that provides weighted and actual amounts based on the Expected Fulfillment Date, as opposed to Gift Ask Date. Because sometimes, it's important to know when you might expect gifts to come in, not just when you asked for them.
- By popular demand, we've modified our logic for Recurring Gift Status updates, so you'll statuses update right away when expected payments are received. No more waiting around, you've got things to do!
- Also by popular demand, we've added a new progress bar when bulk creating Contacts in an import and notifications so you'll know when receipting runs have been processed. No need to keep checking in on progress, we've got you covered!
- When creating an email, merge tags were not always populating in subject lines, which could lead to some awkward "Hey %firstName%, check this out!" situations. We've made some corrections, so you can now use merge tags in subject lines with confidence.
- And speaking of email, going forward, all email activity will be grouped together in the Contact activity feed, meaning you'll see one update listing when an email was sent, opened, and/or clicked. No more combing through activity just to see the response to your latest digital opus.
- Admins will notice a new option for "Organization Public Name" in the settings menu. This name will be used for mailings (specifically return addresses on receipt envelopes and letters and postcards sent via automation - we're not sending mail to you 👍 )and will allow you to have a clean, branded name for all external communication.
- Ever wanted to include Noncash Gift Type or Description in a receipt template? If so, you will be a happy camper, because we've added these merge fields for receipts in this release.
- When requesting an NCOA update, you'll now have the option to choose whether primary addresses should be overwritten with new address data or if you'd like to have new addresses added as primary, with existing primary addresses retained as "Previous Address." Because we're flexible like that.
- How are new user invites like milk? Both are good for growth and now, both also have an expiration date. User invites will expire after one week. Any expired invite can still be resent from the Team page in Tools.
- We found and summarily obliterated a bug that was causing some Personalized Email Templates to be cut off when composing an email. Brevity is the soul of wit, but only to a point.
And that's the list! As always, if you have any questions about these or other features, feel free to contact our team using the support widget in Virtuous, or drop us a line at support@virtuoussoftware.com.