[Please feel free to add comments to the FAQ; these comments will be incorporated into revisions of the document.]

Questions about Setting Up ODB

Q1: Is it possible to customize the activity and tracking codes used in the program?
Yes; all the checkboxes, type menus, and donation categories can be customized from within ODB by clicking on the Wrench in the upper right-hand corner and choosing Enable Code Changes. You will now see a yellow Admin button in the tracking code screens.

Q2: What is the database format based on?
All files are saved at this time in the relatively standard (for its time) MS Access-97 format. The ODB files are not saved with a file extension of ".mdb", identifying them as Access database files, becase it is generally not a good idea to edit the ODB files using Access. They can be edited; we just discourage it if you do not consider yourself to be an Access expert. ODB does not use Access for its user interface. The user interface was created using Visual Basic 5.0 (Professional Edition or higher required).

Q3: Can I set up relationships between people and organizations?
ODB 1.0 provides a limited capacity to do so: you can set up 'primary and secondary contacts' for each group in the database and if you do that, a link icon will appear in the the people records that are assigned as primary contacts. You can click on the link icon to navigate to the linked group, and you can right-click on the Contact1 or Contact2 buttons in the Groups Entry screen to navigate to that contact. Groups in ODB are intended primarily for organizations that maintain a contact list for a coalition or an organizational directory. If you just want to enter a contact at an organization, you are best off just entering this contact in the People area of ODB and giving the contact an organizational type code of 'O' for organizational contact.

Q4: Can I password protect donor information?
Yes, there is an ODB setting feature to do this. You can automatically exclude high donors from a mass email list unless a password is entered. You can also set a ceiling on the number of records that can be exported without a password. And you can prevent someone without the password from changing the settings in ODB.

Q5: Can ODB generate reports on donations?
Yes, ODB has some limited reporting ability plus the ability to export records with the donation categories to a file that is readable by a spreadsheet program like Excel. It is possible to write ODB reports in Access; we recommend that Access developers link to the ODB data source from an Access File. It is also possible to use a third party report writer like Crystal Reports, and even call that report writer directly from within ODB if you have specialized needs.

Q6: Does ODB handle event registration?
ODB does not have a sophisticated system for scheduling many events or classes and then reporting on attendance at the end of the year. However, it is fine for tracking registrations; just set up a tracking code (or SRC code) for "registered", "paid" and "attended" for each event you are planning.

Q7: How much memory is needed to run ODB?
It is possible to run ODB on almost any machine with Windows 95 or higher. To get the full benefit, you will want to be able to run ODB while you have other applications open (Microsoft Word, Email, Web Browser, etc.). We recommend that you have at least 96 MB for Windows 95, 128 MB for Windows 98, 192 MB for Windows Me, and 256 MB for Windows 2000.

Q8: How can I set up ODB so that it does not use membership expiration dates?
If you do not want expiration dates, you can use the "MemberCategories" feature to list the donation codes that should increment the membership. If you go into the "Wrench", and click on "Modify Settings", you will see this. By default, the setting is blank. If you put an "X" in it, it will turn off assignment of expiration dates (except for the 'X' donation code, if you have that). Then, if you want to completely hide the membership expiration field, you can put the following into the ODB setting for "HidePeopleControls":

txtmemexpire lblmemexpire

If you want to hide the member joined, you can do that as well using:

txtmemexpire lblmemexpire txtjoined lbljoined

The ODB setting for HideSearchControls should have the same value, in this case, as HidePeopleControls.

Q9: How can I select the payment history option when using the groups section of ODB?
You cannot associate payments with a group. You can associate a group with a "sponsorship" payment, but this is just a single field and you cannot record a sponsorship history this way. Any payments entered will be associated with people, even if the people entered are really contacts at an organization.