If you have been working with your data for a little while, and you come to the realisation that perhaps the categorisations you started out with in one of the modules in ChilliDB no longer matches your needs, it is possible to perform a bulk update to existing records in the system to move them to a new categorisation. This process is seamless, and the only proviso is, of course, that the category you are moving your records over to already exists in the system. If this is not the case, please see our 'ChilliDB Admin Quick Start: Reference Data' article to guide you through the process of setting up categorisations first.
Note: Before making change to your categorisations, please review the section at the end of this article that outlines certain things you should be aware of before making changes to your categorisations as these changes could affect other parts of your ChilliDB system.
Bulk Updating Categorisations in ChilliDB
To perform a bulk update to categorisations for records in ChilliDb, follow the steps below:
Navigate to the 'Search' section in the relevant module.
Note: For the purposes of this example, I am recategorising records in the Contact module.
Search for the records you wish to recategorise and select them from the search list.
In this case, I have used the 'All' filter to reveal all contacts in my ChilliDB system, and I have then selected those I want to recategorise from the search results.
Once this is done, click on the downward arrow-type icon on the top right-hand side of the search list and select 'Bulk Update' from the options available.
Update the categorisation of the selected records.
Choose the relevant category from the dropdown options in the 'Categorisation' field in the window that opens once 'Bulk Update' has been selected.
Once 'Save' is clicked, the records selected will be recategorised to the categorisation selected. In this case, 'Client'.
Note: When recategorising records, users can not only allocate new main categories to a record (Type), but also any categories / sub-categories that exist in their system as well.
**Important: Things to Be Aware of When Making Changes to Your Categorisations
While ChilliDB makes re-categorisation of records a simple procedure, doing so can create functionality issues for you, and thus you should review the potential repercussion of making these changes before doing so.
Below are some things users should be aware of before re-categorising their data:
It could affect the Custom Fields - Section "Visible For Types" configuration
If you are re-categorising data, be sure to check your Custom Fields, specifically the 'Visible For Types' values, to ensure that you are not altering the visibility of sections unintentionally by re-categorising your records. In the example below, we have made the 'Volunteering Days' section only visible for contacts that are categorised as 'Teacher'. If we then went and recategorised some 'Teacher' contacts to another category - e.g.: 'Client', this would mean this section would no longer be visible against their record.
Reports Reports can use Filters based on Categorisation settings. You should review any reports for Filters based on Categorisation settings.
For example: if we have recategorised some contacts as outlines above - i.e.: from 'Teacher' to 'Client' categorisations, this would affect how data is displayed in reports. It would also potentially affect the accuracy of that data due to the re-categorisation possibly affecting other areas of ChilliDB, like the visibility of sections as mentioned above.
Module Configurations Some modules allow you to define a subset of Contacts or Organisations to select from. Sometimes this involves limiting these settings to a matching categorisation. You should review the configuration of each of your modules which have a "Configuration" menu item under them in the menu to ensure they remain correct before making the changes.
For example: the ATAPS module looks for Health Professionals based on their categorisation under Contacts. If you re-categorised your health professionals in Contacts, then you would need to re-configure ATAPS so the module is still able to find them. In the example below, the ATAPS configuration is linked to the 'Health Professional' categorisation in contacts in two separate fields. If these categorisations were changed, then this configuration would also have to be changed so the module would still function correctly.
Data Mining / Visualisations: The Data Mining module in ChilliDB features a choice of filters based on any of the existing fields in your ChilliDB system, including 'Categorisation'. As such, you should review any existing data mining searches and/or data sets for filters based on categorisation settings. In the example below, if a user changes the categorisations for either the 'Contact :: Type' filter or the 'Organisation :: Type' filter in their respective modules - e.g.: changes 'General Practitioner' to 'Doctor' in the Contact categorisations, then they also have to come into the dataset they have created and change the value for that filter to reflect this. In this scenario, they would change the value for the 'Contact :: Type' filter from 'General Practitioner' to 'Doctor' to maintain the dataset and still get the expected results.
Of course, as datasets are linked to visualisations in ChilliDB, any changes will affect the displaying of these in your system as well.
These changes can either be made by a system user, or you can make a request via the Help Desk.
System Post Save Actions (Distribution Lists - Subscription Rules): If you are using built-in Post Save Actions (PSAs), like those used to automatically place people onto Distribution Lists, or PSAs that have been added to your system by our developer, then you should review these to make sure they don't need to be updated or have the ChilliDB HelpDesk do so for you so they continue to work.
In the example below, the subscription rule is set up so any contact that is categorised as 'Health Care Worker' will automatically be pulled into the distribution list. As such, if contacts that are linked to this categorisation have their records re-categorised (to 'General Practitioner', for example), they will be automatically removed from the distribution list once their record is updated and saved via the system-generated PSA as their categorisation no longer matches the subscription rules in the distribution list. This is something users need to take into account when making changes linked to any automated processes in their ChilliDb systems.
We hope you have found this article on making bulk updates to your record categorisations useful. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch, either through our Help Desk or by contacting us at info@chillidb.com
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