TMG-L Archives

Archiver > TMG > 2003-07 > 1059367670


From: Elizabeth Churchett <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Long: On entering dates as in the source (was: Datesnot displaying correctly)
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2003 23:53:35 -0500
References: <BB49F6DE.37A%midwest@duo-county.com> <002701c354b3$3907fd90$6401a8c0@charliexii>


>
>
>>Sheryl: I've imported this file about 20 times, run into something that didn't
>>
>>
>work out, tweaked it and reimported. At some point, will I finally be smart
>enough to quit importing it? :-)
>
>
>
>Jim: At some point, you've got to do it and proceed into cleanup on the TMG side.
><g>
>
>Jim
>
>
Sheryl,

Jim makes an important point here that shouldn't be overlooked. It's
something it took me a little while to get over when I moved from
Generations to TMG a few months ago. You have to remember that you are
moving into a different program, and thus your data will be organized
differently--if it was apples to apples, there wouldn't be any point in
going through the stress of switching programs, right? So at some point
you have to let go of how you used to do something and decide how you
are going to do it from this point onwards; if you want to apply a
technique or methodology retroactively, then create a cleanup flag (or
more than one, depending on how detailed you need to be in your cleanup
approach) and work through your database a little at a time.

TMG has some nice features for isolating parts of your database (one is
using filters to create Focus Groups, which can be saved to work on in
future sessions) and you can set flags (as well as do other things--I've
done none myself so don't speak from experience) with the Secondary
Output feature of the List of People report.

You are absolutely right to spend a lot of time making sure you get the
best import you can, but Jim is also right that at some point you have
to go with something and then start working inside TMG instead of
outside it.

Just my two cents,
Elizabeth

This thread: