How to Suppress Data

Constituent data needs to be suppressed for various reasons: where a pledge registered over the phone has been fulfilled, someone has opted out of future contact, passed away, or given you some other reason to take them out of the calling campaign.  In all cases, data existing outside of VanillaSoft needs to be brought into VanillaSoft to ensure that we do not call those Contacts again. Here is a comprehensive guide to update the Contacts and remove them from the calling queue.

Note: A spreadsheet consisting of only the Contacts you would like to remove is required. On that spreadsheet, ensure the Alumni ID is listed as this will be used to determine which Contacts will be removed. 

Jump to a specific area of this article by selecting one of the steps here:

 

Step 1 - Create a Custom Field

The first step in this process is to create a Custom Field within your VanillaSoft project. This field will be used for future steps to determine which Contacts will be removed from the calling queue and which will stay. Follow these steps to create a Custom Field: 

  1. Log in to VanillaSoft as an Admin.
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  2. Select the desired Project.
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  3. Open the Field Customization menu, then the Custom Fields sub-menu, and select the Custom Fields section.
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  4. Enter "Suppress" in the Add New Field textbox.
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    • The title "Suppress" is just an example. Any title will work.
  5. If desired, open the Tab drop-down and select which Tab you would like to save the field within.
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  6. Click Add.
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  7. Open the Field Type drop-down and select Menu.
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  8. Type "Yes" in the Menu Item text field.
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  9. Click the add symbol to the left of the text field.
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  10. Type "No" in the Menu Item text field.
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  11. Click the add symbol to the left of the text field.
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  12. Once done, click Save.
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Step 2 - Update Contacts

Now that the Custom Field has been created, you will need to update the Contacts using that newly created field. Follow these steps to update the Contacts: 

  1. Open the Contacts & Reports menu and select the Import Contacts section.
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  2. Select Choose File and browse to your CSV spreadsheet.
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  3. Once found, select the file and click Open.
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  4. Open the Import Mapping drop-down and select the desired saved mapping.
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    • This step is optional. If you do not have any saved mapping, you can skip this step.
  5. Open the Import Method drop-down and select Add/Update Contacts.
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  6. Once your selections have been made, click Next.
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  7. Open the Import File Field drop-down and select Alumni ID.
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  8. Open the VanillaSoft Field drop-down and select Alumni ID.
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  9. Once your fields have been defined, click Next.
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  10. Check the Enable Default Value checkbox near the top of the page.
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  11. Open the Suppress drop-down in the Default Value column and select Yes.
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  12. Once the Suppress field has been mapped, select Start Import.
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Step 3 - Remove Contacts from Calling Queue

Now that the Contacts have been updated with the Suppress field, you can run a query to remove the desired contacts from the calling queue. To note, updates can not be undone. Once you have updated the Contacts, the changes can not be reversed. You will need to perform a new query to make any desired changes. Follow these steps to remove the Contacts from the calling queue:

  1. Open the Contacts & Reports menu and select the Contact Management section.
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  2. If you want to build your Query from scratch, click Build a New Query.
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    • If you have a saved Query, click Select This Query, then Edit This Query from the saved Query's menu to use a pre-build Query.
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  3. Select Suppress from the Select Fields list and click the right-arrow.
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  4. Open the Filter drop-down and select Equal To.
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  5. Open the Value drop-down and select Yes.
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  6. Once the Field and Value have been set, click Run Query.
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  7. Click the Perform Task button.
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  8. Select UnFlag Contacts from the Actions to perform on Query window.
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  9. To proceed with the update, click OK.
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Once the above steps have been completed, the updated Contacts will no longer be in rotation in the calling queue. The Contacts will remain within the project for either reporting or reference purposes, but they will not be routed. 

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