Second Birthday Field?

[Rami]

I am wondering if anyone figured a way to keep track of the spouses’ birthday. The system has only one birthday field, but in many cases there are 2 names in the customer field.

[EdgarB]

Unfortunately, there is only 1 birthday field available. You can use the remarks section but it would not be searchable or usable thru reports or CRM.

[Rami]

By having only one birthday field, it totally defeats the purpose because it will be wrong to send a birthday card to the wrong person.

In our old system we used to keep track of the birthdays in the 2nd address line but it doesn’t exist here. Right now we are using the “name” field designed for Mr., Mrs. … but it has only 10 fields so we are missing 2 months out of the year. How hard is it to add a second birthday field? Or 2 more fields in that “name” area? Or another address line as it is customary in every other POS system? Or??? I am not a programmer, but one would think that a programmer by trade should be able to come up with a solution.

[EdgarB]

You are able to submit an enhancement request here:

http://www.buymitchell1.net/form/servic ... form1.html

[timbre4]

Well, since you did ask.....

First a short story. My wife says since some trees were taken down, can you move these plants to the fence? It should be quick and simple. I dutifully gather my implements of destruction and the transplanting operation was completed, albeit with tree roots to chop out of the way and a cable thought to be an old neighbor's dog barrier system. The next day an AT&T truck rolls in because the neighbor's phone is out.

Accidentally cutting that telephone line reminds me of programming. Proceed very carefully, there are unintended consequences lurking at every step. It's not just a matter of placing an additional field on a screen; it has to also function behind the scenes (i.e. do something date driven, talk to another part of the program) as well as interact with exisiting code. Take this and add budgeting for development and testing. Then there is priority; that's the measurement of how crucial the enhancement is to the majority of users.

One development idea that we have discussed is a more composite (or linked) customer record than the singular nature of it today. Besides the spouse, there are the kids and this fleet has all manner of contact methods. It would make sense to consider birthdays as part of that development. I do not have a date for this, I suspect the updated schedule module has to come first.

I'm by no means trying to discourage anybody from submitting ideas, that's why we have this place. Just figured saying "It's not that easy" would not quite cover it. Keep in mind that your old program didn't actually have this either and your workaround was required.In the meantime, it would be good to hear what other users have to say and how they are handling this today.

[ricmorin]

"totally defeats the purpose" is rather a strong statement, and one I don't believe is entirely true. In Manager, there is one field for a birthday. I'd suggest you link that birthday with the name on record, NOT the spouse. By doing that, you'll never send an incorrect greeting.

I'm sure you've had customers that have asked you to 'just plug that thing in that tells you whats wrong with my vehicle' and extolled on how easy it to fix a check engine light. Of course, you and I know there much more to it than that. The same goes for programming. While entering code may be fairly easy to someone who does it all day, knowing and testing how that code interacts with the rest of the program is much more involved. There lies the rub.

A secondary birthdate is nice to have, but certainly not a deal-breaker. I imagine your customers would not think less of you if you sent a birthday wish to the primary owner and not the spouse. If you're doing everything else right, they like you fine already. A birthday wish is icing on the cake(LOL, did I just type that?)

[Rich]

Tim....for a second I thought I was reading a "Steve post"

If it was me I would ALWAYS enter the females DOB. He will forgive you, She Won't.

[ricmorin]

Tim....for a second I thought I was reading a "Steve post"

If it was me I would ALWAYS enter the females DOB. He will forgive you, She Won't.

Hmmmmmmm. You may have something there.