The ability to define additional Key Attributes as a way of capturing extra data in outbound calls and for ad hoc purposes is one of the most useful aspects of the marketing features in Sage CRM. But it may also require considerable thought in how to design the categories that are used to 'ask the questions'. If the designer does not create the right questions then the right answers can not be captured.

The use of Key Attributes is very well discussed in the online help files but it is worth mentioning a few things here about some of the choices a designer can make.

There are different types of fields available to the designer of a key attribute category

• Text
• Multiline Text
• E-mail Address
• WWW URL
• Selection
• Integer
• Numeric
• Date & Time
• Checkbox
• Phone Number
• Currency

The designer of a category will have to consider which is the quickest way for their users to gather information and which provides the most correct data.

In the screenshot below you can see I have used Checkboxes and a Selection list in my category.

If we consider just these two fields then we can see each provides us with advantages and challenges. For example, a series of checkboxes allows a user to rapidly collect data.

Here the user can rapidly 'check' the options that are needed.

BUT a checkbox can only distinguish between 'Yes', and 'null' and is inappropriate where the answer is either going to be 'null' (Not Asked), 'Not Known', 'No', 'Maybe' or 'Yes'. Sometimes a checkbox is just not suitable for collecting the most 'correct' answer.

And a selection list allows a consistent answer to be captured, which if an entry type like Text or Multiline Text is used then spelling mistakes and various user idiosyncrasies would confuse the data.

Where there is a larger choice of possible answers then the best entry type to use maybe be the Selection list.

But what if the question we want to use is something like this:

Which Journals do you currently advertise in?

• Best Fishing
• Best Angler
• Professional Carping
• Big Fish, Little Lies
• Men in Boats
• What Fly and Lure?

Of course, the answer to the question above may be several of the options. In the main field design of Sage CRM, where the data is held directly in a database field, we are able to use Multi-Selects. But in the Key Attribute area this option is not available.

Note:

The design of the Key Attribute area is quite complex and its architecture has meant that not all entry types have been suitable to make available in the interface. If you would like to know more about the data structure of the Key Attributes then please refer to the article "The Key Attribute Tables"

So what will allow a user to quickly and easily capture multiple multiple answers to the same question? The answer is provided by the different types of categories available to designers of Key Attribute categories.

There are 3 types of categories

• Parental Categories
  • These do not store data but allow themselves to be used as a template for child categories.
• Single Instance Data Categories
  • These most commonly used type and are the type I have used so far in this example. The questions can be asked and only one version of the answer can be held, although the answer may be changed.
• Multiple Instance Data Categories
  • This type of category allows the question to be asked again and again, allowing the user to rapidly collect a set of answers.

You can see in this image that during an Outbound call, multiple answers to the same question can be gathered by using a Multiple Instance Data Category.

This means that once the data has been captured in the multiple data categories it can be used in reports and in further group definitions.