To locate a specific record in ActionWare, you need to use a set of identifiers that are unique for each contact record. The identifiers must be logically derived so that everyone using the database can always find a contact record by using the same naming convention.
The following guidelines have proven successful for industries of all types and companies of all sizes.
Ignore all punctuation, such as periods, commas, apostrophes, quotation marks and ampersands.
Ignore all prepositions, such as "and, or, the, a, to, for or of".
Do not use blank spaces between words or numbers.
Standard Primary ID (PID) Calculation:
ActionWare calculates PID values automatically. The first six characters of the Primary ID field are the first six characters of the company name (COM field). The last two characters are the initials of up to two subsequent words in the company name field. For example:
Company Name in COM field: |
Primary ID (PID) generated by ActionWare |
Ace Mailing |
ACEMAI |
Ace Pots and Pans |
ACEPOTP |
Advanced Micro Devices |
ADVANCMD |
Allied Pump Supply |
ALLIEDPS |
Standard Secondary ID (SID) Calculation:
ActionWare calculates SID values automatically according to the data in the contact field (CON field). The first six characters of the last name are used followed by up to two initials. Ignore all titles, such as Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss, Reverend, Dr., Lieutenant, Jr., Sr., II, III, and so on. For Example:
Contact Name in CON field: |
Secondary ID (SID) generated by ActionWare |
Jane Rockaway |
ROCLAWJ |
Dr. Louis Black |
BLACKL |
John Ray Shaw |
SHAWJR |
Mary Louise Johannson |
JOHANNML |
Handling Duplicate Contact Records:
If ActionWare calculates a PID value that is the same as another contact record's PID value, you can manually make the new value unique. The easiest solution is to leave the record first keyed correctly by the rules but add a 0 (zero). Substitute a 0 for the last position if the key is already 8 characters long. For subsequent duplicates, use 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and so on. This method can handle up to ten names that convert to the same key. For Example:
Primary ID (PID): |
Resolution of Duplicates: |
Galaxy Pole Products |
GALAXYPP |
Galaxy Potted Plants |
GALAXYPP0 |
Galaxy Peanut Planters |
GALAXYPP1 |
If you think you will have more than ten duplicates, begin by using a two character addition or substitution, for example, 00 through 99. or:
Primary ID (PID): |
Resolution of Duplicates: |
Galaxy Pole Products |
GALAXYPP |
Galaxy Potted Plants |
GALAXYPP00 |
Galaxy Peanut Planters |
GALAXYPP01 |
Standard PID/SID Abbreviations:
When using the standard ActionWare PID/SID calculations certain words are abbreviated automatically, including all States (they are abbreviated to standard U.S. Postal Code two character values similar to the values in the STA field listbox).
The following words are also abbreviated:
Words: |
Abbreviation: |
America |
AM |
Atlantic |
AT |
Pacific |
PA |
Holiday Inn |
HI |
West Coast |
WC |
Bay Area |
BA |
British Columbia |
BC |
Australian Capital Territory |
ACT |
New South Wales |
NSW |
Northern Territory |
NT |
South Australia |
SA |
Western Australia |
WA |
Standard PID/SID Omitted Words:
The following words are omitted:
Omitted Words: |
Corporation |
Association |
Company |
the |
for |
and |
an |
of |
to |
Inc |
Co |
Corp |
Incorporated |
Limited |
Mr. |
Ms. |
Mrs. |
Miss |
Dr. |
Sr. |
Jr. |
Sons |
Rev. |
Reverend |
III |
IV |
To add or change words to the standard PID/SID Abbreviation or Omitted Words lists please contact our Technical Support Team at 510-595-4700 or by email at support@actionware.com