Exporting Data from Beacon
Exports are the way to get the data you need from out of Beacon. Below are a few helpful examples of common exports you may need to run.
This article will help you get from export to expert!
Note: If you’re fairly new to exporting (or don’t know what it is) we’d suggest reading the following guides first. First how to Export your data and secondly, Export templates
Exporting People and their Organisation's information
Let's start nice and easy!
Say you want to get a list of contacts while also getting some information about the organisation they work for. In this instance, you'll want to set up a template from the People record type
Step-by-step
To begin, navigate to Export data > Manage templates > Create template
As you're exporting data about people, you'll want to select the People record type:
To export some data about people and their organisations, here's what your selected columns may look like:
4. Boom! You can add as many or as few columns depending on your needs 💪
Note: Planning to re-import these contacts to update them? Try including the ‘Record ID’ to make this easier
Exporting Payments and Payer information
Let's go another level deeper. I know you're ready 🚗
If your organisation is taking regular payments, it's essential to keep track of details about these transactions. Beacon makes it easy to keep on top of all your reports. A trustee needs a report of all donations and donors last month? Well, you could export that but why not invite them as a read-only user and share a dashboard with them? Then they’ve always got the most up to date information.
However, if you must export the data - we've got you covered! You may need to export some key information about the payments, such as the date, amount, and payment method, as well as some key information about the payer, such as their name, and contact information.
Let's say for example we want to run a report of last month's payments. We want this report to include all the key information about the Payment and the key information about the Payer.
Never fear, Beacon is here!
Step-by-step
To begin, navigate to Export data > Manage templates > Create template
Now which record type are we going to export from? Well, since it's primarily about payments, we're going to select the Payment record type (Remember the person's information is linked to the payment through the Payer field)
To export some data about payments and payer, here's what your selected columns may look like (feel free to add more or less):
There's an extra step here since you're interested in exporting last month's payments. There's two ways to specific this: using either dynamic or fixed filters. For the purpose of this example, we're running this export every month so we'll apply fixed filters. We'll do that here:
And then apply a filter specifying we want payments from "Last month"
Once the filter is set, hit "Save template" and you're good to go!
Exporting Membership and Member information
Let's look at exporting some membership information. Your organisation wants to run a report of everyone who bought a membership last month. First of all, you want to thank them all for their support by sending them an email. Great! Simply export to Mailchimp to bulk email them or create an email template to email them one by one.
However, let's say you want to create physical membership cards to send out to your new members (unfortunately Beacon cannot create physical membership cards... yet 😉). We'll want to find all the members who signed up last month and provide a list of these to our card marking service. We want information such as their membership number, the type of memberships (i.e. single membership/ family membership), the membership start and expiry date, whether there are additional members on the membership, and finally the names of the members.
Let's go!
Step-by-step
To begin, navigate to Export data > Manage templates > Create template
Now which record type are we going to export from? Well, since it's primarily about memberships, we're going to select the Membership record type (Remember the person's information, such as their name, is linked to the membership through the either the Member or Additional member field)
Let's take a look at what columns we'll include in the export. So perhaps Member number, Type, Status, Start date, Expiry date, Person name, Additional person:
Say for example, we want to contact all new members who signed up last month to thank them for their support - we could apply some filters specifying the membership start date is in the last month.
Once the filter is set, hit "Save template" and you're good to go!
Event-related exporting examples
Exporting names for an event door list
So, you've just organised your first event. You've blown up the balloons, prepped the canapés, and practiced your microphone skills a couple of times by saying "One-two". You've also managed to get everyone signed up through a Beacon event registration form (Yippee 🥳). Now, all you need is a checklist at the door to see who has attended your event. Why not have Beacon open on a tablet and check them in by changing the status of the Event attendee record? If you won’t have connection to the internet or just prefer good old pen and paper then here’s how you export!
Tip: Beacon works on a phone or tablet so save some trees and just use Beacon to check people in!
Step-by-step
To begin, navigate to Export data > Manage templates > Create template
Since we are interested in who is attending a particular event, we want to choose the Event Attendee record type for the template:
Now what columns should we select for the template? Since we're only creating a door list, all we need is the names of the attendees and possibly their email address too. We're interested in the name of the Person so the record type we're going to select is Person (via Person).
Now let's apply some filters. To keep this door list template open to be used on different events, let's leave it set to Dynamic:
Now let's save this template and navigate to the Event Attendees record type where we'll apply this filter:
Now all that's left to do is select all of the Event Attendees and export! You're really getting the hang of this 😺
Tip: If you're going to be handing this list off to someone taking attendance at the door, perhaps PDF format is the way forward 😉
Exporting information about ticket buyers
The event was a major success! The place was packed to the rafters with supporters and you're clearing the confetti off the floor. Now the fun part's over - back to the reports. We want to export a list of all the ticket buyers to thank them for their support.
Step-by-step
To begin, navigate to Export data > Manage templates > Create template
We're interested in the ticket buyers so we'll select the Tickets record type. From here, we can also access: the Person record (via the Payer field), the Event record (via the Event field), and the Payment record (via the Payment field)
Let's take a look at what columns we'll include in the export. Here we have some information about the Ticket such as the ticket type and ticket time slot. Secondly, we have some information about the event from the Event record type such as the event's name. We also have some information about the Person such as their name and email address. Finally, we have some information about the Payment.
Let's go ahead and leave this template on Dynamic mode so we can apply it to multiple events we're holding.
Hit save and your template is ready for a test run 😄
Let's test it out - navigate to your "Tickets" record type and apply a filter specifying which event you want to export the Ticket buyer details from. It should look like this:
Now all that's left to do is select all of the Tickets and bish, bash, bosh - it's export time!
Frequently asked questions
Can I export information about the payer's organisation when exporting from the Payments record type?
In short, no. Information about the Payer's organisation is two steps away from the Payment record type (Payment > Person > Organisation). You can only export information from a record type and a record type one step away.