Somehow or other, it may be an VBC/API/Do-it problem, or it may be finger trouble (but not sure how) we have a duplicate Opp in VBC but only one in Do-it.
The opp has been created recently (in VBC) and has resulted in two instances. There is only one on Do-it.
Normally, if you click to view an opp in VBC and it doesn't exist in Do-it, you get a popup inviting you to delete it in VBC. This doesn't appear for either instance of this opp, so both VBC opps appear to be pointing at the same Do-it opp.
The question is - how can we get rid of (delete) the unwanted duplicate.
VEDA - for reference the Opportunity is Cultural Exchange Christmas - Short-term Host, for HOST UK, South Northants.
Hi Richard,
The same opportunity has been created twice, once in VBC and then from Do-it data sync. There are two records of this opportunity, with different ids, exist in Do-it aswell. Please follow the steps below to delete the unwanted duplicate,
Thanks
Hi Gopi
Thanks for getting back. Some questions...
The same opportunity has been created twice, once in VBC and then from Do-it data sync.
How do you think this happened? We don't think that this opp was created in Do-it.
Or could it be an error created via the API?
There are two records of this opportunity, with different ids, exist in Do-it aswell.
I don't see two records when I view in Do-it (see attached screen - Do-it listing)
Only two in VBC (see attached screen - VBC listing)
Should I go into Do-it and delete the (single) opportunity there? How then will the situation sort itself out?
Regards
Richard
Hi Richard,
We checked the API logs and found that one opportunity record has been created in VBC and pushed to your Do-it account on 27/10/2016. The other opportunity record has been added into your VBC account on 28/10/2016 via Data sync from Do-it API.
If you go to view pages of those two opportunities in your VBC account and click on the titles, you could see both opportunities exist on Do-it(With same details, but with different ids in the URL).
Please check with Do-it support team regarding the listing of the opportunities on your Do-it account.
If you manage to see both opportunities in your Do-it account listing, deleting one of them will display the delete dialog box in the view page on VBC and allow you to delete the opportunity from your VBC account.
Thanks
Hi Gopi
The situation is still that I can view two opps on VBC and only one on Do-it. I agree that if you open each opp in Do-it from VBC you see a different URL.
I decided to just delete everything as you suggested. I deleted both in VBC and got the delete in Do-it message both times.
Then I created the new opp in VBC. The situation now is that I can view the opp in Do-it by opening in Do-it from VBC. But it doesn't appear in Do-it listings (neither View opps, or view org and then view Orgs Opps). I just can't understand it!!! So now we can't even promote it.
I will take this up with the Do-it support.
Richard
Just to finish this off for anyone interested. I contacted the Do-it support and they got back to me straightaway. The problem was that the opportunity was linked to the Org - HOST UK (the national one) rather than our local version. It was quickly sorted out.
However it does leave a lingering concern because when creating an opportunity in VBC you only get offered your own Orgs and in this case only our local org is offered.
So it's unclear when and how in the process this happened.
This is why I put all my orgs and opp on via do-it as there are still too many problems for me to trust v-base cloud.
Lorna - I think I'm starting to agree with you. But I really want us to use only VBC - that's the whole idea of it.
Gopi - I've just seen it's happened again.
I have two instances in VBC of Opp - Service Delivery Volunteer, supporting victims & witnesses of crime
for Org - VOICE, For Victims and Witnesses Northamptonshire
In Do-it there is only one. This time one of the instances of the Opp in VBC has activities, so I can't just delete all and start again.
Can you have a look please and let me have some history.
Are we having a situation where an opp is replicated from VBC to Do-it. And then later the Opp is replicated back to VBC?
Richard
I'm just doing my stats for last month and seem to be having the same problem. See attached.
Hi All
So, this is a knock on effect of multiple locations in Do-it. Technically the way its been implemented has had some underlying effects that VBC wasn't expecting, one of which is multiple records created. In Do-it these are hidden as Do-it is aware of the relationships between them (in effect they are linked to the multiple locations) however in VBC we were not. Hence multiples of records starting to appear where they would not have previously.
From our perspective the multiple locations has now become a serious issue with all these small but highlighly visible issues. We're in the process of reviewing the APIs with do-it, planned to have a meeting in the next week or so to review them and to fully understand what VBC is expected to do with data that reflects multiple locations.
VBC design lends itself better to orgs who carry out all their functions from within VBC where possible as theres less reliance on sync processes if this premise is followed. However I appreciate confidence in VBC has taken a knock with these data anomalies. The issue for VBC is that its playing catch up on what is turning into a pretty big change. I'll report back once we've met with do-it and agreed on a solution going forward.
Hi Parvez
Thanks for the update - it's good to understand what the problem is and to know that it is being addressed.
We would appreciate it if one item on your agenda to speak to ivo about is to allow testing of VBC and the API BEFORE ivo release Do-it updates. They need to understand that many VC's are now using the VBC/Do-it combination as an integral part of their business and this sort of failure is not acceptable. Personally I would go as far as saying that they should roll back the multiple locations functionality until it has been fully implemented in VBC and tested.
You also need to be aware that multiple locations is a very important feature and we really need VBC to support it fully. Your comment about VBC being optimised for use as the primary interface for the VC is exactly our approach as well.
Finally, as you are aware, this latest problem seriously affects VC's and their monitoring statistics. I would urge you in your talks with ivo to consider how to recommend that users work around this issue in the meantime (if the feature is not to be rolled back in Do-it). This is important to us.
Richard Tomalin
Hi,
I have recently run a report which shows that we currently have 109 (yes you read that right) duplicate opportunities on our VBC! Since a certain point in time, any new opportunity that has been added to the system has been duplicated which is totally confusing for our Volunteer Advisors and, as Richard said above, it skews our statistics when reporting.
The knock on effect, of course, is extra work for our Advisors as they need to check they're choosing the right record when recording an activity which, if I'm honest, won't always happen due to a lack of time or forgetting to do so. There is an option to go and mark each duplicate record so that we can clearly see it's not to be used but that in turn creates more work for a staff member and/or a volunteer as each record will need to be checked for activities recorded against them before they're marked as not to be used (we don't want to delete any duplicates with activities attached, should the time come to do so, as we'll lose valuable data). Times that by 109 and that's a heck of a lot of work!
It's worth mentioning at this point that we have checked Do-it and the duplicates aren't showing on there so we can't use the solution provided.
Is there any sort of batch solution to this, that could be done in the 'back end of the system? Can you see behind the scenes which ones are duplicates and mark them as such easily? I'm not sure if this is the right solution or not, but it is very frustrating so am following this thread with interest....
Steph - Voluntary Centre Services
This is a good point that Steph makes. It isn't quite as much of an issue for us, but for really busy VC's it will be a nightmare, and it's not getting any better.
VEDA - do you have a status on this please?
I will log this on the Do-it forum and the Do-it help desk, but not sure how successful that will be.
Richard
I agree, this is making life pretty difficult for us too, especially when it comes to reporting!
VEDA, any update please?!
Can we have an update on this please? We are getting increasingly frustrated by all the problems with Do-it and the problems that Do-it are creating in VBC.
Hi. I have added 2 new opportunities and amended 1 in V-base cloud this week that are in specific venues( i don't use Do-it so it is not a multiple location problem) and all 3 opportunities have been duplicated. Each of the duplicated ones didn't have all the contact information in so i de-activated one of them and it disappeared from the Do-it website. I had to go back into the original and save it again and it has reappeared. Is there any update to the problem please?
Thanks
Janette
Hello Janette
I think the problem that you are seeing is probably connected to the same problem. Basically (in my understanding) VBC creates the opportunity in Do-it and then, due to some sort of problem with the API it then creates another instance in VBC.
This is exactly what we were seeing. The problem is connected with the updates they did for multi-locations, but you don't need to actually create multi-locations to see the problem.
It's about time we had an update on this I think.
The silence is deafening! The lack of response is really quite worrying!
I e-mailed support about a different matter a week and a half ago and have had no response which is unusual as we pay for support. I wonder if they are on leave/sick?
Hi Guys
No need to panic, we're seeing the messages and are aware of the issues. The problem is we're caught in a catch 22 situation at the moment, the changes to the API shouldn't have affected V-Base Cloud according to the do-it developers however it has! So we need to prove our technical code before it'll get looked into. This isn't a simple process and involves documenting quote a lot of existing code to the level where we can prove the sequence of API calls and prove there is an issue. We're in the process of carrying this out but I wouldn't expect a resolution much before Christmas to be honest. As usual we're doing this on a pro-bono basis and its taking a fair amount of time and resource. Gopi is also currently away on leave, back next week and hence the Forum has been neglected over the past couple of weeks.
I'll update again early next week when we've hopefully at least completed our documentation process and have handed over to do-it for interrogation.
Thanks for the update
Thanks Parvez - will the fix include a way in which we can remove duplicates easily?
Reena
I've had some feedback from the do-it team, they have acknowledged a problem in the APIs so thats a good step forward. They are hoping to release a fix today or tomorrow. The knock on effect will be that multiple location opps will show multiple times in VBase. Until the API is fixed I dont have anymore info on the exact knock on effect so its a wait and see I'm afraid.
It would be good for someone to report back once I've confirmed the fix is in, would be good to create a single forum post with the issues this is causing so we can report back to do-it and make any necessary amendments to VBase Cloud.
Hi Parvez
Do I understand from what you are saying that the final solution will be to display the multi-location opportunities multiple times?
Richard
Morning All. My personal latest on this: This morning I went into VBC to deactivate an opportunity. The role was listed only once so I selected it, appended the title with our deactivate phrase, changed the status to draft and the end date to today, as per our policy. I then saved the role to find a duplicate of the role has been created, showing it as a live role. So now I have one role in draft, and another identical role as live. When I try to edit the 'live' role, all of the details are the same as the inactive role, therefore I can't change the status beacuse it's already showing as a Draft role. Nightmare!!
Hi Heather
Indeed - a nightmare. But we were told this week that ivo and VEDA were testing the updated API and we haven't been told yet that the new version has been implemented in production yet. So I assume what you have seen is due to the original Do-it API bugs.
I am sure that VEDA will see this, take note and repsond.
This is good to hear. Do you have a sugested fix for the 100+ duplicated records we now have in our system?
I echo Heathers question. We need to know how to get rid of our duplicates.
Also can you confirm if opportunities that DO HAVE multi-locations in Do-it will appear multiple times in VBC?
Finally - are there any plans to fully support multi-locations in VBC?
Richard
Hi. we still have a large number of duplicate opportunities which is really causing problems with our reporting. Is there any way of these duplicate opps being deleted in one go or am I going to have to go through all of my opps, find any duplicate ones and delete them one-by-one. This really is a big headache!
I am not sure you can delete opps from v-base cloud unless the pop up box appears asking you. it will just reappear again from do-it. I have another problem, yesterday one of my live opps on do-it popped up on v-base cloud asking if I wanted to delete it. If I click yes I presume it will delete off do-it and it is meant to be live. Have asked support and they say its do-its problem and can't sort til they do.
Thanks Lorna but these are duplicate opps that were created beacuase of some bug in the system. I don't want to delete the proper opp that should be there, just the duplicate ones that were created by mistake. These are the ones that are messing up my reporting!
Is there any update from Veda on this please? Has anyone found a way around it? I'm wondering if I just need to get one of my volunteers to go through and delete all the duplicate opps, but this will prbnably be quite time consuming and I'd like to avoid it if there is an easier/quicker way to do it.
Thank you.