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Click & Pay (Salesforce): Using SKUs to Map

Updated

Click & Pledge takes advantage of the concept of SKUs by noting the SKUs in every transaction received by Salesforce and consulting the SKU rules in Click & Pay Suite to determine how to record the transaction and respond to the Patron if required. This article explains the concept of SKUs and discusses use options.
 

 

Concept of SKU


SKU (Stock-Keeping Unit) is a standard retail term for a unique product, and functions as its Id.  In the retail world, SKUs are typically used to track inventory and tag merchandise. 

Take a look at your grocery receipt this week.  You may have a list like this:

  • STFR BF SALISBRY STK
  • FL ORIG SOUR CRM
  • M&M PEANUT PARTY
  • CMPBL CHKN NDL SOUP
     

These are SKUs.  They don't represent the full name of the product but do convey important information like Manufacturer or product size.  Did you guess the items on the list?

Stouffer's Salisbury Steak
Food Lion Original Sour Cream
M&M Peanut M&Ms (Party pack)
Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup
 

SKUs are created by the store and are used to track inventory or easily refer to a specific product.
 

Design SKU Video Tutorial

 

 

Planning a SKU Schema

  • Write down every 'item' your organization may offer, including donation types.  Be thorough.
  • Go through each item in your list and determine how you wish to record it or report on it in Salesforce.  Does it need a different Record Type?  Do you need to populate certain Opportunity fields?
  • Go through each item again and note whether you need to send a different Autoresponder email to the Patron depending on their transaction.

This is not that different from planning your Salesforce implementation, except now you are writing instructions for how Click & Pay Suite should record each donation/purchase.

You now have a solid start for the potential variations that may need a different SKU. 
 

SKU Best Practices

The next step is to create a text-coding process that can account for each variation in a straightforward manner.  The text you use for your SKUs is up to you, but it is helpful to follow some general guidelines:

DO use dividers between your SKU 'syllables', e.g., DON-INHONOR, or DON_INHONOR.

DON'T use special characters. Use alphanumeric characters, a colon, a dash, an underscore (good for dividers).

DO set your SKU syllables from larger groupings to smaller. For example, if your Opportunities always have Record Types of "Donation" or "Income", start your SKUs with DON or INCM, working from broad references to more specific ones.

DO be consistent.  Don't use DON and GIFT unless your team is clear on the difference.  Use the same format and dividers for your dates and keep them in the same location at either the beginning or end of the SKU.

DO use your SKUs in other internal places where they are helpful.  Be sure they are on your Salesforce page layouts and List Views. You can use them in your reports, your event tickets and name badges. 

DO make sure your staff is on board with the plan. Explain your date format, and why it's important to use 2 digits for month and day.  You are bringing order to your world!

Also,

  • SKUs are not case sensitive.  'DON' is the same as 'don'.
  • SKUs  can be 'codes' e.g., DON, EVT, etc. or complete words, e.g., Donation. That's up to you.  Full words may seem more definitive and initially be easier to adopt, but codes can be more concrete and memorable long term.  Think of how your school classes were organized- HIS for history, ENG for English.
  • The maximum SKU length is 100 characters.  You have plenty of room to work, but it's still better to minimize length where you can.
  • Rules for Receiving the SKU include flexible conditions such as  "Includes" and "Starts With", so avoid using syllables that could be confusing.  For example, using MAIL to indicate a direct mailing might be problematic if you're also using EMAIL

.  

SKU Suffixes

Some locations (see Setting the SKU ) offer the option to create a 'SKU Suffix'.  This allows you to include additional information at the end of the SKU, like a defined response to a custom question.

In this example, we use Conditional Custom Questions to collect information for an 'in Honor' or 'in Memory' tribute donation.

CUSTOM QUESTION ORDER TYPE OPTIONS SKU SUFFIX
Is this an honorarium or a memorial 20 Radio Button

Honorarium

Memorial

-CQ-TRIB-HON

-CQ-TRIB-MEM
Who is this in honor or memory of? 30 Text Box   -CQ-TRIB-NAME
Full name of the person
 to receive notification		 40 Text Box   -CQ-TRIB-NOTIFYEE
Please enter the mailing address
 for notification		 50 Text Area   -CQ-TRIB-NOTIFYEE-ADD


If I use a SKU Suffix, should I map the information using SKU or Custom Question Mapping?

If the question's answers have pre-defined values, best practice is to use SKU. You will need to map each answer in Settings > Custom Mapping to receive each value.

 

Examples of a SKU Schema

Your nonprofit organization wants to accept general donations but wants to offer donors the chance to donate in honor or in memory of someone.  You also have a Membership program, several restricted funds, and host various events over the course of the year, including a large fundraising auction event.  You'd also like your transactions to automatically code themselves for accounting.  Here are examples of the SKU Schema you would use for the items previously listed.

  • DON - Anything that will be classified as a donation includes DON in the SKU
  • DON-GEN - indicates General Donation.  This will be your most common, basic donation
     

For the SKUs listed below you are also collecting additional information to add to tribute fields on your Opportunity.  For example, a different letter, or an extra letter to notify someone of a gift that was made on their behalf.

  • DON-HON - donation in Honor
  • DON-MEM - donation in Memory
  • DON-ORG - a Business or Group donation
     

These SKUs indicate the purchase of student, individual, or family Memberships.  You will need to assign a Membership Record Type, record the beginning date of the Membership, the Membership Level, and send custom letters to your new Members.

  • MEMBER-STU
  • MEMBER-IND
  • MEMBER-FAM
     

These SKUs define restricted funds. They need to receive a different accounting code.

  • DON-MEDICAL
  • DON-HABITAT
  • DON-RESCUE
     

Your organization has a Spring and Winter campaign soliciting donations through mailed letters, email, and Facebook posts.  SKUs indicate which sub-Campaign of the Winter 2020 'parent' campaign to assign to an incoming donation.

  • DIRECTMAIL-Winter2020
  • EMAIL-Winter2020
  • FB-Winter2020
     

For your Events, having EVT in the SKU can be used to classify the Opportunity as Program Income, set a different automatic naming to include the Attendee, and place the sale in the event's Campaign. 

  • EVT-SPRING5K-2020
  • EVT-SUMMERCAMP-WK1-2020

     

 

Setting the SKU

Locations where you can "Set the SKU”.  
 

 

CONNECT Campaign Details

Add the SKU in the CONNECT Campaign Details. There are three types of SKUs: The Campaign SKU, the Item SKU & GAU, and the Form SKU.


CAMPAIGN SKU

Under Primary Campaign Settings > Basic Information the Campaign SKU field
 

ITEM SKU & GAU

Under Payment Settings > Payment Options a SKU may be entered in the Item SKU and/or Item GAU for each item that will be listed on the donation form.
 

DONOR COVERED FEES

Under Payment Settings > Donor Covered Fees enter the SKU in the Item SKU Suffix and/or Item GAU Suffix field.
 

CUSTOM QUESTIONS

Under Payment Settings > Custom Questions you may enter an Item SKU Suffix for each question being added to the donation form. 
 

FORM SKU

Under Form Builder click the Edit icon (pencil) in the form thumbnail.  In the 'Settings' menu on the right, you will see the Form SKU field under the General Settings tab.
 

CONNECT Virtual Terminal

In the CONNECT Virtual Terminal SKUs may be added in the Payment Description section in the Item SKU and/or Item GAU fields.

Swiper1

As a complete store on your mobile device, Swiper1 has multiple locations to specify SKU and SKU Suffix. Swiper1 locations where SKUs may be entered:

 

Click and Pay Suite

 In Click & Pay Suite you may add Item and/or GAU SKUs to the following areas for mapping:

SETTINGS

  • Opportunity
    • Opportunity Settlement
  • General Ledger
    • Opportunity Allocation
  • Virtual Terminal/Invoice > Default Item Listing
  • Third Party > NPSP Integration
    • Pledge > Match SKU
       

VAULT

VIRTUAL TERMINAL

  • Payment Description > Item SKU and/or Item GAU
  • Batch Upload > Item SKU and/or Item GAU
  • Report Batch > Item SKU and/or Item GAU
  • Manual Batch Entry > Item SKU and/or Item GAU

INVOICING

  • Invoice Policy > Late Fee Policy > Item SKU
  • Invoices > Payment Description > Item SKU and/or Item GAU

PLEDGE

  • Default Item SKU for VT
  • Item SKU Value 
     

STORE/EVENTS

  • Store Products
  • Registration
  • Custom Question > Option SKU
     

Analytics

  • ER Opportunity Match
     

Event Management

Event Management is a legacy product and will eventually be replaced by Store/Events.  There is no ETA for end of life for Event Management.  If you are still using Event Management, SKUs may be added in the Event at:

  • Additional Information > Event tab > Additional Payment Details.

  • Additional Information > Levels tab > Each level offered in the Event.

     

Receiving the SKU

When a transaction arrives in Salesforce, Click & Pay Suite looks at the transaction’s SKUs to determine how it should handle creating Salesforce records, and what kind of Autoresponders should be sent.

To define how you want transactions to be managed in Salesforce, you set rules based on how to handle the transaction under specific conditions.

Your rules include setting a Condition to apply to the transaction.  The conditions include flexible options like 'Contains', Starts With', etc.  Best practice is to stay as specific as possible, so that your rules do not start conflicting with each other. 

There are many areas within Click & Pay Suite's Settings where SKUs may be used including:

Contacts & Accounts > Account > Record Type
Contacts & Accounts > Account > Ownership
Contacts & Accounts > Contact > Record Type
Contacts & Accounts > Contact > Ownership
Opportunity > Ownership
Opportunity > Opportunity/Product
Opportunity > Contact Role
Opportunity > Customize Name
Opportunity > Record Type
Custom Mapping
Campaign > Transaction
Campaign > Primary
Campaign > Team
Campaign > Fundraiser
General Ledger
Virtual Terminal/Invoice

NOTE:  NPSP Opportunity (Donation) Name Customization overrides rules set here.  If you turn off the NPSP settings you may:

Customize the Opportunity name by at Settings > Opportunity > Customize Name.

You may use SKUs to customize Record Type at : Settings > Opportunity > Record Type and to set Campaigns: Settings > Campaigns

 

NOTE on Opportunity Mapping vs Custom Mapping

Custom Mapping sets SKU rules to determine how to update the Opportunity record. 

Custom Mapping settings will override values set in Settings > Opportunity or set by NPSP for a new Opportunity.

For more information see the Knowledge Base article for Custom Mapping.
 


 

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