Understanding and Using Entity Name Formatting

Overview

Practifi preformats the names of households you create to ensure they accurately reflect the names of household members and cater to scenarios such as surname differences and single-parent families. The default name can be modified by creating a formula field on the Entity (API name: Account) object that replaces the default name with the format chosen by your firm specifically.

• Create a Custom Household Name
• Custom Household Name Examples
  • Common Scenarios
  • Alternative Scenarios
• Mass Update Household Names in the Data Management App 

Create a Custom Household Name

A formula field created on the Entity (API name: Account) object can be used to customize default household names. Within such a formula, “if” statement logic can enable naming conventions like Dirk & Anya Feldman or Feldman Family. Please note: examples of formulas for different name formats are provided below.

Once your formula field has been created, copy the API Name of the field, as you will need it in the following process. To enable the custom household name, do the following:

1. Navigate to the Salesforce Setup page by clicking the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page (represented by ) and select Setup.
2. Use the Quick Find on the left-hand side to search “Custom Settings” and select the Custom Settings option within the Custom Code menu. The Custom Settings page opens.
   
   
   
3. On the Custom Settings list, select Manage next to Household Name Settings.
   
   
   
4. On the Household Name Settings page, select the Edit button in the Action column.
   
   
   
5. On the Household Name Settings Edit page, enter the API name of the new formula field into the Default Household Name field, then select Save. 
   

Custom Household Name Examples

See the tables below for examples of formulas that System Administrators can use to format household names in Practifi.

Common Scenarios

Naming convention (displayed as example)	Salesforce formula syntax
Dirk Feldman Household	practifi__Primary_Member__r.FirstName & " " & practifi__Primary_Member__r.LastName & " Household”
Feldman, Dirk & Anya	N/A (existing default convention)
Feldman, Dirk & Anya Feldman	practifi__Primary_Member__r.LastName & ", " & practifi__Primary_Member__r.FirstName & " & " & practifi__Spouse__r.FirstName & " " & practifi__Spouse__r.LastName
Feldman, Dirk & Feldman, Anya	practifi__Primary_Member__r.LastName & ", " & practifi__Primary_Member__r.FirstName & " & " & practifi__Spouse__r.LastName & ", " & practifi__Spouse__r.FirstName
Feldman Household	practifi__Primary_Member__r.LastName & " Household"

 

Alternative Scenarios

Scenario	Handling logic
Adding salutations	Include "practifi__Primary_Member__r.Salutation &" "&" in front of the Primary Member’s first or last name as desired. Do the equivalent with Spouse.
Alternative terms to "Household"	Replace the word Household wherever it appears in the examples above with other terms such as Group or Family.
Differing surnames	N/A (not required as in all examples above other than the default, the surname is shown at all times)
Initials	Use the LEFT() formula to return the first character of someone’s first name. Example: LEFT(practifi__Primary_Member__r.FirstName, 1) & ". " & practifi__Primary_Member__r.LastName returns D. Feldman
No spouse	IF(ISNULL(practifi__Spouse__c), {Syntax for Naming Convention with Spouse Removed}, {Original Syntax for Naming Convention} Example: IF(ISNULL(practifi__Spouse__c), practifi__Primary_Member__r.LastName & ", " & practifi__Primary_Member__r.FirstName, practifi__Primary_Member__r.LastName & ", " & practifi__Primary_Member__r.FirstName & " & " & practifi__Spouse__r.LastName & ", " & practifi__Spouse__r.FirstName
Using Preferred Name instead of First Name	Replace references to FirstName with references to practifi__Preferred_Name__c.

Mass Update Household Names in the Data Management App

With the custom Default Household Name defined, System Administrators can easily apply this change to all households via the Data Management app.

To update household names across the organization, do the following:

1. Select the App Launcher located on the left-hand side of Practifi.
2. Select Data Management from the drop-down menu.
3. In the Data Management app, select the Entities tab.
4. Check the box in the header of the record table to select all entities.
5. Click the Update Household Names button. A dialog box opens.
6. Click Next to proceed with the action. A success message appears.