System variables

System variables are used by the application to track members' activities and statuses.

System variables are updated:

Note: System questions are different from system variables. System questions can only be used with power surveys, and the data they collect comes from power surveys only. System variables are used to track members' statuses across the Community application.

The following table lists the available system variables and provides a description of each variable.

System variable Variable name Description
Community

community

The name of the Community in which the member belongs.
Community ID

communityid

panelid

The unique ID associated with a community.
Data Set Type datasettype The type of data (live or test).
Email email The member's email address.
First Name FirstName The member's first name. This value can also be added or updated when you upload recipients for ad hoc activity invitations.
Tip: To pipe members' first names anywhere (for example, in survey questions or invitations), type [%FirstName%]. If there is no stored value for First Name, the pipe will be replaced by a blank space.
Join Date joindate
  • The date on which the member confirmed that they were joining the Community.
  • The date a non-member's status was changed to Active with a system upload.
Last Login lastlogindate

The last date on which a member signed into a Community portal or Member Hub.

Note: Sparq 1 portal activity is not included in this variable.
Last Name LastName The member's last name. This value can also be added or updated when you upload recipients for ad hoc activity invitations.
Tip: To pipe members' last names anywhere (for example, in survey questions or invitations), type [%LastName%]. If there is no stored value for Last Name, the pipe will be replaced by a blank space.
Member ID memberid The member's unique ID.
Member Status memberstatus

The current status of the member in the system.

Possible values are:

  • Nonmember

    Nonmember applies to:

    • Members recruited through an activity link.
    • Participants invited through an activity link.
    • Recipients uploaded into an email invitation for ad hoc activities.
    • Upgraded customers who continue to recruit members using a Sparq 1 survey.
    A person is marked Nonmember when one of the following has occurred:
    • The person is not a member of the Community. The person's email address and profile variables are in the system; however, the person has not been recruited yet.
    • The person used a recruitment link to complete the survey. The person is marked as a Nonmember until they confirm their membership.

  • Pending

    Pending applies to members recruited through a recruitment survey, when the email invitation is sent from Community. A person is marked Pending when one of the following has occurred:
    • The person receives an email invitation to join the Community.
    • The person clicks the recruitment link in the email without completing the recruitment survey.
    • The person completes the recruitment survey through the link in the email without confirming their membership.
    Note: Upgraded customers will not see this status.

  • Active

    The person is a member of the Community and can be invited to participate in activities.

  • Purged

    The member was purged from the Community. You cannot send Purged members invitations or reminders for any activity type.

  • Undeliverable

    A member is marked Undeliverable if email delivery fails frequently or a spam complaint was made.

    You cannot send Undeliverable individuals invitations or reminders for activities.

  • Unsubscribed

    The member no longer wants to receive emails from the Community and has requested removal from the Community. You cannot send Unsubscribed members invitations or reminders for activities.

Note: You can only send recruitment reminders to Pending individuals.
Recruitment Communication ID recruitmentcommunicationid The unique ID associated with a recruitment's distribution email or recruitment link.
Recruitment Method recruitmentmethod

The method through which a member was recruited.

Possible values are:

  • Unknown

    The member's recruitment method is not known.

  • Email

    The member was recruited through an email invitation.

  • SurveyLink

    The member was recruited through a recruitment link.

  • OpenSample

    This value occurs when a participant clicks an activity link appended with an identity variable that is not already known in the application. The application creates a new record for the participant with a memberstatus of nonmember, and recruitmentmethod set to opensample.

Recruitment Source recruitmentsource The member's recruitment source. Possible values are:
  • The name of the invitation email or invitation link used to invite the member.
  • Imported from CSV when the member is added through a system upload.
  • No value when the member is recruited:
    • Using a power survey that was distributed from Sparq 1.
    • Using the API. For more information, see Alternative Deployments.
Note: You cannot update recruitmentsource through a system upload.
Recruitment Status recruitmentstatus The member's status in the recruitment process.
Status Updated By statusupdatedby The admin user who last updated the member's status.
Status Updated Date statusupdateddate The date and time when a member's status last changed. This field is automatically included in member data exports when memberstatus is included as a profile variable in the export.
Unsubscribe Reason unsubscribereason

The reason why a member has requested their removal from the Community and unsubscribed themselves.

During the unsubscribe process, the application asks members an optional question about why they are leaving the Community. Possible values are:

  • NotSpecified (the member chose not to answer the question)
  • NotRelevant ("The communications were not relevant to me")
  • TooManyCommunications ("Too many communications")
  • NotEnoughCommunication ("Not enough communications")
  • NotAsExpected ("I was expecting something different")
  • ResponseTimeTooShort ("I am not given enough time to respond")
  • NotValued ("I don't feel that my input or opinions are valued")
  • Other (the member has a different reason for leaving the Community, as specified for unsubscribereasonother)
Unsubscribe Reason (Other) unsubscribereasonother

The exact reason why members have requested their removal from the Community and unsubscribed themselves, if they chose Other for unsubscribereason.

Upload ID uploadid The unique ID for the CSV upload.
Note: You cannot use these reserved keywords in profile variable names:
  • mid
  • cid
  • scid
  • event
  • rurl
  • autk
  • datatype