Drop Down field issue

travismp

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I have a entry form with a dropdown for a field [CompanyName] We have alot of clients with very similar names. example:

Steve's Auto Parts
Steve's Party Supply
Steve's Plumbing
Steve's Plumbing of Boston
Steve's Welding, Inc.

My users have made it a habbit to select the wrong company while working in a hurry. What work arounds would work to help my users select the correct company name?

1.) Some type of delay?
2.) Make them enter it twice and make sure they match?
3.) A pop up window to confirm the company a second time?
4.) Get rid of the dropdown menu and use another type of selection for [CompanyName]
5.) Other option that I am not thinking of.

Thank you ahead of time for an ideas.

T~
 
Why not have cascading comboboxes where first box identifies the type of business ie. plumbers, electricians etc and the second combo (linked to first choice) lists the companys

Fozi
 
The trick is to make it easy for your users and I know this is old fashioned but identify Clients database reference on the documentation.

No matter how elegant you create accuracy testing, it involves more effort by the user and could create a backlash.

You also need management support to instil into the users that accuracy is important to the business.

Simon
 
This is really a question of demanding that the data input people be accurate in their work! You can only go so far in idiot-proofing apps, and you've already taken the trouble to insure entering the correct company name by creating the combobox! Eventually the users have to take responsibility for their actions.

If you had a fairly limited number of categories of businesses, Fozi's suggestion of cascading comboboxes might not be out of the question, but from the looks of your examples I'm guessing that this isn't true.
 

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