As of 7.4.2, householding is an optional feature. If your organization does not want to use householding, your organization will not want the householding screen or the option to create a household record to be available to any users. Also, if your organization does not want to use householding, there will be unnecessary clutter on CRM360® and Donor360® screens. Therefore, the USE_HOUSEHOLDING application parameter is provided for the organization to opt out of using householding. Additionally, the ONLINE_DUP_CUST_CHECK application parameter identifies whether the system will check for potential duplicate households when a new household is created. For more information on these parameters, please see Defining Householding Application Parameters.
If your organization decides to use householding, your organization should set the org unit parameter to define whether the household should get a soft-credit for household member donations. This is controlled at the organization unit level. For more information, please see Defining the Householding Organization Unit Parameter.
In Personify, recognition can be defined by customer record type (previously only by individual or company) and then by defining recognition levels by giving amount, using Donor Recognition Structures. As of 7.4.2, the same recognition structure can be used to allow your organization to define recognition levels for households. These features provide a way for your organization to award recognition to households based on aggregated giving levels of all members of the household over a specified period of time. However, whereas individual and company recognition is awarded based on hard credits, household recognition is a “soft” recognition, based on soft credits. For more information, please see Defining Recognition Structures.