Let's remind ourselves of the 3 postcode fields available in Student CRM for filtering:
Full Postcode
Postcode Outcode
Postcode Area
1. Postcode
Here is a full UK postcode:
The full Postcode comprises many parts, but this article only looks at the 2 parts that Student CRM makes available, namely the Outcode and the Area. These two extra fields are generated whenever a full postcode is entered.
2. Postcode Outcode
The Postcode Outcode is the first half of a postcode (before the space). Outcodes are always 2-4 characters long, they always begin with a letter and may end with a number or letter. Examples:
for the full postcode 'BH2 5BD' the Outcode would be 'BH2'
for the full postcode 'L69 3BX' the Outcode would be 'L69'.
The Postcode Outcode is automatically generated from the student's postcode and stored separately from the 'Postcode' field.
3. Postcode Area
The Postcode Area is the longest initial string of letters in a postcode. Examples:
for the full postcode 'BH2 5BD' the Area would be 'BH'
for the full postcode 'L69 3BX' the Area would be 'L'.
The Postcode Area is automatically generated from the student's postcode and stored separately from the 'Postcode' field.
One filtering example:
Find students who live in several neighbouring Postcode Areas with beaches, ie: DT, BH, SO, PO, and BN.
By filtering on the Postcode Area, like this:
Now you can find all the students who live on the central south coast and have a beach.