Tales From Tech 2 - Issue: 10

In today's special limited edition Holiday edition, I'm going to try and spread a little Christmas cheer by first wishing you all a Happy Holiday and then by giving you all a little present.

And, thinking of gifts reminded me of the old saying: A gift horse is worth a pound of cure, but if you keep all your eggs in one basket, they'll never catch the worm.

CHRISTMAS PAST

I've probably noted this before, but it's important enough that I'm going to say it one more time before the end of the year.

In the past, we discovered one or two very minor issues (Program Development told me to call them issues instead of "bugs" this time) in the program. To make sure that you didn't get lost in the past somewhere, I want you to go right now (yes, Christmas shopping can wait, this is important) and check your PowerChurch Plus program date.

To do this, simply go to the Help menu and click on About PowerChurch Plus. In Version 6.2, the program date is listed toward the bottom left corner. It should be 6/23/1999. In Version 7, the program date is listed under the System Information tab. It should be 8/1/1999 or later. If your program date is BEFORE these dates, drop us an e-mail at support@powerchurch.com. Be sure to include your church's name and Registration Number.

Now this is the last time I'm going to "bug" you about this, so don't delay, check your program date today!

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Okay, now for the goodies. Well, really it's just one goody, but I think you'll like it. The Technical Support Department worked diligently on preparing the most wonderful document for you. It is about closing the accounting year (and now seems like a reasonable time to mention it since many of you are on a calendar year and it is December). The document covers many of the most common questions we hear about when closing the year.

You can find this wonderful trinket in our Knowledge Base: "Closing the Accounting Year".

CHRISTMAS FUTURE

Before we proceed with this final section, I must tell you that the following tidbit is classified. So, before you continue, take a quick look over your shoulder and make sure that no one else is reading this.

The other day, after we let the Program Development Team out for their 15 minutes of "Happy Outside Time," I crept back to the small, dark room we keep them in (just to be nosy, you know). Now keep in mind that the room was only illuminated by the light of the computer screens that line the walls (there aren't any windows in their room because we can't take the risk of anyone escaping) and so the notes on their desks weren't easy to make out. Plus, the notes were written in a light colored crayon (light colors seem to have a calming effect on them) because the Program Development Team isn't allowed near sharp objects like pens and pencils. Anyway, if my eyes weren't deceiving me, I'm almost sure that I saw the words "entering next year's budget" on one sheet of paper and "entering next year's pledges" on another. Now I could be wrong, but it certainly looks like maybe the next upgrade to the program will actually allow you to enter next year's pledges and the budget before you close out your current year. (Well, it's either that or something entirely different.)

I don't know for sure that these neatly scribed words were indeed about the next upgrade to the program, but it seems more likely to be about PowerChurch Plus than codes for some new Star Trek game.

Now let me add a little disclaimer here. Since all of this was written in crayon rather than ink, things could change. I also have no way of knowing when or if all of this will come to pass. So, don't call and ask me when the next upgrade will be released because I really don't know (and there aren't any phones in the Program Development Office - or "the Cave" as we Technicians like to call it). I would just go back there and ask someone, but we aren't allowed to have unsupervised contact with the Program Development Team. Well, at least not since that little problem we had last Christmas.

Anyway, I will try to sneak back there again before the next newsletter to try and find out more for you.