Tales From Tech 2 - Issue: 27

Tales From Tech 2 has been around now for four years and through the years I've had readers write on occasion to ask who I am.

For a long time, I liked keeping my identity secret, to add to the mystery, but since I am a real person, I've decided that it's time to reveal my true identity.

My name is...

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.

WE INTERRUPT THIS EDITION FOR A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE.

A BETA RELEASE OF POWERCHURCH PLUS VERSION 9 IS NOW AVAILABLE!

WE WILL BE REPLACING TODAY'S EDITION WITH IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THIS NEW DEVELOPMENT.

Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait and tell you who I am later. Since this is so important, I'm going to devote this entire issue to tell you about some of the new features that will be available in PowerChurch Plus Version 9 and how you can become a beta tester.

A WHOLE NEW WORLD, BABY

There are millions of new features in Version 9.

Well, maybe it's really just hundreds, but there are some wonderful new features and options available in Version 9 that will make it the "must have" program of the year, maybe even the century.

Here are some of the new features (in no particular order):

Multiple accounting years in Fund Accounting.

Easily handle donor restrictions.

Multiple equity accounts in Fund Accounting.

Import images at a higher resolution for better looking Pictorial Directory reports.

Export reports in PDF and HTML format.

Improved Word and Excel exports for built-in reports.

E-mail a report as a PDF file attachment.

New password options.

New "void a check" option in the Payroll module.

Suppress Social Security numbers on payroll checks.

Bulk e-mail utility now works with e-mail servers that require authentication.

Delete employees or vendors even if they have posted data.

E-mail contribution statements to contributors.

Mark e-mail addresses as unlisted or exclude them from bulk mailings.

New Activity Department, Type and Role fields added under Activities and Skills.

Send HTML e-mail.

Bulk e-mail utility now supports file attachments.

And that's not all. There are lots of other enhancements in Version 9, but you don't have to take my word for it, keep reading for information on becoming a beta tester so you can see for yourself.

ALPHA, BETA, GRAMMA

As you can see above, there are quite a number of new features and enhancements in Version 9 and we're just busting to release it, but it's still fairly young and we need your help to make sure that it's going to be perfect (or as close as possible) when it does get officially released. That's why we created a beta and why we are making it available to the public. That's where you come in.

If you would like to become a beta tester, you first have to sign up on our user forum (if you aren't already a member) at http://www.powerchurch.com/forum/ because all support for the beta will be done through the forum. After that, go to http://www.powerchurch.com/beta/ and fill out an application so we can send out our detectives to question you (just kidding).

In addition, you will probably want access to a fast Internet connection because the beta is currently around 46 MB, but if you think you're up for the most exciting adventure of your whole week, just surf on over to the address above and sign up.

By the way, the whole point of a beta release is so you can get a sneak peek at Version 9, help us find any problems and provide us with some feedback before we start shipping. If you get an error or have questions about or problems with a feature, we want to know. Just keep in mind that if you do have any questions, concerns, problems or feedback that you want to pass along, you have to use the forum. We can't take calls on the beta because we're all working hard to try and get it ready for release, so if you want to know what's new, you have to sign up to become a beta tester.

(And no, we don't have an official release date, we haven't worked out pricing and we're actually not sure what the price of tea is in China, so don't ask. As soon as we have more details, we'll let you know. Until then, if you'd like, you're more than welcome to help us work out the kinks.)