Tales From Tech 2 - Issue: 34

Today, I wanted to write a less focused issue (some might say that all of my work lacks focus, but let's not get all nitpicky) that covers several different topics. First, I want to mention some of the new documents and resources that are available and then I want to briefly revisit a couple of topics from previous issues of Tales From Tech 2. After all this, there's some very important information that I want to pass along.

Anyway, thinking about why I put beans up my nose when I was a kid (and why they never grew) reminded me of that old saying: Don't burn your bridges over spilt milk or cry over an ant hill (since you might drown the ants).

NEW DOCUMENTS AND RESOURCES AVAILABLE

Just in case you've had your head buried in the pimento cheese for the last few months, Version 9 has added lots of enhancements and new features to PowerChurch Plus.

Some of these new features have been touched on in prior issues of Tales From Tech 2, but we have also put together some wonderful new documents that you might want to take a look at. Some of these new documents have been incorporated in our Knowledge Base which you can find by clicking Search on the left side of any page on our web site. You can look for articles based on the PowerChurch Plus version, module (such as Fund Accounting) or articles relating to a specific Operating System. You can also search by keyword or click the Show Everything button to see a listing of all the available articles. Go take a look when you get a chance. You'll be amazed at all the excruciating marvelousness that our online documents have to offer.

WORKING MONTH

In Volume 32 of Tales From Tech 2, I mentioned something called the working month and I've been told that there may still be some confusion on this topic, so I've decided to revisit it for a moment to give you all a little more detail on how it works. If you already understand how it works, you may skip this section.

Basically, in Version 9, you can have up to 12 months open in Fund Accounting, so you do not have to close a month until you are absolutely, positively finished with it. In fact, you do not want to close a month until you are sure you're done with it because once a month is closed, it's closed and you can't post to it.

(By the way, the number of open Fund Accounting months is set under the File menu. Just go to Preferences, choose Accounting Setup and click on the Fund Accounting tab. The default is 6, but you can change it to anything between 1 and 12.)

Just because you haven't closed a month doesn't mean that you aren't ready to start working in the following month, so the program allows you to specify a working month. You can change the working month by simply clicking on Working Month under the Accounting menu. Just keep in mind that you can only change the working month to an open month. This means that in order to move beyond the last working month listed, you will either have to start closing months or increase the number of open months allowed.

The working month is the open month that you want to come up by default when you are entering transactions, running reports and posting. To state it in even simpler terms, the working month is the month you are working in (which should give you a clue as to why they did not choose to call it the "Happy, Shiny Month" which is what I voted for).

Here's an example. Let's say that you want to go ahead and start entering transactions and running reports for September, but you aren't quite ready to close August. To keep from having to change the month every time you enter a transaction or run a report, just change your working month to September. Doing this doesn't close August, it just makes September the default month so you don't have to keep changing it.

Just keep in mind that changing the working month DOES NOT close a month or affect the months you can post to or anything else. It's just a convenience feature.

AND SINCE WE'RE REVISITING THE PAST

In Tales From Tech 2, Volume 31 (That wasn't groans of anguish I just heard, was it?), we talked about donor restrictions, but don't panic or try to gouge your eyes out (or fly to Asheville to claw mine out). I promise I won't ramble on for three volumes like I did before. This shouldn't take more than two volumes at the most.

In Volume 31, we talked a lot about the theory behind donor restrictions, but I didn't spend a lot of time discussing how you set things up in the program. The reason I didn't is simply that the mechanics (and I'm not talking about Mr. Goodwrench or Mrs. Badhammer) are covered in the manual and even though copying and pasting big chunks of the manual would certainly increase my output substantially, it would feel a little like cheating (but maybe just a little).

With that said, I did want to mention some page numbers in case you need some details on actually setting up your donor restrictions in the software. The section on donor restrictions begins on page 224 of the Version 9 manual.

With Volume 31 and the information in the manual, I'm sure that you are probably sick of hearing about donor restrictions, but if you're a glutton for punishment like me (and you know you are or you would have stopped reading this by now), there is one more document I wanted to mention. It's called Accounting for Contributions and it is included on the Version 9 installation CD. To access it, just insert the Version 9 installation CD, click on Support and Other Resources on the first screen and then choose Accounting for Contributions on the next screen.

By the way, in addition to the Accounting for Contributions document, there are several other wonderful resources and features available on the Version 9 installation CD. There are several visual tutorials (called Viewlets) that guide you through the process of performing certain tasks and there is also information on other resources and products that are available from PowerChurch Software. There is also a trial version of a beautiful screen saver that you can install and enjoy.

You can access the Viewlets by choosing Support and Other Resources on the opening screen (displayed when you first insert the Version 9 installation CD in your CD drive) and then clicking Tutorials (Viewlets) on the next screen. You can install the trial screen saver by choosing Alan Hall Photography Screen Saver Trial on the opening screen and then clicking Install Screen Saver Trial on the following screen. (By the way, if you don't have Version 9 but you want to check out the screen saver, you can order the full version or download the free trial version by going to http://www.alanhallphotography.com/ and then clicking on screen saver.)

POWERCHURCH SOFTWARE IS CLOSING ITS DOORS!

Okay, now that I have your attention (and possibly given a few of you heart attacks), PowerChurch Software is moving! We will soon be closing the doors at our present location and then opening the doors at a new location.

In order to make this move, we are planning to close our office on Thursday and Friday, September 29 and 30 and then reopen on Monday, October 3 at our new location. Phone and e-mail support will be unavailable on September 29 and 30, so if you need help while we're closed, the first thing you might do is visit the Knowledge Base of our web site (which again, you can browse by clicking Search on the left side of any page on our web site) or post your question to our user forum (which you can access directly by going to http://www.powerchurch.com/forum).

On October 3, 2005, we will be open for business as usual and our address will be:
PowerChurch Software
601 Alliance Court
Asheville, NC 28806

Please note that all our phone numbers and e-mail addresses will stay the same.

OOPS!

We recently mailed out the September 2005 Edition of the PowerChurch Software Newsletter and on about half of them our fax number and the dates in the "We're Moving!" section are wrong. The correct dates and fax number are noted in the address area of the mailing and everything was corrected in the second printing.

Well, that's it for today's issue.