Tales From Tech 2 - Issue: 8

I'm sorry that it's taken so long for me to get Volume 8 out the door. You were probably all thinking that I had passed away but I'm glad to say that rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. (Well, at least for the most part.)

In today's edition, I want to talk about a couple of things that sometimes cause users some confusion about the Family Mailing List. Before I begin, I want to take just a moment to let you know what you can expect in the next few newsletters. What I'd like to do is a series of volumes that touch on some of the most common issues that users may encounter when they're setting up and using different sections of PowerChurch Plus. These next few issues will basically be tidbits of information that address some of the things that users sometimes miss. Now, I may not cover every single section of the program and I'm certainly not going to go into tremendous amounts of detail on everything. That's what the manual is for, but hopefully this upcoming series will give you some helpful hints and tips that you may not find in the manual.

When I started thinking about doing a series of volumes with a common theme, I began organizing my thoughts and pooling my resources so I'm hoping that I'll be able to put out the next few volumes with a little less time passing between volumes. Anyway, getting organized reminds me of that old saying: Don't count your chickens until you put them all in one basket.

SLICED, GRATED OR INTEGRATED DATA ENTRY

Well, let's jump straight to the meat and potatoes (or maybe it's the cheese) of this volume. Some of the most common issues we see in regards to the Family Mailing List concern the four options available at the bottom right hand corner of the Contact tab on the Integrated Data Entry screen. (You can also find these options on the Maintain Family Mailing List screen.)

The first option is "Include in mailouts" and what it is designed to do is prevent this family (or any individuals in this family) from receiving mail from the church. This option is an all or nothing kind of thing. If you uncheck this box, you will not be able to print a label for this family or anyone in it. In fact, unchecking this box will cause the church's address to print on Contribution Statements for individuals in this family. The reason it puts the church's address is just in case you drop it in the mail by mistake.

The second option is "Include in Membership reports" and it seems to cause more confusion than a banana in a barrel of monkeys. What this option is designed to do is prevent this family and individuals in this family from appearing on any of the reports that you run under the Membership modules. Checking this box does not mean that this is a member family nor does unchecking the box mean that they're not. Checking it simply means that you want to see them listed on the reports you run in the Membership modules. If you want to designate membership status on the family level, you might want to consider setting up a mailing category or special code for that.

The next option is "Publish address in Church Directory." If you uncheck this box, this family's address will not show on the Church Directory. This doesn't mean that the family will not show on the Directory, it just determines whether or not their address does. Now, whether or not the family itself shows on the report is determined by the "Include in Membership reports" option and the personal status codes you select when you run the report. (Not to make things too confusing, but unlike other reports in the Membership Module, the Church Directory Report also looks at the "Include in mailouts" option and when you run the report, you have the choice of including those families or not.)

The fourth option is "Publish phone number" and its function is simple. You can uncheck this box if you don't want this family's home phone number to appear on reports. (Now to confuse things a little, some reports will actually give you the option of printing them anyway, but let's not think about that right now. I'm already starting to get a headache.)

DOES THE LABEL IN THE BACK OF YOUR SHIRT SCRATCH YOUR NECK?

Another issue I wanted to talk about today involves the field called "Mailing name" which is on each and every family record. The mailing name is the text that will be used on labels when you print mailing labels from within the Family Mailing List module.

If you've ever added a new family, you may have seen that the mailing name is generated for you based on what you've entered as the family's Household Key. How it is formatted depends not only on what you enter as the first and last names, but also the options you've chosen under the Mailing List Setup screen. (That screen is located under the File menu, in Preferences, by the way.) If you go to that screen, you'll see that you can change or delete the default family title that is automatically inserted at the beginning of the system generated mailing name field. Also look at the option that reads "Include '& Family' in mailing name." If you check that option, the program will put the words "and Family" at the end of each mailing name whenever you add new families.

POWERCHURCH CLEARING HOUSE

Well, I guess that's about it for today's edition of Tales From Tech 2. In closing, I did want to mention that even though I have ideas for the next couple of Tales From Tech 2, I still welcome suggestions. So, if you're interested in passing along a suggestion, don't forget about our "Give Tech 2 a Suggestion for an Upcoming Newsletter and if Your Suggestion is Used You'll Win a Fabulous, Limited Edition, PowerChurch Plus Mug" contest. If your suggestion is used, you will get a mug. (Well, I guess you probably already figured that out from the name of the contest.) You can read more about the contest in Tales From Tech 2, Volume 4.5 (and you won't even have to buy a magazine subscription).