Dec 8th 2015 MR Issues

[MikeKeller]

Just installed the most recent update. While some of the screens are easier to read, we have lost some of the graphical representations and verbiage that accompanied the screen icons. Examples: Personal Profiles Background check information; Maintain Activity & Skill Descriptions (Members tab) no longer has color coding associated with the add/delete members. I'm sure there are other screens where the GUI no longer functions as it did prior to the update. Hopefully, there are more changes in the pipeline to correct the loss of screen information.

[mafmctr]

Just installed the new release. Now the quick menus that are set to open on startup all open in the center of the window...overlapping each other. Previously the menus would open in the last location they were placed. This is a problem since we typically have several quick menus open at startup and now have to manually move them each time you log in.

[NeilZ]

Quick question for both previous posters:

What version of Windows are you using??

[mafmctr]

Quick question for both previous posters:

What version of Windows are you using??

Windows 7

[MikeKeller]

Neil... This may be a duplicate reply to your question.

We are running mostly Win 7's with a few Win 10's. The icon issue occurs on both OS versions. It is not a show stopper but the loss of color coding the icons may impact less experienced users. The +/- signs imbedded in the mini icons are difficult to see and the user must hover over the icon to determine its purpose. The Background Check area on the Personal Profile is the most confusing due to the loss of color. While the stark black and white of the windows enhances readability, the harsh contrast may cause eye fatigue for users who use PowerChurch most of their work day.

Our Accounting Director has also raised a concern about using the Vanco "Settlement Date" as it relates to both credit card and bank draft contributions initiated in late December. i.e. Will a late December (29-31st) initiated contribution show as a 2015 contribution or will the Settlement Date push the contribution to 2016? She is evaluating the scenarios and if it appears to be a problem for us, we will report on it later.

If you have any insight/opinion on the Settlement Date impact on late year contributions, please let us know. Thanks,

Mike

[Zorak]

The position of the quick menus has been reported and will be fixed in the next Maintenance Release.

As for the settlement date vs processing date in Vanco, this has been an ongoing conversation since the original release of the redesigned Vanco import. We have verified that your contributor will see the processing date on their confirmation/receipt page on the Vanco site. The initial design was to use processing date, for exactly the reason that you stated, a December 31st contribution should be credited to December 31. However, on the Vanco site, the user will see the date of their contribution as January 1, 2, or 3, so we made the change to match what they will be receipted in the real world.

[MikeKeller]

A couple of follow up questions regarding the Settlement date: How does the Settlement date issue square up with the Tax codes regarding which tax year Charitable Contributions are to be credited? . Here’s the IRS website link: https://www.irs.gov/uac/Six-IRS-Tips-fo ... to-Charity. The Church & Clergy Tax Guide 2015 indicates the same thing. Are the process and settlement dates the same date for credit cards? Any suggestions regarding the contribution statement date issue would be appreciated. Mike

[Jeff]

There is no clear guidance from the IRS on what is the donation date where ACH transactions are concerned. After several discussions with Vanco and other customers, we have decided to use the settlement date as the date of the donation, which is the date Vanco has always used for the donation date and this date will also match the donors bank statement. One customer I talked to says they notify their members what it the last day they can make donations via ACH and have it applied to the current year.

This only effects ACH transactions, if a donor uses a credit card, the donation date will the date they initiated the transaction on the website.

[COL533]

I work with Mike Keller and have a follow up question. Does the customer your spoke to or Vanco have any suggestions as to what that date should be for 2015 ACH donations to be counted in 2015? We'll want to notify our members in an upcoming newsletter so a suggested date would be very helpful.

[Zorak]

The Vanco side of things has always functioned this way. Your contributors' receipt shows the contribution date as Vanco's settlement date.

We initially rolled out the new integration using the date the person made the contribution online (processing date), rather than settlement date, then immediately started to get negative feedback about this from users and found out from Vanco that settlement date had always been used previously.

So, long story short, we have unknowingly been using settlement date all along with the file import, then changed it for a couple of months with the new functionality, and have now rolled it back to work the way that it was previously.

[Turner610]

I have seen the overlapping Quick Menus on both Win 7 and Win 10 units ... one a desktop unit and one a laptop ... both different brands. Like the other poster, we normally have 6 or 7 Quick Menus set to open across the top of our screen just below the main menu area. This is really an annoyance and an inconvenience for us .... are there any plans to restore the previous behavior where the Quick Menus would reopen in the same location as they were located when the application is closed?

[Zorak]

Yes, there is a Maintenance Release in testing right now to fix this and a couple of other issues that have been reported.

[Jeff]

@COL533 ACH transactions are processed at 3pm Central Time on business days. This year the 31st is a Thursday, so the last date a contributor can initiate an ACH transaction and get credit for it this year is December 30th. Technically if they went online the 31st before 3pm central they should get credit in 2015, but that is probably to complicated to explain, so it is easier to say the 30 is the last day to give via ACH.

In 2017 December 31st will be on a Sunday, so you would want to tell people Thursday the 28th.