Pledge Screen not showing balance column

[JerPa]

Summary: Is there a way to get either or both of the pledge screens to include a column showing the balance owed?

Background:
We are running Version 11.1. But I just checked 11.55 demo and it still looks the same.

We use pledges for our annual dues. For several reasons, we have a fund for each different dues year. Fund 12 = 2012, 13 = 2013, etc. We also allow people to fall behind in their dues. (Good and bad)

When people come in to pay dues, our Financial secretaries are on the "Enter Contributions" screen. There is a button "View Pledges:" that brings up a list of all the pledges for this member. However it doesn't show the "balance owed" for each pledge.

In order to get that information, you have to
1. Click Edit Personal Profile
2. Click Contributions Tab
3. Click "View Pledges for this envelope" button
NOTE: This "Maintain Pledges" dialog box also does not have a column for "balance owed"
4. Click each pledge individually
5. Click "pledge detail"
See if there is a balance
6. Move to the next pledge and click "pledge detail"
7. Etc. for each dues year.

I cannot find a built in report to run that would require less clicks than the process above.
I have also created custom reports in the past. The problem doing that, is it also requires several clicks and locks out entering contributions until you close the Custom reports screen. This becomes tedious and time consuming when processing member data as they wait in line to pay dues.

My request:
First. Is there an existing way to add the "Remaining Balance" column to either or both of these build in screens? I couldn't find an option/switch but maybe it exists.

Second. If not, I would like to request this be added as an enhancement.

Third. If neither of the above are possible, any suggestions to allow our volunteers the ability to get at this data as easily and quickly as possible.

Thanks in advance.

[NeilZ]

In order to get that information, you have to
1. Click Edit Personal Profile
2. Click Contributions Tab
3. Click "View Pledges for this envelope" button
NOTE: This "Maintain Pledges" dialog box also does not have a column for "balance owed"
4. Click each pledge individually
5. Click "pledge detail"
See if there is a balance
6. Move to the next pledge and click "pledge detail"
7. Etc. for each dues year.

Um ... you can setup your Financial Secretaries with a Quick Menu for Contributions that will show up on their powerchurch desktop. With one click they can select Maintain Pledges, click on LOCATE, start typing the person's last name, select the contributor from the list, highlight the pledge for the pledge term in questions, click on the detail button.

1. Click button from Quick Menu: Maintain Pledges
2. Find Contributor by clicking on LOCATE and typing their last name
3. Select Contributor with mouse and double click
4. Highlight pledge period with mouse, click on Pledge Detail button


The original View Pledges button was setup for use by Contribution Counters who really have no need to know how much has already been given by a Contributor.

[JerPa]

Thanks for the reply and we do use the quick menu. However they still need to click on every pledge to see if an outstanding balance remains. Now we only have 3 years worth of data. (2012->2014) Five years from now, they will still have to start at 2012 and work their way down to 2019 clicking on each pledge to see if money is still owed for each year.

I already have a custom report that will list the same data that "view Pledges" does, except it also includes the "Remaining balance" column. But again they have to go elsewhere to get this information.

The "view pledges" button is already very handily placed on the "Enter Contributions" screen. However without a balance column it becomes somewhat useless info. Yes I can see the list of pledges for the member, but I can't quickly determine which ones have balances, so money can be applied to the correct fund(s). Parishioners (myself included) usually don't remember which pledge still has a balance.

[NeilZ]

The "view pledges" button is already very handily placed on the "Enter Contributions" screen. However without a balance column it becomes somewhat useless info. Yes I can see the list of pledges for the member, but I can't quickly determine which ones have balances, so money can be applied to the correct fund(s). Parishioners (myself included) usually don't remember which pledge still has a balance.

Again, that's primarily for data entry counters who need to see if there's a pledge for the year to assign a contribution to, but who do not need to know ANY OTHER information as how much was already given, and so on.

Trying to add functionality to that button that would require having to verify the correct data access.

I'm not sure many churches would use that change, and all changes are driven with the idea that the more people it can affect/assist, the more it will be added to the existing version.

What I would say is send this idea to wishlist@powerchurch.com with a full explanation on how it would work, what you would like to see, how it would assist you in your day-to-day activities. We could be easily surprised, it may turn up in a future MR, or it may be set aside for the next version as it would be easier to implement on the new program platform.

[JerPa]

NeilZ,

I will submit my request to wishlist. Thanks

Just to clarify, I am not asking for a lot of additional functionality. I am only wishing, 1 more column of data be shown. This data is already stored as field AMT_REM in the COPLED table, along with all the other fields being shown. So it would be a fairly simple change of adding the field AMT_REM to the SELECT statement and making sure the column fits on the existing screen(s).

Powerchurch is already showing the Pledge amount as a column in these screens, so if showing amounts is a privacy issue wouldn't knowing the amount pledged, be an issue? and why would also knowing the remaining balance add to any privacy issue?

I am still confused why "data entry counters", wouldn't need to know the remaining balance for a pledge to properly attribute it to the correct Pledge number. Probably most parishioners specify which pledge they want their donation to be applied to. But don't some give one payment and want it distributed into several existing pledges without specific instructions. Showing an "amount remaining" column, makes it easy to apply just the right amount to several pledges, so no pledge goes over the total amount pledged. Yes I realize some will give more than they pledged but they would be specifying which pledges to apply money to. and Yes I know I can click several times to get to the screen that will show me the information. But a single column of data that already exists in the database, seems very helpful.

Hopefully several churches agree with me and my wishlist request will be granted.

Thanks again and have a wonderful day

[NeilZ]

NeilZ,

Powerchurch is already showing the Pledge amount as a column in these screens, so if showing amounts is a privacy issue wouldn't knowing the amount pledged, be an issue? and why would also knowing the remaining balance add to any privacy issue?

I am still confused why "data entry counters", wouldn't need to know the remaining balance for a pledge to properly attribute it to the correct Pledge number. Probably most parishioners specify which pledge they want their donation to be applied to. But don't some give one payment and want it distributed into several existing pledges without specific instructions. Showing an "amount remaining" column, makes it easy to apply just the right amount to several pledges, so no pledge goes over the total amount pledged. Yes I realize some will give more than they pledged but they would be specifying which pledges to apply money to. and Yes I know I can click several times to get to the screen that will show me the information. But a single column of data that already exists in the database, seems very helpful.

Let me explain:
Most churches consider a yearly pledge to be a good faith attempt to support the ministries of the church. As such, life happens, and some may not be totally fulfilled in that one year. Many churches tell their congregation members that if circumstances change during the year, they can change the amount of their pledge at any time during the year. Some donors do, some don't.

The church then does their annual stewardship drive for the next year, and the contributor then pledges a new amount. All monies then received in the new year, is then credited to that year's pledge. The older pledges are not even considered.

The church has already closed the books on the previous year, so any pledges for that previous year are also closed for update. Any donations for the current year, are credited to the current year's income.

Now data entry counters really have no need (nor do they need to know) whether a previous year's donations were fulfilled or not. In some cases, the knowledge of a pledge not being fulfilled could cause the donor embarrassment of one type or another.

[JerPa]

Thank you very much for the explanation. That makes sense now.

Are we using the wrong field? Is there a different but similar field/concept that handles tracking required payments in PowerChurch?

[NeilZ]

Thank you very much for the explanation. That makes sense now.

Are we using the wrong field? Is there a different but similar field/concept that handles tracking required payments in PowerChurch?

Depends on what you mean by Required ? If you're requiring payment, almost like an invoice, you may want to consider the Accounts Receivable module.

Otherwise, there is nothing in Contributions that can do exactly that.