bad data on monthly contribution statement

[SJDoner]

I'm having a problem with contribution statements. Several of our members are on the "late payers" report but they are actually current in their contributions. The bad data is shown on their individual contribution statements as well. An example might help explain it better. A member who pledged $100/week has contributed that amount, but his contribution statement says he is behind by several hundred dollars on his pledge, and he is included on the "late payers" report. I double-checked his payments in the "view posted contributions" screen, and all of his contributions are listed as counting toward his pledge.

Has anyone run into this problem before, and found the solution?

many thanks

[NeilZ]

I'm having a problem with contribution statements. Several of our members are on the "late payers" report but they are actually current in their contributions. The bad data is shown on their individual contribution statements as well. An example might help explain it better. A member who pledged $100/week has contributed that amount, but his contribution statement says he is behind by several hundred dollars on his pledge, and he is included on the "late payers" report. I double-checked his payments in the "view posted contributions" screen, and all of his contributions are listed as counting toward his pledge.

Has anyone run into this problem before, and found the solution?

many thanks

Did the person in question pay some of the 2015 pledge in 2014 ??

[SJDoner]

no, these contributions are all from this year.

The person I'm thinking of in this example sometimes skips weeks and makes up for them in subsequent weeks, but we have other members in the same boat who attend without fail.

[NeilZ]

no, these contributions are all from this year.

The person I'm thinking of in this example sometimes skips weeks and makes up for them in subsequent weeks, but we have other members in the same boat who attend without fail.

OK .. what the system does is check to see how much was contributed up to the date s of the statement, it then subtracts that from the amount that should have been contributed by that point.

Its doesn't really care if dates were missed, just the totals.

If the person pledged $50 per week, then by the end of March that should be 13 weeks at $50 = $650.00. If the person gave $600.00, they would be $50 under.

Remember, there are two sets of dates on the "late payers" reports. If you have the Dates set as Year to Date, (01/01/2015 to 04/08/2015) and the Calculation Date set for the same end date (04/08/2015), the amount shown on the late payer report will be different than that on any Statement covering dates 01/01/2015 thru 03/29/2015. You need to have the Calculation Date set for the same date the Statement ends.

If there is still an issue after checking the dates, then there is something going on.

[SJDoner]

The may be a bug in the system, as I set the two dates the same.

I ran the contribution statement for the person in question, and the Fund Summary section shows the correct amount. The Pledge Summary section of the same statement shows the wrong data. I went back to the View Posted Contributions screen, and all of his contributions for this year show "Pledge" in that field. Using a calculator on those contributions yields the correct amount.

Could there be a bug/flaw in the "Pledge Summary" section of the contribution report?

Much appreciate your help.

[Zorak]

There is a utility in the program under Contributions > Pledges called "Search for contributions not applied to a pledge". That will search through all of your posted contributions, comparing to the pledges, to see if there is anything that should be applied to the pledge.

[SJDoner]

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it but it didn't fix the error.

The really puzzling part of this is that the Contribution Statement shows all of his contributions and gets the right answer in the "Fund Summary" section, but not in the "Pledge Summary" section. The Pledge Summary is off by about 25%.

I thought for a moment that I might have another clue for the bug-fixers ... most of the half-dozen members affected by this error have pledged to give weekly through the offering plates, as opposed to monthly or electronically. But one of them gives *monthly* through the offering plates. Maybe that's a clue ... they are all done via cash and check, not electronically.

[Zorak]

Take a look at the Maintain Pledges screen under Contributions > Pledges. Use the Locate button to bring up one of the contributors in question. Select this year's pledge and click the Change button. Verify that there is nothing in the Pledge Start Balance field.

As always when seeing weird behavior in the program, try reindexing the data files to see if that straightens it out. Go to Utilities > Reindex. Choose to reindex all files.

[SJDoner]

Thanks for the advice.

As you suggested I checked three of the members with bad data. None had pledge start balances.

I also reindexed all files and then checked contribution statements for two of those same members again.

Alas, neither suggestion worked. The problem still persists, even after I logged off and back on. I also rechecked the Late Payers Report, and all six are still shown with bad data.

Would appreciate other thoughts.

[NeilZ]

Thanks for the advice.

As you suggested I checked three of the members with bad data. None had pledge start balances.

I also reindexed all files and then checked contribution statements for two of those same members again.

Alas, neither suggestion worked. The problem still persists, even after I logged off and back on. I also rechecked the Late Payers Report, and all six are still shown with bad data.

Would appreciate other thoughts.

OK ... here's what I want you to do:

1. Run statements based on the dates 01/01/2015 thru 03/31/2015 on the three members with 'bad' data. Make sure the dates, and the detail dates are the same. Make sure the Pledge statement is printed out.

2. Run a late payer's report based on the same dates, with a calculation date as of 03/31/2015.


Compare the PLEDGE total to date from the Statements with the Late Payer's report amount.

List the difference here: IE:

Person 1: 30 a month - off by 20
Person 2: 30 a week - off by 30

and so on.

Frankly, it has to be something on your side, as I've not seen this issue from anyone else on the forums.

[SJDoner]

I think the problem is, in all three examples below, the Contribution Statement contradicts itself between the Fund Summary and the Pledge Summary. The Fund Summary section is correct, and the pledge summary section is off, and the Late Payers Report is also off by that same amount.

I ran the statements (using full fund details) and late payers report for persons with last initials B, M and R, 01/01/2015 thru 03/31/2015.

On the late payers report,
B's pledge is shown as $2860 = (220/wk x 13 weeks)
B's contribution is shown as $2140
B is shown as short by $720

On B's statement, in the Fund Summary section
B's contribution is $3080 (my desk calculator and the contribution statement both agree this is his accurate contribution amount)

On B's statement, in the Pledge Summary section,
B's Pledge is $2860
B's "Actual" contribution is shown as $2140.
------------------------
Back to the late payers report.
M's pledge is shown as 3575.
M's contribution is shown as 2750.
M is shown as short by 825.

On M's statement, in the Fund Summary section,
M's contribution is 3575. (again, my calculator and the statement agree this is the accurate figure)

On M's statement, in the Pledge Summary section,
M's pledge is shown as 3575
M's actual is shown as 2750.
------------------------------

On the late payer's report
R is shown to pledge 650
R is shown to have contributed 550
R is shown as short by 100

On R's contribution statement, in the Fund Summary section
R has contributed 650 (again, calculator and statement agree this is accurate)

In the Pledge summary section
R's pledge is shown as 650
R's "actual" contribution is shown as 550.

[NeilZ]

From what I see, the Pledges area of the report, and the late payers report are exactly the same.

Why do you believe the data is wrong? Are there funds that are not 'pledge' funds that you are including in the totals ?? Are you sure that there are no contributions that should have been entered against a pledge ?

Does the pledge start on 01/01/2015 or another date ?

[SJDoner]

I'm 100% sure the contribution data is wrong for a couple of reasons. I maintain separate spreadsheets of our contributions, and I have confirmed that the three members have contributed 3080, 3575 and 650, respectively, into our general fund. All three have contributed to other funds during this timeframe, but I'm keeping those amounts separate in these examples. "R" pledges to our general fund and another fund each week, and the contributions for the other fund are indeed tracking correctly on the contribution statement. More importantly, in all three examples the "full fund detail" contribution statement itself shows the contributions near the top in detail as to amounts, funds, and dates. Those figures bear out the disconnect between the Fund Summary section, which is accurate, and the Pledge Summary section, which is not. When reviewed from the "View Posted Contributions" screen, all these contributions are shown matched toward a pledge. It may be that they were entered without being matched to a pledge initially, but why would they continue to be excluded from the calculation now?

Just for kicks, I ran their contribution statements through the beginning of March, and both the Fund Summary and Pledge summary sections were correct. So something happened in March that threw off the calculations.

[NeilZ]

I'm 100% sure the contribution data is wrong for a couple of reasons. I maintain separate spreadsheets of our contributions, and I have confirmed that the three members have contributed 3080, 3575 and 650, respectively, into our general fund. All three have contributed to other funds during this timeframe, but I'm keeping those amounts separate in these examples. "R" pledges to our general fund and another fund each week, and the contributions for the other fund are indeed tracking correctly on the contribution statement. More importantly, in all three examples the "full fund detail" contribution statement itself shows the contributions near the top in detail as to amounts, funds, and dates. Those figures bear out the disconnect between the Fund Summary section, which is accurate, and the Pledge Summary section, which is not. When reviewed from the "View Posted Contributions" screen, all these contributions are shown matched toward a pledge. It may be that they were entered without being matched to a pledge initially, but why would they continue to be excluded from the calculation now?

Just for kicks, I ran their contribution statements through the beginning of March, and both the Fund Summary and Pledge summary sections were correct. So something happened in March that threw off the calculations.

If the contributions were not applied to a pledge when entered, the system will not automatically add them. You have to run the Contributions -> Pledges -> Search for Contributions not applied to a Pledge process. You said you did, so try the next step.

You really need to figure out which contributions were not applied to those pledges. Pull up each persons record under View Posted Contributions. Each contribution to a pledged fund that was applied to a pledge for that year, will show the world Pledge in the Pledge column of the displayed set of records. If you don't see that, then there's the problem.

[SJDoner]

OK, we got it. I needed to go into "View Posted Contributions" to "Change Pledge" and select the "Do not apply this contribution to a pledge" option for all the pledges this year. With those contributions freed up from the pledge, then I could go back into "Maintain Pledges" to "Search for Contributions" and then reselect/reapply them all to the pledge. Now the figures match on the Contribution Statement.

Originally, when I saw contributions that had not been applied to a pledge during data entry (still not sure how/why), I had gone into "View Posted Contributions" to "Change Pledge" and deselected the "Do Not Apply this contribution to a pledge" option. I don't know why that doesn't accomplish the same goal, but I'll try to remember from now on to use the "Search for Contributions" utility instead.

Thanks for your patience and insight.