Contribution type sorts oddly

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DickH
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2019 8:03 pm

Contribution type sorts oddly

Post by DickH »

I have found odd behaviour when trying to write a custom report that shows contribution amounts by date (normally just one Sunday), contribution type and fund. The order in which the contributiontypes are reported is: Cash, Debit Card, Cheque and online. In my contribution setup they are in the normal order (see Demo-12) of Cash, Cheque, Debit card and online. So why is the card pushed ahead of cheques (aka checks) in the report? I managed to set up a similar situation on Demo-12 and it does the same thing! This is annoying because I actually need to add the amounts for Cash and Cheques and check that this equals the bank deposit.

I am not new user - I am currently using a rather complex work-around which would take too much space to describe. I had been hoping that PC+ 12.2 would simplify my job by providing something like this as a standard report, but it appears not.

P.S. Demo-12 seems to have a bug in that it complains that no sort order has been defined for my custom report, yet it does not give me an opportunity to specify one! I suspect that sort order is not an option for a detail/summary report in either version. Is this correct?

NeilZ
Posts: 10195
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 1:20 am
Location: Dexter NM
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Re: Contribution type sorts oddly

Post by NeilZ »

DickH wrote:I have found odd behaviour when trying to write a custom report that shows contribution amounts by date (normally just one Sunday), contribution type and fund. The order in which the contributiontypes are reported is: Cash, Debit Card, Cheque and online. In my contribution setup they are in the normal order (see Demo-12) of Cash, Cheque, Debit card and online. So why is the card pushed ahead of cheques (aka checks) in the report? I managed to set up a similar situation on Demo-12 and it does the same thing! This is annoying because I actually need to add the amounts for Cash and Cheques and check that this equals the bank deposit.

I am not new user - I am currently using a rather complex work-around which would take too much space to describe. I had been hoping that PC+ 12.2 would simplify my job by providing something like this as a standard report, but it appears not.

P.S. Demo-12 seems to have a bug in that it complains that no sort order has been defined for my custom report, yet it does not give me an opportunity to specify one! I suspect that sort order is not an option for a detail/summary report in either version. Is this correct?
What exactly are you trying to report on? Could you explain why you need a custom report to do it?
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

DickH
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2019 8:03 pm

Re: Contribution type sorts oddly

Post by DickH »

NeilZ wrote: What exactly are you trying to report on? Could you explain why you need a custom report to do it?
OK Neil - you asked for it!

Our book-keeper likes a weekly report that gives a breakdown by fund number for each bank deposit. The sub-totals in the report should equal the amounts shown by the bank. Ideally I would like to combine cash & cheques, since these appear as a single bank deposit, and in my work-around I actually achieve this by using a different 'user' for each bank deposit type. I run the standard 'Funds report by date' at the end of the month and this gives the sub-totals for the funds, but no breakdown by deposit type. So my custom report has date as group1 (usually only one date), username or deposit type as group 2 and fund as group 3. I don't think there is any way to do this without going custom, even if I settle for PC's deposit type instead of username.

A feature that would simplify my job would be a way to switch users without exiting and re-starting the program, but I realise that this would not be simple because of the password/permissions system, so I would settle for a standard report that listed cash and cheques separately, but I don't like the sorting order that separates cash & cheques.

NeilZ
Posts: 10195
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 1:20 am
Location: Dexter NM
Contact:

Re: Contribution type sorts oddly

Post by NeilZ »

DickH wrote:
NeilZ wrote: What exactly are you trying to report on? Could you explain why you need a custom report to do it?
OK Neil - you asked for it!

Our book-keeper likes a weekly report that gives a breakdown by fund number for each bank deposit. The sub-totals in the report should equal the amounts shown by the bank. Ideally I would like to combine cash & cheques, since these appear as a single bank deposit, and in my work-around I actually achieve this by using a different 'user' for each bank deposit type. I run the standard 'Funds report by date' at the end of the month and this gives the sub-totals for the funds, but no breakdown by deposit type. So my custom report has date as group1 (usually only one date), username or deposit type as group 2 and fund as group 3. I don't think there is any way to do this without going custom, even if I settle for PC's deposit type instead of username.
Why do you need a breakdown between cash and checks? If you enter all the contributions at once, the Funds Report should give you a breakdown by fund number per deposit? Just run it before you post Contributions.
A feature that would simplify my job would be a way to switch users without exiting and re-starting the program, but I realise that this would not be simple because of the password/permissions system, so I would settle for a standard report that listed cash and cheques separately, but I don't like the sorting order that separates cash & cheques.
Neil Zampella

Using PC+ since 1999.

DickH
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2019 8:03 pm

Re: Contribution type sorts oddly

Post by DickH »

See below:
DickH wrote:
The debit card and on-line contributions show up as separate deposits at the bank and our book-keeper wants a funds break-down for each bank deposit. With my current routine I do enter all the cash and cheque donations at once, but I then have to shut down the program and start up again as an alternative user to enter the debit card donations.
Why do that? Just change the Contribution Date. I suspect those online contributions are deposited daily, so use the Saturday date as the date of entry. No need to 'restart' or 'switch users' at all.
If there are on-line donations (through PayPal) I have to repeat the user switch. I could achieve my goal by entering cash & cheques, running the regular funds report, and then posting those data. Then enter the debit card data and repeat the process. /quote]

Same with PayPal ... just use the date that the funds are actually sent to the bank from PayPal. I do this with lunch payments for our presbytery meetings. The contribution is entered on the date I have the funds moved from PayPal.
That would create two or three separate funds reports that I would want to combine - probably by saving them as .doc files and using the word processor. Do-able, but as messy as my current routine.
If you use the separate dates, you can do a funds report for each deposit. I usually print them to a PDF using Software995.com's free PDF software. They have a program that will combine the three PDFs into one file.

This is something to think about for the future: having the bookkeeper use the Accounting Functions of Powerchurch rather than another program would solve all these issues as each Contribution deposit would be a separate transaction, with all the proper income accounts already properly credited, and the bank account properly debited.

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