PowerChurch Software Newsletter - Spring 2015

Welcome to the Spring 2015 issue of the PowerChurch Software newsletter. In this issue, we discuss setting up and tracking credit cards in PowerChurch Plus, some helpful shortcuts for PowerChurch Online users, and detail some recent updates to the PowerChurch Check In system.

Tracking Credit Cards in PowerChurch Plus

We are frequently asked how to track credit cards in PowerChurch Plus. The process varies depending on your situation.

If you pay off the card each month:

In this scenario, it will be very easy to set up and maintain. In Accounts Payable, when you create an invoice to pay the credit card bill each month, the transaction will look like the following:

It credits the checking account for the full amount of the payment and debits various expense accounts, representing purchases, interest, and fees.

If you carry a balance on the card from month to month:

This will be more involved than the previous scenario, but is still completely achievable. First, you will need a liability account to represent the credit card account on the Balance Sheet. Next, you have the option of either recording purchases in PowerChurch as you receive the receipts, or if you prefer, you can wait until you receive the credit card statement to enter transactions in Fund Accounting or Accounts Payable. Below is an example of entering a single transaction to record the activity on a monthly credit card statement:

Notice that instead of crediting the checking account like a debit card purchase would do, this transaction credits the credit card liability. Crediting the liability account adds money to the balance of that account. As you record the transactions for the purchases that occurred this month, the balance owed on the account increases. Otherwise, it is a normal transaction, debiting an expense account that represents the item or items that were purchased.

When you receive the monthly credit card statement, it will detail payments that have been received, as well as new purchases, and interest/fees charged to the account. You will need to enter another transaction that looks similar to the purchase example above, that adds the interest and fees from this statement to the liability balance.

When it is time to write the check from Accounts Payable for your monthly credit card payment, it will look like the following:

This transaction credits the checking account and debits the credit card liability. Doing so lowers the balance of the credit card liability. Note that this transaction pays off the full balance on the card. You could just as easily make a partial payment of only $50, for example, which would leave a balance on the liability account to carry forward to the next month.

After posting that transaction, the balance that shows on the Balance Sheet will reflect the actual balance owed on that credit card at month-end.

Reconciling Credit Card Accounts

If you enter individual transactions into PowerChurch for each credit card receipt, rather than a single monthly lump sum transaction, you can now use the Reconcile Bank Accounts screen to reconcile the credit card account, just like you normally do with your bank accounts. This change came in a recent Maintenance Release update for PowerChurch Plus Version 11.5. The process is unchanged when reconciling a checking or savings account. If you choose to reconcile a liability, such as a credit card account, then the process changes slightly, allowing you to reconcile the purchases and payments from the credit card statement.

Shortcuts for PowerChurch Online Users

PowerChurch Online users can edit the shortcut on the Desktop to customize some of the features in the program. There is an article in the Knowledge Base on our web site that explains the options that are available to you. This article has been recently updated with additional features, including being able to control the visual quality in the IDS Client.

PowerChurch Online - Shortcuts for easy access and performance

New features for PowerChurch Check In

In recent Maintenance Releases for the Check In system and PowerChurch Plus, we have made important updates, implementing some new features that users had suggested. PowerChurch Online users receive Maintenance Release updates automatically. Users of Check In for PowerChurch Plus should visit www.powerchurch.com/mr to download and install the latest Maintenance Release for Check In. Only the Check In Server computer should need to be updated. Kiosks will update automatically from the server next time they connect.

• Phone lookup. You can now scan a bar code, search for a name, or search for a phone number from the Kiosk.
• Phone Numbers List added to Class Roster in Kiosk. Need to send Mom or Dad a text message from the Nursery? Easily look up all related phone numbers from the Class Roster screen at the kiosk.
• Print separate parent labels for each child that is checked in. PowerChurch Plus Version 11.5 only! When checking in multiple children, you can optionally print separate parent tags, allowing you to check the children out independently at different kiosks.
• Added Conditions & Medications to name badge labels. PowerChurch Plus Version 11.5 only! The option to "Print allergies on badge" in PowerChurch has been changed to "Print medical information on badge" and will print the full list of allergies, medications, and conditions.
• Add Program Date to Server & Kiosk. When troubleshooting problems with Check In, this makes it easy to see if you have the latest Maintenance Release installed at all locations.
• Enable/Disable IPv6 from the Server. Easily eliminate problems in certain network setups by enabling or disabling IPV6.
• Warning text on Server if changes require service to be restarted. A message will appear on the screen after making certain changes on the server side which require that the service is stopped and restarted before the changes take effect.

Additional fields added to Background Checks

While this isn't directly an update to the Check In system, the child security aspect at least makes it related! For those who are using Protect My Ministry to perform background checks in PowerChurch Plus and PowerChurch Online, you will now see that the street address and e-mail of the person is now filled in for you as well. This streamlines the process even more and leaves just a couple of fields for you to enter on the request form. For more information about Protect My Ministry, visit www.powerchurch.com/protectmyministry.

As always, we invite you to keep those suggestions coming to wishlist@powerchurch.com!

Forum Q&A

The Support Forum on our web site is a very active online community of our users and Tech Support staff members. There you can browse through thousands of questions and answers, or post your own.

From General:
Q. Is there any way to get a copy of the manual to place on my computer to access outside of PowerChurch? When I open the help file, it allows me to find topics but then it won't actually display the help screen.
A. The help file is called pcplus115.chm and should be accessible from outside the program. Windows has network security settings that prevent those CHM files from being displayed from across a network connection. It sounds like your PowerChurch network install may not have been set up correctly. Refer to Mapping a network drive for more information.

From Membership:
Q. I've been trying to run a report of selected activity and skills for the last several days after we input our new data for 2015, and it keeps giving me a line error and kicking me out of PC.
A. Error messages in PowerChurch show the Program, Line Number, Error Number, and Message. We would need to know that information to be able to help. Here is a link to an article that explains the first level troubleshooting steps for all the different possible error codes: Comprehensive error message reference list

From Accounting:
Q. When printing the Income and Expense Statement, the report always splits part of the "Income" onto page 2, even when 3/4 of the 1st page has not been used. In fact, on all reports it always seems to split to page 2 in the same spot (i.e. not the same location on the page, but right after a Subtotal of two accounts).
A. Take a look on the Maintain Chart of Accounts screen to see if that account has the "Page break after account" option checked.