PowerChurch Software Newsletter - Spring 2016

Welcome to the Spring 2016 issue of the PowerChurch Software Newsletter. In this issue, we cover some important updates that have been made in the software and on our web site. Also, how to overhaul your accounting setup and the importance of keeping your software up to date.

Vanco Payments Integration - Multiple Account Update

In a recent update to PowerChurch Plus Version 11.55, we added the ability to connect PowerChurch to multiple Vanco Payment Solutions accounts. When using multiple services from Vanco, it is possible to have multiple account credentials that need to be entered into PowerChurch. The article linked below has been updated with the new account credentials controls in the Vanco setup screen.



If you missed previous announcements about this new functionality in the program or are still working on an older version of the software, please review the document below for more information.

www.powerchurch.com/support/444/1/vanco-payment-solutions-integration

Updated Video Player and Closed Captioning

The online training videos on our web site, as well as the PowerChurch Plus demo presentation video, now benefit from an updated video player. This player is the new standard and has better cross-browser and device support, is lightweight for better performance, and supports closed captioning.

We have been on a campaign to get over nineteen hours of videos transcribed and captions loaded into the videos. Not all have been updated as of the time this newsletter was published, but the project is expected to be complete in the following week or two.

www.powerchurch.com/training/videos

Soon after that, all of the videos on the PowerChurch Software YouTube Channel will be updated to correct problems in their automatically generated captions.

Restart Accounting Options

This article has been moved to Restart Accounting Options

PowerChurch Plus Upgrades

Only 37% of our nearly 38,000 users are working in PowerChurch Online or PowerChurch Plus Version 11.55. While it is great to know that older versions of the software still provide all the functionality that a user might need, it is important to note that many updates that we have made over the years have been for Windows compatibility and stability. As new versions of Windows are released, we find new behaviors in file access and interaction with antivirus and other active scanning programs that can cause problems for PowerChurch.

When this happens, we issue Maintenance Release updates. These are free updates to your existing version of the software that fix bugs, install these compatibility fixes, and also roll out new features. Only the current and one prior version of the software are kept up to date with Maintenance Releases. Currently, that is Version 11.1 and 11.55. Versions 10.4 and prior have not been updated via Maintenance Release in years.

Upgrades are discounted greatly for existing users. Version 10.4 and prior users can upgrade to the latest release of PowerChurch Plus, Version 11.55, for $149 (+10 shipping). Users of Version 11.1 can upgrade for only $119 (+10 shipping).

To see a list of what was added or changed in each new version of the software, visit www.powerchurch.com/changes.

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 Membership:
Q. Our Discipleship director is wondering if PowerChurch could map everyone’s geographical location by their home address. It would show a map where we have the least, or most amount of attending church members and where she could begin to focus reaching out to new families.
A. You can export a CSV file from under Membership > Family Mailing List > Other Output > Export Data. You can then use a map plotting service to import from the CSV. Take a look at Map a List. It is a free service that imports addresses automatically from Google Sheets.

From General:
Q. We own Version 11 and continue to see the prompt about installing a new Maintenance Release. I attempted to download Version 11.5, but am not able. Is 11.5 a Maintenance Release to Version 11 or a new version upgrade to purchase?
A. Version 11.5 is not a Maintenance Release, it is a paid upgrade.

From Accounting:
Q. I have been researching the IRS site and did not see any information about changes in the tax tables for 2016.
A. The Circular E - Publication 15 document has everything you need and has been updated for 2016.