Updates to Phase 1 of the finance enhancements

Since the finance changes (read about them here) were released last Tuesday, we know many churches will be using the new interface for the first time today.

Over the last week we received lots of feedback on the new pages and features. While most of it was overwhelmingly positive, we did receive some feedback on things that either did not work as well as you would have liked or that could be made better. We took that feedback and made the following changes:

1. Batch Reports – Some churches were missing a batch report on the new batches page. This has been resolved. 
2. Did you know that this report and the multi batch report can be customized for your church?
3. Would you prefer a summary view instead of a detailed view?
4. Would you like a button to download this report to excel so that you can import it into your GL (General Ledger)?
5. Check out the documentation here for recipe versions of this report that you can use today.  
6. Want something different? Our consulting team can create a custom for your church, for a small fee.
7. Back to List – We heard mixed feedback on the fact that bundles now open in a new tab and that there is no longer a “back to list” button. We have changed this behavior such that if you click on the batch number it will continue to open in a new tab and if you click on the view icon to the far right of the batch search page it will open in the same tab. We have also added back the “batch to list” link and clicking on this link will take you to the batch search page with refreshed results. 
8. Note: we are going to sort the batch page to show open batches at the top. In the meantime, if you want to see only open batches, we recommend that you use the new filters on the page to easily view only what you are wanting to see. 
9. View All Check Images – We have added an option to “view all check images.” 
10. Fund Search – When you select the fund dropdown on the batch entry pop up, you can immediately start typing the fund name or number and no longer need the additional click to open the search box. 
11. Entry Sort Order – The sort order of batch contribution entries did not match the previous bundles page. This has been adjusted and now works the same as before. 
12. Note: if you split an entry, it will currently show at the bottom of the list. We have a fix for this that will be rolled out later this week. 
13. Firefox – Some of the dropdowns were not working in the Firefox browser. This has been fixed. 
14. Missing Non-Tax-Deductible – Some reports, including the Totals by Fund report, excluded Non-Tax-Deductible contributions even if this option was selected. This has been fixed. 
15. Missing Email Address – When searching for a donor to match a contribution, the email address was not displayed. It is now part of the “show more information” view. 
16. Contribution Notes – Notes were not showing on the batch page after entry. This has been fixed and no data was lost; it just was not being shown. 
17. Note: this is part of a bigger change that you will see over the coming weeks to simplify notes on contribution entries. 
18. Negative Estimated Amount – It is now possible to enter a negative “estimated amount” on a batch which will allow you to balance and close a batch that only has returned checks in it. 
19. Default Settings – New Admin settings are being added (coming soon) to set your defaults when creating a new batch. 
20. Archived Not Showing – The people search on the batch entry page currently excludes archived people. This will be fixed later this week. 
21. Editing All Entries – When editing an entry in a batch you will soon be able to tab through all the entries instead of closing each one and having to click to open the next one.

Thank you to the churches that provided feedback and helped make the system better for all churches. Our goal is to make these pages easy to use and reduce the time needed to manage your contributions.

Remember, this is Phase I of a three phase project, so stay tuned for details on later phases.

6. Pledge Reporting has new powerful filters and you can see how your pledges and giving compare to your goal with the new goal setting on a fund page.

9. Online batches now show the payment type on the entry. In Phase II, these entries will be split into separate batches and organized by deposit dates.

10. Note: when searching for a donor by envelope number, the envelope number now must be at least 2 digits.

For additional information, please see the Finance FAQs, Contribution Workflow, Batch Type and Contribution Type, and Pledge Overview help articles.

We are excited to announce the release of Phase 1 of our financial enhancements, scheduled to be released on June 19. TouchPoint bundles will now be called batches. With this name change comes a new Batch Search page with filters and a much easier way to enter batch information. Batches are found under Finance >  Search  >  Batches in the new navigation menu.

Pledges will no longer be entered with the contribution batches, but now have a dedicated Pledges management page with built-in reporting.

Additionally, we have standardized Account Codes through a new lookup code page under Finance > Setup. There are new articles and updates to existing articles to support the changes.

In case you missed the webinar where we preview these changes you can watch it here. We also put together a helpful Finance FAQs page or for more information about these new changes and the following documentation articles have all been updated Contribution Batch, Reconciling Batches, How Pledges are Entered, and Pledge Reporting.

A few of our partner churches have recently notified us that their congregation received emails from someone impersonating their pastor. Be sure to read the following blog (re-posted from December) for information about ways to keep this from happening at your church.

Does your church have a policy/procedure for responding to account updates via email and/or phone?
We have had several churches recently report that church members have emailed various church staff asking them to update their account. At first glance, this appears to be a legitimate request, but several factors have tipped off the staff to know that it was indeed a scam.

You might be wondering, “how is this a scam?”
The first thing that is clear is that the person is emailing from a new email address. This email address might look legitimate. We’ve seen examples that follow this format – [email protected]. While it is possible that a scammer could be sending an email from a compromised account, it is not always the case. If it comes from a compromised account, it is often harder to prevent. If it is a brand-new email address, simply follow the recommendations below.

How does the scam work?
If an unsuspecting staff person updates the person’s record with the new email address, the scammer then resets the person’s password and logs into the church’s management software using the new email address. They then attempt to harvest any information about other church members and attendees (if possible). Because the user is logging in with legitimate credentials, there is often little we (your church management software) can do to prevent this. They then email fellow church goers and try to trick them into giving gift cards or donating to the church, where the link to the donation page is not a legitimate donation page.

You might be wondering “What can you do to prevent this?”
There are a few things we recommend:

1. If a person is emailing from an email address that is not in the database, DO NOT ACCEPT any changes. You can reply, asking them to email from an email address that is already on their record or to contact the church office (then follow the recommendations below).

2. Have a clear policy and procedure that your staff follow for when and how they should update a person’s record in the database. While your church should come up with your own requirements, here are a few ideas to get you started:

• If a person reaches out via email, either have a canned response saying that all record update responses must be made via phone and give them the contact information of who to call, or require that a phone call is made to the phone number on their record confirming the change.
• If a person calls the church office asking to update their record, the person fielding the call should verify other details on their record like what small group they attend, their DOB, and/or family member names. You’ve likely had your bank do something like this to verify your identity when you’ve called them.
• Whatever you do, make sure all your staff and/or lay leaders who have access to update a person’s record are doing so with caution, knowing that there are people out there trying to scam you.

3. Make sure that all users – both staff and lay leaders – have the appropriate access levels in TouchPoint where they only    have access to the information they need.

• Have you removed access from former staff, officers, and lay leaders?
• Is it necessary for lay leaders to be able to update information?

4. Educate your staff and congregants on the risks of cyber threats. Here are a few key points that you can share with    them:

• Nobody from the church staff will ever reach out via email or social media asking for donations via gift cards, money transfers, or any other means besides what you can find on our church website.
• If you see odd links in emails or social media leading to donation pages that don’t look legitimate, please report them to a church staff member.
• Let them know that the best way to donate to your church is from a link directly on your website.

5. Require all staff with admin or finance access to have 2 factor authentication enabled on their account. This adds an extra layer of protection for these users to further safeguard your most sensitive data. 

Our Head of Product, Chris Dolan, recently led a virtual keynote session at a conference for Executive Pastors on Human Firewalls. You can check it out here to learn additional helpful tips.

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