People are at the heart of your church. Every service you offer, every event you throw, every small group and new members' class and youth event and missions fundraiser — it's all to bring people together build up your community of faith. On November 11, we are making it easier than ever to reach out and draw them in. Get the tools you need to reach your church and your community, wherever they are.
Redesigned Event Detail and Emails
The old Event Detail page was a catch-all, a page anyone in your software could wind up on, whether they're the event manager or just a member looking to participate. But when different people have different needs, it just makes sense to give them different interfaces. Say hello to Events as you've never seen them before.
Note: The Reply Style customization has been removed from events.
Event Previews
The stuffy little box that used to pop up when you clicked on an event from the calendar is gone. Now there's a beautiful interactive preview, complete with a slot for an event image, where members can RSVP without ever having to leave the calendar. The new event preview even replaces the public calendar info boxes, displaying everything an interested guest might need to know and offering a login button on the side.
The Event Detail page itself, now accessible just for the people who can manage the event via the Manage Event link, gives you access to all the settings and tools you're used to, plus a new Preview tab so you can see your event as your church members and guests will see it.
Clean New Event Invitations
We couldn't very well upgrade the events interface in the software and leave the invitation emails same old, same old. They're looking better than ever, showcasing your event image and giving just the important details.
Responsive RSVP
Attractive event invitation emails are all well and good, but what if you happen to read them on your phone? If you read them on your phone, RSVP on your phone, too!
Mobile Volunteer Schedules and File Access
Wouldn't it be nice if you could see who you're serving with this weekend or access files you need to serve, all from that convenient machine sitting in your pocket? You're in luck. Now you can view your schedule details on your phone, without even logging in.
When you access a volunteer request or reminder email, you can view your full schedule details, including all positions for that schedule and who's accepted, declined, or not yet responded. Any files that have been attached to the schedule are available here too.
Need a reminder of all the different times involved in this schedule assignment? Just touch the clock icon (or hover on your computer) to see all the times you're needed.
Redesigned Reports
Reports have a whole new look. Forget extra tabs and awkward options screens. When you click on a report now, you get a sleek new options modal. All the options you need are kept in one convenient place.
The whole display of on-screen reports has been cleaned up as well, so you can easily see everything that matters and none of the noise that doesn't. Even better, you can use the Edit Settings button on the report itself to adjust the options and parameters from right on the page!
New Mass Actions
Report actions have been revamped to give you the tools you need, right where you need them, too. They've all been consolidated into the Actions drop-down on the report itself, so you can save, print, or export your report even as you view it. What's more, there are now new mass actions you can run from reports — adding people to a group or a process queue, or sending them a quick email!
Individual Report Changes
Good-looking reports are great, and action items are better, but the data is at the heart of any report. We've made two more significant changes. First is that several reports in categories such as Attendance and Financial have had an individual_id column added, to make that information easy to access.
The other change is that the Category by Batch Summary or Date Range report no longer has a QuickBooks output. If you import reports into QuickBooks, you may have noticed that the newest cloud-based QuickBooks update has broken imports from our software. If you imported a report with multiple COA categories, you'd receive a success confirmation message, but only the first category actually imported. This broken import was putting bad data into your books, and we decided to remove the QuickBooks export option entirely to safeguard your and other churches' financial data integrity. We are continuing to research the possibility of rebuilding this integration to work with the new QuickBooks.
Message Upgrades in Your Inbox
[From] a Person, Not a Site
If you're in any groups that are active with the messaging tool, you've probably noticed that the messages all start to bleed together after a while. Every one of them says it's from your church. We wanted you to get meaningful information from your inbox at a glance — so it was time for the site-name sender to go. Now, messages sent in the software will be listed 'from' the actual sender, and the name of the group will be shown in the subject line. With one quick look, you can tell who sent the message, which group it's for, what the subject is, and even if it was sent just to the group leaders.
Simply Reply
Commenting on a group message is now as simple as replying to the email you receive. No more need to log in on your phone just to toss in a quick reply. No more silence because members can't remember their logins. When the group message is configured to send replies to the leaders or members, recipients now see 'Or simply reply to this email' right under the comment button.
Check-In on Your iPad
We've got great news for children's pastors in churches using the Deluxe version of Church Community Builder. We've taken our time-tested check-in interface and built an app you'll love. Simple and responsive, the app makes accessing your saved Self Check-In setups and taking care of your regulars from an iPad is a breeze. If you have a compatible printer and labels, you can even print name and pick-up tags. Best of all, you don't even have to wait for November 11 for this feature — the Church Community Builder iPad Check-In app is on the App Store right now! You can download it immediately or learn more here.
Partial Refund Support
Sometimes, someone needs a refund. And it's not always a nice, easy, full-transaction amount, either. It's a fact of life when dealing with money. Until now, the difficulty of reversing just part of a transaction with your merchant provider and then having to deal with the software recording a full refund was also a fact of life. No longer! Now, when you've issued a refund within your merchant account, the refund displayed in the software will show only the actual refund amount. In the COA category column, there's a link to assign categories and split amounts from the refund, so you can keep your Chart of Accounts perfectly accurate even through a partial refund.
All-in-One Give Page
The Give page has gotten a redesign too, and is your one-stop shop for giving a gift, checking your giving history, looking up your pledges, and everything else your average member needs to access about their giving.
Under the Schedules/History tab, you can now view past gifts and any scheduled repeating gifts. Repeating gift schedules can now be accessed here as well, making them easy for you and your members to find and edit. If you're listed as your family's Primary Contact or Spouse, you can even view repeating gifts and transactions for your family members via the Family view! And of course, giving statements are right here too, along with pledge history in the Pledges tab.
Process Queue Notifications
Some processes produce a lot of notifications for your queue managers, and when there's a lot of noise, anybody will start tuning it out. You're the one who knows what notifications the individual queues in your processes need, so we're putting the power to customize in your hands. Now you can decide whether your queue managers will be emailed when someone is assigned to them, when someone is unassigned, both, or neither. With the new process queue communication preferences, you can control notifications to inform your queue managers in the way that best supports your unique processes.
Not sure what email settings you've selected for a specific queue? Just click on your queue and take a look.
All these great updates are coming to your software the evening of Wednesday, November 11. If you're interested in the little fixes coming along with them, you can read about them here.
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