Month: January 2023

Two new check-boxes for the Bimah List

Let’s say you’ve done a Yahrzeit query, typically by week or by month. Unless your congregation observes completely by Hebrew date, or completely by Gregorian date, you’ll see that the screen has two different lists. The first list comprises Yahrzeits that fall within the Hebrew date range; the second, Yahrzeits that fall within the Gregorian date range.

And then, the point of this article — between the Hebrew section and the Gregorian section is the button to create a combination Bimah list. So named, because it combines the two styles of observance. That has existed for some time. What is new, then?

A check-box to include all Yahrzeits with a plaque, regardless of any other selection criteria.

A check-box to exclude Yahrzeits for whom there is either no observer, or only observers with a notification flag of N (No notification).

One last wrinkle — on the combo bimah list, we’ve put an asterisk next to those who have a plaque.

Send Several Thank-you Emails from One Screen

This post announces an express way to send acknowledgments for contributions, via email.

Until now, in order to issue notes, to both contributors, and to those who they wish to be notified about their contributions (which, for the sake of brevity, we’ll refer to as “notifees”), the procedure was this:

You would do a financial transaction query, typically by date. That assumes you send these notices on some regular cadence — weekly, daily, M-W-F, for example. Then, you would select the “Preview” link, look over the email, and either print it or send it.

The traditional way is still available. Now, however, you can choose a different approach. You’d do the financial transaction query, as before. But you’ll see a new button, labeled “Bulk acknowledge.” By selecting that button, you’ll see the same set of payments, displayed as a list. Not only as a list, but also with input boxes. In those input boxes, you can enter or override the description, the name of a notifee, and the email address. Also, there are check-boxes on the far right, so that you can choose which contributions will receive an acknowledgment.

The system fills in the notifee area in one of two ways. First, if you, as an administrator, have selected a person to be notified when you entered the financial transaction, that person with an email address will appear. Second, if someone has made an online contribution, and has supplied a name, or, better yet, a name with an email address, ShalomCloud populates whatever information the contributor has entered.

One last point — for the notifee template, if you want to include the name of the notifee, you’ll need one of these fields in your template:

  • {notifee}
  • {donee_firstname}
  • {donee_informal_name}

Here’s a video explaining the bulk-acknowledgment process.

Bulk Acknowledge
Bulk Acknowledge

QuickBooks Online and Class Codes

If you take advantage of the integration between ShalomCloud and QuickBooks Online, you may take a keen interest in this post.

First of all, if you’re not familiar with class codes, you may find this article from Intuit to be instructive.

With that background in hand, know that our connection to QBO now supports designating a class code for each financial category.

Here’s a video that demonstrates the use of class codes. This short illustration shows both the ShalomCloud posting, and how it’s reflected in QuickBooks Online.

Now available — select which categories to include on periodic statements.

ShalomCloud now has the ability to send statements, for specific categories that you select.

Until now, every statement was all-in. That is, it showed everything owed per family. Thus, you could not produce a statement for religious-school only, or cemetery-only.

Now, you can select one or more categories to appear.

To see a short (3m 7s) video of this feature in action, please follow this link.

Category selection for statements
Category selection for statements