Month: September 2025

Explore the New Annual Installment Billing Feature

Discover the New Annual Installment Billing Feature

With this announcement, we introduce the capability of annual installment billing. While many are familiar with the monthly and quarterly billing cycles, the new annual option offers a strategic advantage for long-term financial planning, especially for significant contributions such as a building fund, or a capital campaign.

What is Installment Billing?

In general, it’s more straightforward to bill once for an entire amount, and then to draw down the amount owed as payments are made. However, some congregations prefer to charge the membership incrementally. Depending on an organization’s policies, installment billing can occur monthly, quarterly, or now, annually.

The New Annual Billing Capability

Previously, many organizations relied on monthly or quarterly billing cycles. The introduction of annual billing offers a fresh perspective for managing long-term financial commitments. For example, if your organization is running a building fund campaign, you can now set a total amount to be billed. By selecting the annual installment billing option, the total amount is divided into yearly installments, facilitating easier tracking and management.

How It Works

Let’s consider an example involving the Goldsmith family, a part of your organization’s financial contributors. Suppose they commit to a total contribution of $5,000 over five years for a campaign like the mikvah campaign. With the annual billing feature, you input the total amount, select the installment billing option, and set the first and last bill date—say, from September 2025 to September 2029. The system automatically divides the total into yearly amounts, aligning each installment with the appropriate fiscal year.

Benefits of Annual Installment Billing

  • Long-Term Planning: Organizations can plan more effectively for future projects with clear, predictable cash flows.
  • Simplified Management: With annual billing, there’s less frequent need to manage and adjust billing cycles, saving time and reducing errors.
  • Enhanced Reporting: Financial reports can now reflect long-term commitments more accurately, assisting in strategic decision-making.

By leveraging the new annual installment billing feature, organizations can enhance their financial management capabilities, ensuring they remain agile and efficient in today’s ever-evolving financial landscape. Embrace this new capability to optimize your organization’s financial strategies and achieve your long-term goals with confidence.

To see this feature in action, please view this video.

New Features in Yahrzeit Query System

Discover the New Enhancements to Yahrzeit Queries

In the realm of yahrzeit management, efficiency and accuracy are key. Today, we’re excited to reveal enhancements to yahrzeit queries that promise just that. Traditionally, many of you have utilized the yahrzeit query to search by the name of the deceased or an observer, and more often for a specific date range. But now, we’ve introduced a significant upgrade that will enhance how you can access and utilize this data.

The cornerstone of this update is the “Yahrzeit Simple List,” which now includes additional features that broaden its functionality. Two major changes have been implemented:

  1. Enhanced Data with Tags and Plaque Locations: We’ve enriched the “Yahrzeit Simple List” by incorporating tags or attributes and plaque locations. Now, when you select a date, such as the 23rd of September, and submit your list, it opens in Excel, as before. You’ll notice that the yahrzeit name may appear multiple times, namely once for each observer. But with each entry, you’ll find valuable insights such as plaque locations. Additionally, if you’re utilizing tags to categorize yahrzeits—be it a veteran, buried out of town, and the like—you’ll see a clear indication of which tag applies to each yahrzeit.
  2. Streamlined Data Presentation: Going back to the “Yahrzeit Simple List,” there’s a new checkbox option that generates a different spreadsheet format. This version presents each yahrzeit on a single line, excluding observers, for a cleaner view. While the core data remains unchanged, this streamlined presentation focuses purely on plaque locations and tags, eliminating the repetitive observer entries.

These enhancements are designed to make your data handling more intuitive and efficient. Whether you’re managing yahrzeits for historical research, commemoration, or personal records, these updates will significantly enhance your workflow. Embrace these changes, explore the new capabilities, and experience a more powerful way to manage yahrzeit site data.

See the full video

Streamline Your Accounting with Shalom Cloud’s New QuickBooks Integration Feature

Are you using our automated interface to QuickBooks Online? Or perhaps you’re considering it? If so, we have some news that could simplify your accounting processes. Introducing our latest feature: the ability to auto-generate Document Numbers directly from Shalom Cloud.

Let’s delve into what this feature entails and how it can benefit you.

Understanding the Document Number Field

In QuickBooks Online, the Document Number field may serve for tracking and referencing transactions. If you’re already satisfied with how this field is populated, you may not need to change a thing. However, if you seek a more streamlined approach, our new feature can help.

How to Activate Auto-Generate Doc Number

Getting started with this feature is simple. Navigate to the Home screen in Shalom Cloud, select Declare Synagogue Options, and scroll to the bottom. Here, you’ll find the new option labeled “Auto-Generate Doc Number.” Initially, this setting is set to ‘no.’ By switching it to ‘yes’ and hitting the submit button, you activate the auto-generation feature.

What Happens Next?

Once activated, any new financial transactions processed in Shalom Cloud will automatically generate a Document Number in your QuickBooks Online journal entries. This number corresponds directly to a transaction in Shalom Cloud, making it easier than ever to trace journal entries back to their origin.

Demonstrating the Feature

Let’s walk through a practical example. Suppose you have a fictitious family, Littell01, in our sandbox environment, with outstanding dues of $245. When you pay this amount using a check, and refresh your journal entry report, you’ll notice a new entry with a unique number. This number ends with 593, which matches the transaction ID in Shalom Cloud.

Video demonstration

Tracking Transactions Made Easy

By enabling this feature, you can effortlessly track journal entries in QuickBooks back to their originating transactions in Shalom Cloud. This integration saves time and reduces the likelihood of errors, providing a seamless accounting experience.

A Word of Caution for Manual Entries

If you also generate manual journal entries, it’s advisable to differentiate them from those auto-generated by Shalom Cloud. Consider using a unique identifier, such as “JE-” followed by a number, to ensure clarity and prevent duplicate entries.

Conclusion

Our new feature for auto-generating Document Numbers from Shalom Cloud to QuickBooks Online represents a significant step toward enhancing your financial management capabilities. Activate this feature today to experience a more efficient and accurate accounting process. Whether you’re a current user or considering our interface, this enhancement is designed with your convenience in mind.

See the full video: