We're constantly updating and enhancing ChurchSuite, often building directly upon customer feedback to guide our development. The following lists some changes that were made to ChurchSuite between 29th February - 24th April 2020.
ChurchSuite
20-Apr-2020 - Manage events direct from the Calendar
You can now edit, duplicate and delete events direct from the Calendar module's calendar. Simply hover over an event to surface the Action menu (or tap to edit in apps) enabling you to view, edit, duplicate and delete an event without losing your place on the calendar.
16-Apr-2020 - Customise fixed event questions
You can now customise the fixed questions that show on the event sign-up form - name, email, phone and notes.
You can change a fixed question's 'name' to better suit the context of your event or audience. You can 'require' more or less information from sign-ups. You can even hide a fixed question that isn't necessary for your event.
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/193-adding-custom-question-to-event-sign-up13-Apr-2020 - Search event sign-ups
We've added a search bar to the Sign-Ups tab of events, allowing you to search for a sign-up by name.
08-Apr-2020 - "Donate via SMS" for everyone
For customers in the UK and Canada/USA, we've enabled our "Donate via SMS" functionality for everyone with the Giving module! Click into the Giving module and you'll see a new "Donate via SMS" section where you can customise the keyword for your account.
/blog/2020/04/08/new-feature-sms-giving-enabled-for-all-churches08-Apr-2020 - ChurchSuite User Interface
Do not adjust your monitors or device - ChurchSuite has had a visual refresh! In line with some of our new branding we've updated every colour in the system for enhanced accessibility ensuring contrast meets the WCAG standard where possible. We've also made the header a bit nicer and switched up some of the icons we use in ChurchSuite.
07-Apr-2020 - Flower Giveway
For UK customers, ChurchSuite are giving away 100 bunches of flowers as part of our desire to bless people who are hurting/struggling at this time. This is not marketing - ChurchSuite won't be mentioned and neither will we profit from this in any way in the future.
If you'd like to nominate someone (we don't need to know their details just yet), just click the button below to "Read more".
https://office.churchsuite.co.uk/events/if2ffqgn07-Apr-2020 - Claim delete
Claims and donations should always be kept for as long as required by HMRC. However, there may come a point when you can, and should, delete old financial data.
We've added the option to allow claims that were completed 6 or more complete tax years ago to be deleted. Deleting a claim will also delete the donations within the claim unless they are also part of another claim. I.e. refunds.
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/119-reclaiming-gift-aid#delete02-Apr-2020 - Running online events
We've added new functionality to the Calendar module to make it easier to run online events - distinguishing them from events that run physically.
For an online event with sign up enabled you can specify a location URL that translates into a simple, clickable 'Join online' link in sign up confirmation emails and in My ChurchSuite.
Online events also work for events that don't have sign up enabled. Anyone able to view the event - throughout the ChurchSuite ecosystem or embedded in your email communications - can access the online event URL from the event page or My ChurchSuite.
This feature works with any online meeting solution that provides a unique meeting URL e.g. Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, Whereby
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/545-running-online-events02-Apr-2020 - See full names in households report
We've added full names of those within a household to the households report.
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/306-tracking-household-metrics01-Apr-2020 - Event refunds download
We've added a 'Download refunds' option to the Refunds tab for events. The downloaded CSV file includes full details of the original signup details, tickets, question responses, payment and refund.
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/340-refunding-event-tickets31-Mar-2020 - 'Set as active' batch action
We've added a 'Set as active' batch action to the Archived Contacts report in the Address Book to make it easier to reactivate multiple contacts in one go.
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/499-using-batch-actions-to-perform-bulk-updates-in-the-address-book28-Mar-2020 - Running online small groups
We've introduced some new functionality to the Small Groups module to make it easier to run online groups - distinguishing them from groups that meet physically and providing active group members with a simple 'Join meeting' button in My ChurchSuite in order to access the group's designated online meeting place. Each group's online meeting URL can be managed by users in ChurchSuite, or by a group member with "Edit group" role permissions (typically the 'leaders'). This feature works with any online meeting solution that provides a unique meeting URL e.g. Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, Whereby
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/544-online-small-groups25-Mar-2020 - Cancelled (and Pending) events
We've added a new status field to events, allowing you to choose whether an event is Pending, Confirmed or Cancelled. Regardless of the status, you can still choose where you'd like the event to be visible (Embed, My ChurchSuite and Connect).
Cancelling an event retains all of the information - description, image and sign-ups, but allows you to communicate that the event will no longer be going ahead.
Creating an event as "Pending" allows you to "pencil in" an event on your calendar, leaving you free to either confirm or cancel it at a later date - perfect when planning for the year ahead.
There's also a new module option for the Calendar module, enabling you to choose the default status for new events as you add them in.
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/299-controlling-the-visibility-of-your-events23-Mar-2020 - Covid-19 Coronavirus - ChurchSuite can help...
We've put together what we hope is a helpful resource article with some top tips and suggestions using ChurchSuite that we hope are helpful to our customers in this current season.
Customer support and ongoing development continues unaffected by remote working. Importantly, we're here to help!
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/542-covid-19-coronavirus-churchsuite-can-help19-Mar-2020 - Claim Reset
You can now reset and roll back the status of a Gift Aid claim whatever the status of the claim. Resetting will roll the claim back to pending, allowing donations to be removed or the claim to be deleted. You would typically need to do this if HMRC write advising of errors with a claim requiring correction and a resubmission.
We've also added Changes logs so you can stay on top of any claim changes, who has made them and when. And the Claims index now has an Advanced Search to locate claims within a range of dates or status.
The claim "View" page has also had a makeover, with claim criteria more clearly summarised and claim statistics on their own tab.
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/119-reclaiming-gift-aid18-Mar-2020 - Bulk disabling rota reminders
We've added batch "Edit" actions to the Ministries section of the Rotas module so that you can now easily 'bulk' disable (and later re-enable) rota reminders for each ministry's rotas.
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/503-using-batch-actions-to-perform-bulk-updates-in-the-rotas-module#ministry17-Mar-2020 - Group page updates
We've added a fresh new modern look to our group pages with a new robust sign up form and recaptcha to prevent spam sign ups.
17-Mar-2020 - Event page updates
We've updates our event pages adding a streamlined invites workflow, full SCA compliance and a fresh new look.
Use the link below to familiarise yourself with the new user experience for those viewing and signing up through your event pages.
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/352-overview-of-churchsuites-event-sign-up-process17-Mar-2020 - Managing pledges linked to a subscription
We now allow you to optionally delete 'cancelled' or 'expired' pledges that are linked to Stripe or GoCardless subscriptions. Note that pledge deletion will remove all historic record of pledge progress. However, this change means that you can now delete a giver that doesn't have any subscription pledges (as long as the giver doesn't have any donations that are part of a Gift Aid claim - UK only).
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/114-accepting-online-donations#subscriptions12-Mar-2020 - Gift Aid claim workflow enhancements
We've made some enhancements to the Gift Aid claim workflow to make reviewing claims smoother. If there are givers with address-related errors detected, you can resolve those errors within the claim view. You can also now remove individual donations from a claim before the review stage is completed.
We've also introduced a new Gift Aid status for donations - 'Claim pending'. A donation's Gift Aid status changes from 'Unclaimed' to 'Claim pending' when the claim is first created, and changes again to 'Claimed' when the review stage is finished.
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/119-reclaiming-gift-aid09-Mar-2020 - Giver imports
We've updated the giver importer to allow you to more easily edit and fix any errors during the import process.
https://support.churchsuite.com/article/292-importing-your-existing-giver-data-into-the-giving-module
If you have any thoughts or suggestions for us, please let us know - we'd love to hear from you.
