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 8th February 2024 and 27th March 2024.
ChurchSuite
February 15th, 2024 Booking/Event Status updates
It's now possible to optionally update the linked Booking status when updating the status of an Event and vice versa. We've also brought more consistency to the booking and event 'View' pages by adding a 'Set as pending' action and removing the status field when editing bookings/events.
February 29th, 2024 Giving reports positive/negative tag filtering
We've updated the reports in the Giving module so that they support positive/negative tag filtering. Using the new filter, you can build very bespoke search criteria, for example "everyone in the Member tag AND NOT in the Leader tag".
March 5th, 2024 Adding events from bookings
Some organisations prefer to book out resources in their Bookings modules before the event details are added to the Calendar module. With this in mind, we've now made it possible to create events from existing bookings (and event sequences from booking sequences). You'll see this in two places: there's a new "Add event" action on the booking View, or when adding an event in the Calendar module, you can choose to link to an existing booking or sequence, with events taking on the name and date-times of the booking. Lastly, mirroring the same module option for Bookings, we've also added a Calendar module option to set a preferred linking default for events, choosing between 'linked to a booking' or 'not linked to a booking'.
March 8th, 2024 Add to flows/key dates/tags batch actions reinstated
Having completed some behind-the-scenes work, which required us to temporarily take these actions offline, we've now reinstated the batch actions for "Add to flow/key date/tag" on the relevant index pages for Contacts, Children, Customers, Givers and Organisations.
March 8th, 2024 Custom fields as optional columns on index pages
We've now made it possible to choose a custom field as an optional column that displays on index pages. You'll now find that on the main contact, child, customer, giver, group and organsation index pages, you can select any custom fields you've added from the optional column list.
March 21st, 2024 Changes to minimum criteria for module passwords
In line with the latest security best practice, we've introduced a new minimum password policy when setting or changing an existing module password. It is now widely regarded that enforcement of password complexity rules often results in shorter, more guessable passwords; and that longer is stronger! Previously, we enforced complexity criteria of 8-32 characters, containing at least one uppercase and one lowercase character and one number. We have now removed all complexity criteria and a valid password is now any text between 14-128 characters and now includes spaces; meaning you can now choose longer, memorable phrases, such as the UK NCSC's 'Three Random Words' (an internationally accepted cyber security benchmark) https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/top-tips-for-staying-secure-online/three-random-words
March 21st, 2024 Changes to minimum criteria for login passwords
In line with the latest security best practice, we've introduced a new minimum password policy when setting or resetting a password used to access ChurchSuite (including Connect) and the member-facing My ChurchSuite. It is now widely regarded that enforcement of password complexity rules often results in shorter, more guessable passwords; and that longer is stronger! Previously, we enforced complexity criteria of 8-32 characters, containing at least one uppercase and one lowercase character and one number. We have now removed all complexity criteria and a valid password is now any text between 14-128 characters and now includes spaces; meaning you can now choose longer, memorable phrases, such as the UK NCSC's 'Three Random Words' (an internationally accepted cyber security benchmark) https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/top-tips-for-staying-secure-online/three-random-words
March 25th, 2024 Migrating Flow Overseers to Managers
We frequently receive feedback from Users who want their Flow reminders and weekly Flow emails to go to their work/user email address rather than a personal Address Book contact email. To distinguish the use of Overseers for ministries, clusters and events (which continue to be overseen by Address Book 'contacts' through My ChurchSuite), we've introduced "Managers" for Flows. Managers are module users. To help with the transition, and where an Overseer 'contact' is linked to an active User, we've migrated all your Flows over, so no further action is needed. However, if you have any Flow overseers without a linked User, those overseers will need to be migrated or removed manually. You'll either need to remove the Overseer if they no longer need to receive those emails or create a new User linked to the Contact. Once done, you'll see a handy Migrate action to move everything over for that Flow.
Donate
March 8th, 2024 Recurring-only funds in Donate
We've added the ability to specify that a fund should only accept recurring donations through Donate. Previously, the options available to you were either "One-off" or "One-off and recurring" - a new "Recurring" option has been added. To mark a fund as only accepting recurring donations, simply head to the Giving module Funds section and edit the fund, choosing the "Recurring" option in the "Online donations" field. Once chosen, when making a new online donation through Donate, the giver will only be presented with the option to make a recurring donation to that fund.