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February 2010
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2010 Users' Conference:
Church in the Digital Age
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Save The Date!
November 8-10, 2010
Hilton St.
Petersburg Bayfront,
St. Petersburg, FL
Don't miss
THE premiere conference for Catholic Church professionals to learn, network,
and energize!
With 40+
workshops-and more than half taught by ParishSOFT users--you'll find unparalleled
networking and learning opportunities, guaranteed. Past attendees agree: View
their testimonials and workshop presentations from prior conferences here.
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New Dioceses Choose ParishSOFT |
Catholic dioceses
continue to select ParishSOFT's diocesan product suite as their new technology
platform, along with the professional services that we provide to ensure a
successful transition and implementation. We welcome our most recent additions
to the ParishSOFT family.
Diocese of Cleveland:
AIM Family Directory, Diocesan Directory,
Sacramental Registry, Catholic Directory Manager, Status Animarum Manager, and
AIM IQ (Intelligent Query).
Diocese of Nassau,
Bahamas:
AIM Family Directory,
Diocesan Directory, Diocesan Development Manager (DDM), Sacramental Registry,
AIM IQ.
Diocese of La Crosse: ConnectNow Church Accounting (for parishes), Diocesan
Development Manager (DDM), and AIM IQ.
Diocese of Salinas:
AIM Family Directory and Diocesan Directory, Diocesan Development Manager (DDM), and Subscription Manager, AIM
IQ.
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Need More From Your Software? Tell Us! |
Your
feedback is important to us. Let us know how we can serve you better on 866.930.4774 (toll free) or by email to support@parishsoft.com.
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ParishSOFT Supports Windows 7 |
Our software supports
Microsoft® Windows 7. Our development and quality assurance teams continuously
test our core software products and peripheral modules on the latest standard
operating platforms to keep your programs running smoothly.
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"Ah-Ha!" Moments in Customer Support
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Our caring and knowledgeable support team handles calls from users of all levels of expertise. Some are less experienced with computers than others. Here are a few of our favorites from parish users:
"How do I minimize the window?"
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Tech: "Do you know where your database is?
Customer: "Sure, it's in my filing cabinet."
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"I don't know how to turn the computer on in the morning. Somebody else helps me with that."
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"What does 'Posting Contributions' mean?"
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Tech: "What internet browser are you using?" Customer: "I don't know--it's a Hewlett Packard."
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ParishSOFT Arch/Diocesan Customer Contacts
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This list is provided as a courtesy to our customers. It should be kept confidential and is not to be used for any commercial purpose. All of the individuals listed have approved the publication of their name.
Download our contacts list
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Visit Us, On-The-Road |
Parish
Technology Summit (featuring Charles Zech)
Feb.
25, 2010
Philadelphia,
PA
National
Safe Environment Conference
Mar.
14-18, 2010
New
Orleans, LA
Religious
Education Congress
Mar.
18-21, 2010
Anaheim,
CA
National
Federation of Priests' Councils (NFPC)
Apr.
12-15, 2010
Hilton
Houston Post Oak Hotel
Houston,
TX
Diocesan
Information Systems Conference (DISC)
Jun. 9-11, 2010
Toronto,
ONT
Diocesan
Fiscal Managers Conference (DFMC)
Sep. 26-29
New Orleans, LA
ParishSOFT
Users' Conference
Nov.
8-10, 2010
Hilton
St. Petersburg Bayfront
St.
Petersburg, FL
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Building Team, Relationships,
Efficiencies through Users' Groups
 Des Moines, Sioux Falls, Camden, St. Petersburg
Are your diocesan and parish staff functioning like they
belong to the same organization, with common goals?
If the answer is "no," it's time to establish user groups in
your diocese. If the answer is "yes," user groups can help you maintain and
build upon that good momentum you already have going.
User groups provide a forum for learning, networking, and
using the collective "smarts" of staff. In the Diocese of Sioux Falls, where
they started holding regular user group meetings in 2006, director of information
systems Dawn Wolf has seen a significant savings in less time spent on the
phone addressing common issues with parish staff, who are far less frustrated
and much more satisfied overall with their software than in the pre-user group days.
From "resistance is futile" to "cooperation"
"The response we get from our parishes about user groups has
been nothing but positive," said Wolf. "Parish staff know they have a resource
to go to, and they no longer feel like they're out there all alone."
A stronger relationship between the Diocese of Sioux Falls and
its parishes has given rise to a true partnership among staff--an ideal to which
any diocese can aspire, and the key to moving beyond the place where parishes resist
change and view the diocese as a bully.
Wolf agrees that all of Sioux Falls is working together in a
spirit of collaboration these days. "When we need to ask our parishes for
something, like a new report, we see more cooperation than pushback."
Christine Dandaraw, who served first as training coordinator
for the Archdiocese of Atlanta and now for the Diocese of St. Petersburg,
reports that user groups strengthen not only the knowledge of the user but give
the diocese the ability to meet the needs of its parishes more proactively.
Along with networking and communication, users groups provide the vehicle to
overcome everyday obstacles, while fostering collaboration and a greater
understanding of goals and objectives throughout the diocese.
Read More >>
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2009 Marks Best Year in ParishSOFT History
2009
was a recordbreaking year for ParishSOFT. In just the month of December, an
unprecedented 63 new churches purchased ParishSOFT products. Between January
and December 2009, 339 individual churches became ParishSOFT users. Having our best year in
ParishSOFT history allows us to continue improving our existing products while
investing in exciting new web-based technologies in 2010.
What an
honor it is to have more than 3,800 churches in 162 dioceses put their trust in
ParishSOFT's products, services, and people. We are proud and grateful to serve
you.
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Technology CornerProduct RoadmapWith our new Lean & Agile
Development process, we're getting products to you and your parishes faster.
Here's a quick look at the products we developed in 2009, and the exciting new
products and enhancements on our schedule for 2010.
ConnectNow Financial Consolidation
Manager (for dioceses)
ConnectNow My Own Church (for
parishes)
ConnectNow Payroll (for parishes)
ConnectNow Ledger and Payables (for parishes)
Mailroom Solutions: Address Quality (for parishes)
Enhancements to Existing Products
in 2009
Catholic Directory Manager (for dioceses and
parishes)
Diocesan Development Manager (DDM)
(for dioceses)
Integration with Constant Contact and
NotifyNow
Member Duplicate Checker (for
dioceses)
Status Animarum Manager (for dioceses
and parishes)
Parish Suite, four updates
Diocesan Suite, four updates
Between January and June 2010, we'll
be working to bring you the following new products and enhancements:
New Products and Services in 2010
ConnectNow Contact Management (for dioceses)
ConnectNow Ministry Scheduler (for parishes)
Mailroom Solutions: Address Quality (for dioceses)
Single Login for all ParishSOFT
applications and services (for dioceses and parishes)
Catholic Directory Manager (for
diocese and parishes)
ConnectNow Ledger & Payables
(for parishes)
ConnectNow My Own Church (for
parishes)
ConnectNow Payroll (for parishes)
Diocesan Development Manager (for dioceses)
· Self-serve reporting (for dioceses and parishes)
· Quid pro quo donations
· New designations for gift types, revision types, stocks
Duplicate Checker (for dioceses to
find and merge duplicate records and sync from AIM to parish)
Online Giving
Safe Environment Program Manager (for dioceses and parishes)
Status Animarum (for dioceses)
Subscription Manager (for dioceses)
Parish Suite:
· International addresses
· Quid pro quo donations
· New Offering & Pledge designations for gift types,
revision Wtypes, stocks
· ZIP Code updates
· Lookup table management for celebrants and more
Diocesan Suite:
· Integration with Constant Contact
· International addresses
· ZIP Code updates
· Lookup table management for celebrants and more
Development Gets Lean & Agile
In March 2009, we implemented
a new Lean & Agile Development process and set out on a mission to provide
better quality software to you in a shorter time. What's happened has been
extraordinary, and our results have been similar to the
top 25% of companies implementing Agile processes1:
55% Increase in
productivity
28% Reduction in costs
54% Reduction in
software defects
54% Increase in
implementation speed
What this means for you
You'll notice these
results in better software performance, more intuitive functionality that eliminates
steps and saves administrative time in church and diocesan offices, and faster
delivery of enhancements and new products. Best of all, our project teams
consult with customers and advisors on an ongoing basis, so our products meet
the business needs of churches and dioceses.
1. The State of
Agile Development, 2nd Annual Survey, 2007, p. 7, http://www.versionone.com/pdf/StateOfAgileDevelopmet2_FullDataReport.pdf
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Support Levels Improve
Live-answer support is something of a rarity these days. At
ParishSOFT, we know how important it is for church staff to get friendly,
knowledgeable answers; and we're committed to providing those answers in a
timely manner. How are we doing? The numbers speak for themselves: while our
customer base has grown over 16% per year for the past few years, the number of
calls between 2008 and 2009 increased by only 2.7%.Let's take a look at the
statistics:
2008
24,292 total calls, 58% answered immediately
2009
24,963 total calls, 62% answered immediately
In January 2010, typically our
peak call month because of year-end contributions, we received a record 3,364
calls and answered 65% of them immediately. All calls not answered immediately
were resolved with a personal call back from one of our representatives,
usually within two hours.
Exactly how are our support levels getting better despite the fact that we're
supporting far more customers these days? (See 2009 Marks Best Year
in ParishSOFT History.)
It's all possible because we've improved our product
quality, self-help resources and training, so church staff have fewer reasons
to call us. Most importantly, we have dedicated support staff, who take a
personal interest in our users' issues.
Many of you have written to tell us what how much you
appreciate our support staff--thank you! Please continue to let us know how
we're doing and what we can do to better serve you and your parishes.
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Get ParishSOFT News
 ParishSOFT has entered the social networking realm! Join our groups and stay apprised on updates, company events, announcements, and much more.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/parishsoft
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/parishsoft
Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/companies/parishsoft
We'd
like to keep you better informed of product developments, new
functionality and other important news about your software. Please click here to be added to our safe senders list.
Do you know of anyone who would like to receive our newsletter? Email us and let us know!
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