Carl, this is a thorny issue. Some folks would say you never want to update
payment levels or anything else for existing payments -
Follow me on this.
Many NFPs use year end reports that say we have 50,000 from $1000 givers and
40,000 from $100 givers. They also use daily or weekly deposit reports
which, among other things, ether directly or indirectly say "we had x number
of gifts from x level givers". Now at audit time the accountant says "let me
see that daily figures match your monthly figures, match your year end
figures". But if Joe has gone from a $100 gift level to a $1000 gift level
RETROACTIVELY then all his contributions are now attributed to a $1000 gift
level for any future report even if the same payments were classified as
$100 level at the time they were made.
>From the accounting perspective we have a problem - the amount of money that
came in from x group each month doesn't add up to the amount for that group
at year end.
At least one group has decoupled the current giving level from the giving
level recorded in the payment so that the day - month - year end reports are
consistent but you can also see what level the giver is at TODAY.
What are your thoughts?
--------------------------------------------
ebase -Free relationship management software for nonprofits
http://www.ebase.org
--------------------------------------------
Clif Graves, Programmer
TechRocks
RR4 Box 2000
Winthrop ME 04364
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
eFax: 425.790.2058 Web: http://www.techrocks.org
--------------------------------------------
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl Paulsen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2000 4:20 PM
> To: Support Listserv
> Subject: [SUPPORT] Changes to Member Level
>
>
> Here's a question of mine from a few weeks back that never made it
> through the listserv:
>
>
>
> Our database has had several revisions to the member levels assigned
> through the Setup Wizard. Now, when I print a Giving Level report, I
> get printouts for the old levels which have since been deleted. It
> appears that the member level is stored in the Level field in the
> Payments file, which is calculated from the Level Calc field (which in
> turn draws it's values from the setup file based on the member levels at
> the time the payment is recorded and updated). The Names file merely
> references this field in its Find Mbr Level field.
>
> Thus, when you change the values in the member level list, you end up
> with a growing list of levels in the Level field covering a wide range
> of dollar values which all print in the Giving Level report (at least
> the levels for the payments being reported on). It seems that if you go
> back into payments entered under old member levels and run the Update
> Level button, the values get corrected to the new levels.
>
> This is a cumbersome way to get old payments to update to the new
> levels. Is there an easier way to do this? Jack Noll once posted a
> "fix" which acts like a global "Update Level" command, which appears as
> though it needs to be run each time the member levels change:
>
> >1) Enter ebase using your master password.
> >2) Get over to the paymnts_ file by selecting Window->paymnts_.102.
> >3) Hit the "Find All" button so you're working with all payment records.
> >4) Get into Layout Mode.
> >5) Using the layouts pulldown (above the rolodex), navigate to
> the layout
> named "All Fields".
> >6) Get back into Browse Mode.
> >7) Place your cursor into the field named "Level".
> >8) Select Script->FMPro Replace Command.
> >9) You'll see a Replace dialog box appear. Select "Replace with
> calculated
> result".
> >10) In the Specify Calculation dialog box, enter the words "Level Calc"
> (without the quotes). Hit the "OK" button, then hit the "Replace"
> button.
> >11) Hit Ctrl-1 to get back to the HOME screen.
> >12) Run Replace All Find Fields.
>
> Ebase should include a routine by which all payment levels can be
> updated to the new member levels through a routine similar to the
> "Replace All Find Fields" routine (which doesn't update the member
> level, even though it is a calculated field). Users could opt to run
> the routine based on a Start Date or leave the old payment levels alone.
>
> I think we've settled on a member level in ebase that suits our needs -
> for now - but need to make sure all payments entered so far are in sync
> with these levels. Also, we will probably change these levels in the
> future, and may want old payments to reflect these new catagories.
>
> Again, is there a better way to update member level for a specific set
> of payments?
>
> Carl
> --
> Carl Paulsen
> New Hampshire Rivers Council
> 54 Portsmouth Street
> Concord, NH 03301
> 603-228-6472
> 603-228-0423 Fax
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
> --
> Carl Paulsen
> New Hampshire Rivers Council
> 54 Portsmouth Street
> Concord, NH 03301
> 603-228-6472
> 603-228-0423 Fax
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
