11.1B Release
If you're part of the Preferred Client Program, you can download the latest desktop version in the Client Portal.
PDS Formation Office 11.1B, originally released in December 2023 and re-released for desktop and OnDemand 1-8-24, offers the following enhancements.
New and Improved Features
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We know there are a lot of tasks to complete for the end of the year. So we added three things that can help get you through it!
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Checklist – Keep track of the processes you complete and what's next. The checklist is split into things to do at the end of the year and things to do before you begin the new year. Hover over the text to see details about the task. Click the go-to icon
to jump to the relevant process or screen. After you click the icon for an item, it is checked off the list!
Go to , and click End of Year / New Year Checklist at the bottom. See Complete Year End / New Year Tasks for more information.
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Assist Me – Let the wizard guide you through complex processes, step by step. Instead of seeing all the options at once, each step asks you one question and provides details about what it means. You'll have a chance to review everything before processing the data.
The Assist Me button is available in the following processes: -
Use Values from Last Time – When processing data for the new year, do you typically select the same options? For example, when setting up a fund, you may select to transfer families and rates the same way. Now, you can pull those values from the last time you ran the process. You'll have a chance to make changes before processing the data.
The Use Values from button is available in the following processes:- Add New Year/Period for Classes/Sessions
- End of Year - Formation Remove/Advance
- Grade Promotion (on its own or within Remove/Advance)
- New Year Fund Setup (after you select the fund to set up)
Note: This feature relies on data from the last time you ran the process using this version. So, the button will not display until you run the process at least once after updating to 11.1 B -- which may be next year.
- Now, you can split a check up to 20 ways in the Payment/Donation Entry quick posting. A new line is automatically added once you fill in a line and press Enter or Tab on your keyboard. Or, you can click Add Another Line.
- Now, there's an easy way to jump to your Performed Here church record in the Sacrament Places list. Click Quick Lookup then Find Perf. Here Church. We also added helpful notes in the relevant windows so you can see which one is the Performed Here church.
- Have you ever needed to print a list of only phone numbers without the type (like "Home" or "Mobile") displayed? Now you can! There are four new phone lists: Fam Phone List Only, Student Phone List Only, Mem Phone List Only, and Personnel Phone List Only.
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You can use these in the family, student, parent/guardian, and personnel reports and listing screens, respectively. In listing screens, all phone numbers display on one line. When you print the phone lists in reports, each number displays on a separate line.
- When you send a quick email or text message, it is now logged in the Letters, Visits, Etc. window. A message prompts you to log the message once you send it.
- Have you ever wanted to show information in a listing report, but the program didn't have a field for it? Now, you can add your own custom fields based on a calculation or code!
- For example, you may want to see the total amount a family paid for two different fund periods. There's not an existing field that contains that information, so you can add a custom field that calculates it. See Add Custom Fields in Listings for steps.
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You can also use your custom fields in Additional Selections! For example, only include families in your listing if the total of the two funds is greater than $0.
Corrections
- When building a list of students for a quick posting in Automatic Updating mode, the Quick Lookup drop-down list was displaying parents/guardians. If you selected a parent/guardian instead of a student, an error displayed.
- When printing the Baptismal Certificate Full Page and Back from the Sacramental Register, the Confirmation Place address was not being printed.
- The option to print was not available after sending a quick email or text.