I’ve now written out the requirements (and some optional extras) for the database for my church. I’d encourage you to do the same for your church. As I’ve been pondering requirements, I’ve also been contacting different database providers to arrange for demos/trials, and some of them have been contacting me with details of their databases.
Stafftool
My church has been using Stafftool for the past 18 months. The best thing about Stafftool is Toby – his support and (very) prompt replies and help, plus his willingness to implement changes and suggestions has been a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, my church’s requirements are exceeding what Stafftool can currently provide, but I would recommend it to other churches, and certainly consider it again in the future.
Ascribe
At first glance (i.e. looking at the website) Ascribe doesn’t look promising. I’m easily turned off by cheesy images and the one on this homepage is right up there! However, I pushed on and requested a demo. I’m pleased I did, as I have been very impressed. The interface is nothing like the website – it’s well designed, the functionality is excellent and the support I’ve received has been first class. Truman has patiently answered my many questions and has been both friendly and helpful.
Jethro
Jethro is a database developed by Tom – on the staff at Christ Church Inner West. Tom has just released the latest version and I’ve just received the link – I’m taking a look now, and it looks promising. You can explore the demo too, here. I’d love to hear your thoughts, and Tom is keen for feedback too.
PAM
PAM is the online database developed by the Sydney Anglican Diocese. This is the first version, and it’s been developed in conjuction with a number of Parish administrators. I’m encouraged to see the Diocese developing these tools to assist Parishes (one of the benefits of being a part of a denomination!), and to see the Anglicans making use of web technologies. They also have a great road-map for future developments, based on feedback from current users. You can check out the demo using the details below, and again, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
https://secure.anglican.asn.au/Demo
user name: demo
password: parish01
A couple of extras…
Thanks to Truman from Ascribe, I’ve discovered a great series of posts written last year, documenting the search the a new church database. Here’s the summary of the search. I’m coming to different conclusions (at least for my church), but the series is well worth a look. It also includes details of some databases that I hadn’t come across previously. I’ve included these below, along with a couple of others I found since posting The List.
Steven,
Please read and respond to my post on your blog. There has been a breakdown in communication and I am most definitely be responsive to you.
I look forward to hearing from you soon. If you would prefer for me to call you to get all of this addressed, I will be more than happy to.
In Christ,
David Coons
CCB
In reading that previous post, I realize that it may have sounded a little rough and I didn’t mean that. I just wanted you to know that I have been trying to be responsive as requests have come in to me. I am not sure why you are getting some information and not others.
Usually, I would call a contact to clear up such an error but you had requested me not to call early in our discussions and I have tried to honor that.
May I call you to address some of these issues?
In Christ,
David Coons
CCB
Re CCB:
I have been in touch with them. They wanted to phone me which I declined. I had hoped for a link to a tutorial. I did receive a link after a further email. I also received 2 demo CDs where I found the phone fields were set to American format.
I had not inquired about a price but I found the whole thing too confusing.
Elly,
I apologize for the confusion. We do not send out demo CDs for our online solution so you must have been confusing us with someone else.
There are actually three parts to our evaluation:
1. The 11-minute video that you watched is meant to share the vision of CCB and the difference that it can make at your parish.
2. The online demonstration is held regularly to show you the functionality of CCB and allow you to ask questions, etc. I sent you an invitation to our next demonstration, which is next Thursday.
3. Our online Test Drive is the opportunity to log into the system itself as a Master Administrator to check out the system in detail.
According to our records, you watched the video twice but never took part in the other parts of our evaluation. Whatever demo CDs, etc. that you looked at must have been from someone else’s solution.
If you would like to actually check out our solution in more detail, please let me know. At this point it seems that you made a decision about us based on someone else’s demonstration.
Also, we do have the option of ‘flipping the switch’ for our international churches to change the date, address, time zone and other formatting differences. We generally will do that when we are setting up the church’s database, so the demo may still show in US formats even though your installation would not.
Hope this helps. I would be willing to discuss any of these issues with any of the readers on this blog. Just let me know.
Your Brother in Christ,
David Coons
Church Community Builder
I did confuse 2 databases. I was researching CCB and Helpmate at the same time. Sorry about that.
CCB sent me a link to the video.
Helpmate sent me demo CDs.
I’ve just heard from church that is using another product called ACT!.
Stafftool looks good but at $20 a month is too pricey. It allows entering data from a vcf card file. Impressive. I tried it and it works.
I am trying to install Jethro and having a lot of trouble. Tom Barrett is patiently helping me through my problems. My last question has not yet been answered. Maybe tomorrow.
Hi Elly, what kind of budget are you looking at?
Hey Steve
What did you end up choosing here?
Tom
Hi Tom, this process has been slowed down following some questions from Parish Council that I’m researching. I’ll be finding out some answers, and posting an update soon.