Justin Slamka

So, I have been working on integrating a payment processor into the website www.chrrch.com.  We chose to go with Intrannuity.  At first, I was completely overwhelmed with what I was supposed to do, none of the error messages made sense to me.  I knew that Intrannuity was supposed to be an all-in-one package but, nothing seemed to be working for me.

I needed to set up the ability to charge customers each month for a service we provide as well as a prorated charge for the time between the sign up date and the actual billing date.  I kept getting strange errors that I could not figure out how to translate.  Luckily, I emailed the company and got a response from a guy named Eugene.  He was very helpful but, since I had questions about programming more than anything else he passed me to a developer.  I thought this was great, a company who actually cares enough to help walk you through error messages that make no sense.  After I finally grasped how to figure out the error messages, It was pretty smooth sailing (granted, this was not a quick task for me, especially being my first time doing this).

If you are looking for a company to use as a credit card processor, I recommend Intrannuity,  Their staff is readily available to help you get you up and running.  They reply to emails very rapidly and seem to be very professional.

Welcome to the new JustinSlamka.com.  Some changes were made to our server and we decided to switch blogging technologies over to WordPress.  I highly recommend it if you have never used it.  Changing the theme of your blog is so simple.  If you have any questions on it, feel free to ask and I will see what I can do to get the answer for you.

After a hiatus from posting, I have returned…with good news at that.  We, over at Remote-App.com, have been very busy cracking away at the code to bring you the very next update, Chrrch v0.5a!  This update took care of some bugs as well as requested changes by the wonderful group of beta testers we have.  We also threw in some extras to sweeten up the release.

First, with the original system requiring too much from the user, we have revamped how users are added to families.  We now use a window for the searching of users as well as the creation of a new user.  The original person finder was not connected with the creation of a person nor were either of them very intuitive.

The Person Finder

The person creator

Next, at the request of our beta testers we added the ability to delete users.  This feature is made possible by a link that falls on another new feature of ours, the ‘info bar’.

The info bar is implemented on the person profile and gives the user the option to manage the person’s church relation, add/create skills and interests of the person, as well as view the latest actions taken on the person (be it adding images, changing information, or even deleting a skill/interest).  The actions also alert you as to who performed the action and at what time/date the action took place.

Blog coninued below…

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
All actions performed within your Church Management System will also be recorded and displayed on your dashboard.  They will be split into two columns; the actions you have performed and the actions others have performed.  There is a third column displaying the process queues that are directed toward you as well.

One of the time saving tasks we added to our system is the new way pictures can be uploaded. Before, if you were trying to upload a picture, you would have to go directly to the profile of the person and then to the photos page. Now, we have implemented a way for you upload an image directly from the Person listing page. The image can still be set as their primary profile image (in which case, it will immediately replace the current primary photo).

The notes on a person have also been stream-lined. Before, the notes were on their own tab under the person’s profile. Now, we have created a link that will open up a window containing the notes on that particular person. All of the notes features were brought over to the notes window as well (making the note private or public).

Thank you for your continued support and interest.  We are looking forward to the coming months of development and finalizing our product.  DO NOT FORGET, if you are on the lookout for a Church Management System, we currenlty have our pilot program still running.  Joining the pilot program allows you free access to our application for life.  Feel free to contact me if you’re interested.

Hope you all enjoy the new features of our application as we develop more.

Until next time,

Justin Slamka

This weekend, Chrrch v0.4a was released.  This was a smaller release than the previous v0.3a release.  A few bugs have been worked out as well as JQuery/AJAX functionality for the photos system and the file system.  Check it out.  If you know of any churches looking for a management system, we are getting ever closer to having a full product.  Now is the time to get an account for free on our pilot program.  Visit http://www.chrrch.com for more details on how to get signed up!

Until next time,
Justin Slamka

So, we released Chrrch v0.3a on Friday last week.  A few big features were added.  As for Chrrch v0.4a, it is still in the works.  Currently, I am in the midst of getting the Photo system (for the families, groups, people, and resources) switched over to using AJAX.  This will make the interface seem more seemless while uploading photos, deleting photos, and changing the primary photos.  The photo viewing pages have changed as well.  The options have been simplified to just an icon set with an icon legend for the user to refer to for the meaning of each icon.

As you can see, the picture cells have also been upgraded visually.  Very nice.

More changes to come,

Justin

For the upcoming v0.3a, I have been working along with Josh to complete the Mail Merge feature.  This feature, for those who are unaware what a mail merge is, allows users to create a letter, select recipients for the letter, and then email the letter.

Chrrch’s mail merge comes prepackaged with merge fields to help personalize the letters, making them less generic.  The letter body is built in a MS Word-esque editor and gives the user freedom to control the what they would like the letter to look like.  There are still a few features to be worked out on the text-editor.

During the Recipient Selection, the user can add either individuals from their church via the Person Search box or by adding single or multiple groups from the church.  If there are users that are added that need to be removed for any reason, the user can do so by checking the individuals they would like to remove or they can click the remove all link and start over with a blank list of recipients.

The Delivery options allow the user the select whether they would like to print the letters off in PDF format or to send the recipients an email.  The user also has the option to not display a date on the letter (a date comes standard on the letter unless the user does not specify) and the same with the title as well.  And once again, the user list is display on the left hand side.

I am quite excited to get our v0.3a release for those who are currently testing our system.  I think you will find the mail merge to be a great feature and easy to use.

Until next time,

Justin Slamka