[CS-FSLUG] Church Management Software

[Robert W.]

EnzoAeneas <enzoaeneas at gmail.com> wrote:
> Do we emphasize cross-platform at all costs? This allows churches to
> keep their costs down.
> 
> Do we emphasize freely available technologies (mono vs. .NET) to limit
> dependence on bodies not completely committed to atleast open source,
> if not free software?
> 
> How will this work affect our testimony? What do we want it to say?

Wow, what a great thread! Church management software is a personal
passion of mine.

I took over the treasurer duties last year at our church. The previous
treasurer used a proprietary software package for tracking
contributions. After one year, I absolutely hated it.

This program provided no way of customizing reports. And forget about
writing your own reports. Even simple questions like "how many families
are giving regularly" were difficult to answer.

This year, contribution data went into text files - one file per week.
Perl generates all kinds of HTML reports. It cut my work in half.

--
Robert W.
robertwo at insightbb.com

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love 
him, who have been called according to his purpose. -- Romans 8:28