FirstClass Newsletter Autumn 2007

Welcome to the (very late) Autumn 2007 edition of the FirstClass email newsletter. Here at Clearwater we have not been immune to the affects of global warming and before we realised it, autumn was nearly over.

Current Versions and Recent Developments

The latest (general release) version of FirstClass (2.1.34) has been rolled out to most FirstClass users and most of the feedback has been good.

The Added Value functionality was eagerly anticipated and a number of charities are starting to make good use of it. It has been suggested to us by one of our users that the Added Value records could be moved to the Finance tab on the Case form. What do other users think? Another idea was to display the Total Value Added to the Case on the Case form header where it was always on display. All feedback welcome!

Following upgrading to Version 2.1.34 a number of users discovered that their Case Browser Settings had been lost. Please accept our apologies. Unfortunately, with a system as extensive and flexible as FirstClass it is not always easy to ensure that all possible testing for all combinations of circumstances has taken place. Rest assured that we will try even harder to prevent this happening again in the future.

Another issue has been spotted by an eagle-eyed user at Barnardos. (September’s prize for ‘Bug of the Month’ goes to Judith Sudsbury.) This is a problem that hopefully only occurs very occasionally. When FirstClass is used to send an Outlook email about a Case, FirstClass automatically creates the email and sends this via the user’s Sent Items folder. FirstClass then tries to find this email in the Sent Items folder so that it can make a copy of it on the Network and link it to a new Contact History record. To find this email, FirstClass looks for the newest Email in the Sent Items folder which has the correct Subject for the email. What Judith discovered at Barnardos was that if you send two emails in quick succession for the same Case, if the Email Subject is the same, then sometimes, when FirstClass is looking in the Sent Items for the second email it only finds the first email and makes a copy of the wrong email. If you think this is a problem for you please contact us as we have a way of stopping this. This problem will be removed from future versions of FirstClass.

The new versions of FirstClass we are now working on are now numbered 2.2.1 etc. These versions are not ready for general release yet but contain two new major developments.

The first developments are to the FirstClass Pledger module. It is now possible to record a pledger status history for each pledger, showing a history of their movement from enquiring through to pledging. This is sometimes called the ‘Pledger Journey’. This development is included in the general development available to all FirstClass users. Please note that the Pledger module is supplied to all FirstClass users.

The second major development concerns the developments of the new Life Interest module. The testing phase at GDBA has almost been completed and it is planned that the new module will go live there in the next few weeks. The Life Interest module has been designed to allow additional information about Trusts and their associated life tenants, trustees, properties and share portfolios to be recorded for a case. This is available at a small additional cost. Please contact Gordon if you are interested in knowing more about it.

Finally, changes are required to the IHT Calculator form following the recent changes to the IHT rules.

Ideas for new FirstClass Developments

We have recently been asked if we could develop two new modules; a Grants Administration Module and a Free Will module. We would be very interested to hear from any other FirstClass users who would like to know more. Does anyone have any other ideas for further developments to FirstClass?

Legacy Foresight

Clearwater has recently entered into collaboration with Legacy Foresight, helping them to collect and analyse data for Legacy Monitor, a new programme including an Annual Legacy Market Audit and quarterly Benchmarking surveys. The idea for the programme came from some of our longstanding clients, who have been helping us to develop the service. Over 30 charities have joined the consortium, of which some 20 are FirstClass users. If your charity is one of these, you will soon be receiving one or more new Grid reports to help provide the required data.

At Clearwater we are looking forward to working with Legacy Foresight. They have extensive experience in analysing and forecasting legacy income and interpreting trends in legacy giving. Both teams are committed to making the service as informative and effortless for our clients as possible. We hope that it will lead to further joint projects in the future – so watch this space!

Welcome to new FirstClass Users

Since our last newsletter, Alzheimer’s Society and Blue Cross have started using the FirstClass scanning module, while UNICEF has started using the FirstClass ‘In Memoriam module’.

Mind have just moved from the old ‘Access’ version of FirstClass to FirstClass Express. We now only have two charities left using this old version of FirstClass. Hopefully, both will have moved onto either FirstClass or FirstClass Express before too long.

Linda Norgrove has been working from home as a consultant for Mind for a number of years now. Moving to FirstClass Express should help Mind to streamline their legacy administration. Linda will be able to maintain all of the Mind legacy data using FirstClass Express, while Mind staff will also be able to access their data to run reports etc.

There are now three charities using FirstClass Express because it enables their legacy consultants to maintain the legacy data, from their own offices, while allowing them to access the data themselves.

At the time of writing two new charities are in the process of moving to FirstClass; more news next newsletter.

CARE Contacts and Raiser’s Edge

FirstClass has the ability to link to any sensible supporter database. By the end of the year about a dozen FirstClass users will be making use of these links.

Two of the main databases that FirstClass has been configured to link to are the Raiser’s Edge and Care Contacts databases. As such, we are having discussions with both of these companies to see if these links can be further developed and more streamlined. In fact, at the time of writing this newsletter, Neil is spending time with the Blackbaud ‘API’ to see if we can call the Raiser’s Edge Contact screen directly from within FirstClass.

We will contact all users when we have further information on this.

FirstClass Training

After a recent successful FirstClass training session for a number of the Legacy Link consultants held in the British Legion training room we have decided to see if it would be possible to run regular FirstClass training here.

Six people attended the training course at the British Legion. Each person had their own PC and had access to a full version of FirstClass. The course included a general refresher on using FirstClass together with a ‘crash’ course in setting up Standard Letters. The training room itself was well equipped and there was a pleasant area nearby where we enjoyed the hospitality provided by the Royal British Legion.

We thought that a number of different training sessions could be developed including a day long Introduction to FirstClass and separate half day sessions, for instance for:

Smee and Ford Electronic Notifications
Standard Letters
Reporting from FirstClass
A FirstClass ‘master class’ for Legacy Managers

We would like to know what sort of interest there would be for these (and any other) courses. We hope to start these training courses early in the new year.

Please watch out for details about the first of these courses in the next ILM Newsletter.

FirstClass Support

And finally once again a quick reminder that we have a dedicated email address for FirstClass support:
firstclass.support@clearwater-consultancy.co.uk

This is in addition to our individual email addresses. If you use this new email address your email will be forwarded to each of us in the FirstClass support team.

If you want to catch up on previous newsletters, please visit our website:
www.clearwater-consultancy.co.uk

Many thanks

F Gordon Cooke

Clearwater Consultancy Ltd. 18 St. George’s Street, Chorley, Lancashire. PR7 2AA

Tel: +44 (0)1257 272730