FirstClass Newsletter Spring 2007

1. Added Value
New ‘Added Value’ functionality has been added to FirstClass and is available in version 2.1.32 and onwards. This functionality has been developed so that FirstClass users can record where they feel that they have added value to a legacy for their charity. One or more Added Value records can be added for a case. Each Added Value record has an Added Value Reason, which is selected from a list maintained by the charity. The Added Value record also has Value Added, Date Added and Notes fields. FirstClass also records who created the record.

A new grid report has also been developed, which lists all Added Value records for cases closed between the 2 report dates. This report will be automatically added to the system when your version of FirstClass is next upgraded.

Additionally, 2 alternative validation routines are available for when a case is closed. The first option provides a warning when a user closes a case, which has no Added Value records. The second option prevents a case from being closed if it has no Added Value records.

2. Importing Emails for Groupwise Users
This new functionality has been developed for charities where Groupwise is used for emailing. It is now in use at WWF-UK and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. This development attempts to mirror the functionality already available to FirstClass users who use Outlook for emailing. Hence users can view a list of emails in their Inbox from within FirstClass. Emails can then be imported from here and linked to an existing case record by a contact history record.

3. In Memoriam Module (Donations in Memory)
The In Memoriam module was designed in conjunction with World Vision and has now been in use for the last 10 weeks. Karen Bissaker from World Vision says,

“The In Memoriam module has made life for the legacy team at World Vision much easier. As we are responsible for both legacy and in memoriam fundraising, we used FirstClass to record In Memoriam donations as a legacy type. However, this wasn’t completely ideal and the number of records involved began to clog up our case browser!”

“The new module enables us to record exactly the information we need for each In Memoriam record. This includes the name of the deceased person and associated contacts such as funeral directors, family and friends. The module also allows us to set up different Memoriam types, ideal for long-term fund raising in memory of a loved one or specific fundraising campaigns. We can record donations made, write to the donors to maintain a contact history and the review system is invaluable.”

“We wouldn’t be without it now and the team members love it as it means that they can take ownership of their own area of work.“

The In Memoriam module is now available to all FirstClass users for a reasonable cost. If anyone is interested please get in touch.

4. Life Interest Module
We are planning to install a beta test version of the new Life Interest module at GDBA in June for testing and feedback. This 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. We will let you know when this module goes live at GDBA. Watch this space.

Versions and Upgrading

FirstClass is continually updated as we add new features and functionality (and occasionally sort out the odd glitch). As well as the larger developments listed above we continually make many other smaller changes that hopefully improve the way that FirstClass works.

We also have to make sure that FirstClass works with new versions of software released by Microsoft (and others), including new versions of Windows, Office (especially Outlook and Word) and the latest version of SQL Server (this is where the FirstClass data is stored). You may come across SQL Server 2005 (the latest version of SQL Server) when your IT department decides that it is time to upgrade their database servers.

We are presently in the process of upgrading all FirstClass users onto version 2.1.34, so if you have not already been upgraded you should hear from us in the next few months.

Grid Reports

The majority of reports in FirstClass were developed using a software program called Crystal Reports TM. These reports all produce a traditional report, which when viewed on screen, looks like a printed sheet. Although we still develop some reports using Crystal Reports TM (and sometimes make changes to existing reports for some charities), these days we develop many of our reports as ‘Grid’ reports. These reports produce the data on screen in a simple browser or grid. As with all our browsers, the data in a Grid report can be easily filtered, ordered and exported.

Usually we develop these reports on an ad-hoc basis as required by individual charities. For example, we have developed ‘Accrual reports’ for a number of charities. Each of these reports works differently to match the charity’s individual requirements. Some of the reports we have designed have been quite complex, for instance some Grid reports developed for use at the RSPB have been designed to provide data for monitoring notifications and income.

A number of these Grid reports have been designed to refresh data contained in spreadsheets so that data tables and graphs are automatically updated.

Recently we developed some Grid reports for CAFOD to report on average case legacy administration times by legacy type including, Average Time from Last Will Date to Date of Death, Average Time from Date of Death to First Receipt and Average Time from Notification to Closure.

From our point of view the advantage of Grid reports is that they are often easy for us to develop and then even more straightforward for the charity to install.

Legacy Foresight and Residuary Share Reporting

We have recently developed 2 new Grid reports with Legacy Foresight (and with invaluable input from Linda Sansum a financial analyst at GDBA). These reports were used to investigate if there has been any change over the last few years in the Residuary Share received by a charity. The reports look at the numbers of cases with a residuary share between 0% and 25%, 26% to 50%, 51% to 75% and 76% to 100% for cases closed by financial year. These reports also report on Income Received, Average Income and Income as a percentage of Net Estate Value. The data from these Grid reports is used to update an existing spreadsheet with its related graphs.

Please contact Clearwater if you would like to install these reports and a copy of the associated spreadsheet.

Welcome to new FirstClass Users

Since our last newsletter Greenpeace and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity have started using the full version of FirstClass. Additionally, both SENSE and Tearfund have started using FirstClass Express. Tearfund previously used the ‘old’ Access version of FirstClass and decided that FirstClass Express would be more than adequate for their requirements.

Sense are new to FirstClass and find that FirstClass Express is ideal as they outsource much of their legacy administration to an external consultant who is able to access FirstClass Express from his own office, while the Legacy Manager at Sense can access the data from the Sense HQ to check on the progress of their legacies.

“Since FirstClass has been operational we have tracked how many working hours it has saved and it has proved very cost effective” says Vic Weekes, Legacy Manager at Sense. “Working with an administration manager who is not in the same office was a challenge as it meant that we needed to both be able to access and update information in real time. Now that all our live files are on FirstClass we are both able to see at a glance the position of any case the other has actioned. Life is much easier.”

Recently Barnardos started using the FirstClass scanning module, while Blue Cross plan to start scanning in the next month or so.

CLOM

I am planning to attend CLOM again this year. If you have any questions, concerns or bright ideas for future FirstClass developments please don’t hesitate to say hello!

FirstClass Support

As a quick reminder 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