Church Software

What *is* church calendar software, you might ask? Well, basically it is a computerized method of keeping track of important dates and events and issuing you with reminders of things you may need to do for these dates. You need never forget a date or event again - nor forget to plan for it. But before you jump right in and buy a church calendar software package, there are a few things you need to consider first:

The people using any software you buy may be complete novices with the software, perhaps even a technophobe who has hardly touched a computer in their life before. How easy is the package to install and to run? Try demo versions which should be available on websites, before you buy. Is there a support and helpline system to help with any queries and problems after you buy? How is this help available - tutorials, phone-lines, e-mail contacts etc? You need to be sure you can use this package after you buy it, so make sure the help is available in a format you can easily access.

Now to the church calendar software itself - how adaptable is it to your particular church's needs? How easy is it to schedule several people to one event, or to assign people and resources to several projects at one time? Life is never simple and you will always have several things going on at once in a thriving church: make sure your computerized scheduling equipment can cope with this demand. How quickly can you change calendar entries when there is a change of plan? - There *will* be changes of plans! Do changes show up straight away in your calendar or do you need to re-boot or refresh to get them to show up? - Knowing that can save an awful lot of confusion and anxiety later.

Take a close look on the demo to see how the church calendar software allows people to work collaboratively. Sharing information and allowing several people to update the calendar at one time may be available; if it is, it's very useful. See if the software package you're considering allows you to schedule recurring events all at once - it should do. Just think of all that time and energy you'll save then.

What information you get out of the software is as important as what you put in, of course. Are different views like weekly, daily, yearly and group type reports available? Does the software allow you to import and export data into other formats for reporting? XML, CSV etc? Can you do all this without being an IT expert?

Of course, having an all-singing, all-dancing church diary software package is great, but price is normally a factor too, especially as a non-profit-making organization. Once you've done some preliminary homework of what packages are available on the market and what they can do, as well as how much they all cost, set a budget. Be sensible about matching up what you need the software to do with how much you can afford to pay for it. Ask if there are discounts available. There often are - especially for non-profit-making organizations like churches, or if you want several licenses to run the software at different sites. If you don't ask, you don't get!

Find out if your software will be automatically updated as the makes improve the product and produce add-ons. How often can you expect these updates? Are they free?

Is the software compatible with what you're already running - beware buying something that isn't! Watch out for recurring fees. Some web calendar software companies charge monthly fees which can quickly become expensive. Also, be careful not to buy something you don't need. Extra features are only really good if you will use them. They're not a status symbol to sit on your computer unused and ignored.

So, beware hidden costs and potential problems of incompatibility of software, but try asking the various companies support services about these. It's a good way to try them out. Always run a demo of the software to see that it does what you want it to - quickly and easily. Then go for it! You'll be amazed how much simpler life is once you've purchased the right church calendar software.