Omega Church Update November 2011
This latest update to Omega Church contains a number of exciting new features. On this page we explore some of the key features in more detail.
Click here to download the update
Introducing the new and improved Multi-Site Edition
Many of our existing customers will be familiar with Omega Multi-Site Edition. Omega Multi-Site allows you to have the software installed on as many different machines as required, all for one price. In today's church, administration is not in the hands of one or two people but often several. Each of these people will require Omega for different reasons - for example, the treasurer will want to access Omega to record church expenditure whilst the pastor may want to record a recent visit. A church co-ordinator may want to print off a list of names and addresses for those in a certain organisation. Multi-Site allows each of these people to have Omega installed on their own PC to access the data whenever they choose.
With this latest version of Omega, Multi-Site users can now take full advantage of a vastly improved process whereby Omega stores the latest version of the data file online in a secure location, so that each time a person logs in on their own machine, Omega will tell them if the data is available for use. If someone else has "checked out" the data, Omega will inform them of this and intive them to access a read-only version of their stored copy. For the person that has "checked out" the data and finished making their changes, Omega will then automatically transfer the latest data file to the secure online location for the next person to use.
These improvements to Multi-Site have been trialled with a small number of users for several months and to great success. We are now pleased to make these improvements available to everybody.
To learn more about Omega Multi-Site, including how to upgrade your version to this, please contact us on omega@gcdtech.com.
Image Support in Membership
Images can also now be brought out in reports and there is now a new template that allows you to produce a photo directory for your congregation - something which is becoming more popular in churches today.
Batch Email Facility
Omega Church makes htis job easier by allowing you to prepare a batch email to be sent out to members of your congregation. Using a set of common filters (e.g. Age, Category, District etc) you can produce a list of names and email addresses to use to produce an email to be sent to those people.
You can then send out the email using our very own online batch email system, or if preferred, your own batch email provider.
Version Detection
Improved Pastoral Features
We have looked to make vast improvements to Omega Church's pastoral features - improvements include:
- New “one-stop” pastoral screen, which allows you to configure pastoral types, review visit history and record visits - all from one screen
- A new and improved hospital list with additional filters and search options
- Birthdays and anniversaries report, with a new "key date" facility that allows you to specify an important date against a member (for example, a birth "due date" for an expectant mother). Upcoming birthdays are also highlighted on the home screen
- Improved family reports including "church directory" option
Other features in this release include:
- Standing orders can now be set up against married couples
- Gift aid exclusion periods - specify periods for which you cannot claim gift aid for a member
- Can now record multiple funds against one batch in envelope income
- Updated voter calculation for PCI users - now takes into account contributions by a son or daughter within a family
- Tax Reclaim feature for ROI churches
- Home screen messages can now be sent to all users
- Ability to add custom notes to any report
- Additional info in "Personal Details" tab for young people including school year