November 6, 2019 | Categories DonorPerfect Fundraising Software, DonorPerfect Update, Featured, SofterWare Products

Release Announcement: Ease-of-Use Tops Report Center Improvements

his month’s Report Center upgrade makes it easy to search for and find crucial reports to analyze your fundraising efforts using DonorPerfect.

UPDATE: The Daily Log Report Is Back!

Following this release, many of you called and wrote to tell us that you wanted the Daily Log report back. Effective immediately, the Daily Log Report is available once again. Thank you for telling us how you felt and for being so passionate about DonorPerfect. We truly have some of the best clients around!

How does your organization use DonorPerfect? It is a great system to track donor information but it can do so much more. DonorPerfect has a whole tool chest of reports to analyze your fundraising efforts. Decades of user feedback and advice from nonprofit experts have helped us to develop the crucial reports you need to cultivate donations and retain donors. We’re always looking for ways to improve reporting!

 

Report Center Updates in 2019

Throughout 2019, DonorPerfect’s Reporting features were updated several times. The new All Reports folder makes key reports easier to find and save. The Favorite reports function was streamlined to access frequent reports faster. Dozens of reports got new, more intuitive report names and descriptions that make it easy to find the exact reports you need. These Reporting updates mean you spend less time training new staff and volunteers on where to find key donor metrics. They’ve also helped you to discover new reports to gain valuable insights from your data. In this month’s release of DonorPerfect, due out this weekend, we’re building on these improvements.

 

The Best of Both Worlds – Favorites and All Reports

Earlier this year, when we made Favorites the default view in DonorPerfect’s Report Center, our clients loved the idea of having their favorite reports so handy. Yet, they missed being able to quickly scan for other reports. Could we leverage the ease-of-use that Favorite reports had with the ability to discover new reports in All Reports? In this weekend’s upcoming release, we’re doing exactly that!

Report Center will now default to the All Reports folder instead of Favorites when opened. Favorited reports will be listed first in the All Reports folder for quick access. The remaining reports will be sorted by last run date. You can also access your favorite reports by clicking on the My Favorites folder.

 

Report Center Updates

A few other ease-of-use updates top the list of changes in this weekend’s release. The tabs at the top of the screen (All Reports, Favorites and Scheduled) are now folders and sub-folders along the side. A new Actions drop down makes it easier to select the report action you want to take (open, edit, copy, delete or schedule). It’s also easier to find and read the report’s description.

 

Searching For Reports

Did you know that you could search for reports in Report Center? If you didn’t, you aren’t alone. Not many clients use and understand this feature. To help, we’ve added a prompt in the Search bar located in the upper right part of the Report Center. You don’t need to know the exact report name to find it. Enter any part of the name, a keyword or any content in a report’s description. Be sure to navigate to the All Reports folder if you aren’t sure which folder contains your report. It will only search the folder you are in.

 

Related Article: Report on Your Year-End Success
Show your board just how much your hard work paid off with these timely must-share reports!

 

Additional Report Name Changes in Report Center

Two redundant reports were eliminated in the upcoming DonorPerfect release this weekend. One report will be renamed. We’re retiring the Daily Log and Donor Names and Phone Numbers reports. If you use the Daily Log report, the Gifts by Date or the Transaction Listing report (found in Receipts), contain similiar information. The Donor Names, Addresses and Phone Numbers report should be used instead of the Donor Names and Phone Numbers report (formerly the Linear List). We’re also renaming one report. The Summary Listing will now be called Constituent Summary.

For a full list of renamed and retired reports in Report Center, visit Standard Reports That Have Been Renamed in the Knowledgebase in DP Community.

 

Release Notes

Updates to the Report Center are not the only improvements in this release. Read about all of the enhancements in the DonorPerfect 2019.11 Release Notes in the Knowledgebase in DP Community.

 

Written by Ally Orlando
21 Comments →
  1. Pat Ludwig permalink
    Not at all happy about the elimination of the Daily Report. The gifts by date report does not give me the same information and I use the Daily Report on a daily basis. Why do you have to eliminate the report? What is wrong with leaving it. What some people suggest for changes (or what you decide to change) is not always best for everyone. Now, instead of having a simple way to get the daily information, I have to create a report that will give me the same information that is now in the very simple Daily Report.
    Reply
    • Nancy Hollingsworth permalink
      Seriously. The Daily Report is the one report I use every single time I input information. I am frustrated. The suggested reports do not give me the information I need.
      Reply
      • Stephanie Kanak permalink
        Hi Nancy, Thanks for letting us know you use this report and miss it. Please see my earlier reply to Pat for some additional info on why we made this decision. I would also encourage you to submit a suggestion in Suggest and Vote if you think this report should remain. Since you don't have Easy Reports, you might consider running an Export to File report if the suggested reports don't work for you. First, you’ll need to go into Settings > Export Templates to add a new export template with just the fields in the Daily log. For Type, select Gift/Pledge Export and sort by Last Name. Here’s a picture of mine. You’ll select this template when you run an Export to File Listing report in Report Center. Be sure to select Gift/Pledge Transactions as the Type and set the date range for the dates you want. In the Export Template drop down, pick the new Daily Log export template you just created. Here’s how mine looked when I previewed it. (My date range was 11/4/19 since I didn't have any transactions after that in my sample database.) Let me know if this helps. Best, Stephanie
        Reply
    • Nancy Hollingsworth permalink
      The report is in Reports not Receipts.
      Reply
    • Diane Briggs permalink
      I also greatly miss the Daily Report!!!!
      Reply
    • Kelly Willets permalink
      I completely agree with Pat Ludwig! I use the Daily Report on a daily basis as well, and your substitutions are not cutting it for me..Why would you remove that from users??
      Reply
    • Stephanie Kanak permalink
      Hi Pat, Thank you for letting us know that you miss the Daily Log report and that you use this report all the time. Your feedback matters to us and helps us to make decisions in the future. As you noted above, we’re very responsive to our customer’s suggestions for improvements to DonorPerfect. Sometimes, that means we have to make choices that not all clients agree with. I’m sorry that’s happened in this case. We elected to remove the Daily Log report to make it easier for clients to navigate within the Report Center. Our goal was to streamline how to find and use key data. Since the fields in the Daily Log are also used in other reports in Report Center, we felt this report was repetitive. The Gifts by Date report is one of our top used reports. Many of our clients use this report on a daily basis to track fundraising progress. This report has mostly the same fields as the Daily Log report. The Transaction Listing report also has similar fields. I’d recommend checking out one of these two reports to see if they might work for you. If neither of these reports meet your needs (for example, if you need to see Flags) , you can create an Easy Report to replicate the Daily Log report. You can even schedule this report to run automatically and have the results emailed to you overnight! Be sure to include fields from the Gift/Pledge Transaction table and add these fields: LAST_NAME FIRST_NAME FLAGS GIFT_DATE AMOUNT GL_CODE SOLICIT_CODE RECORD_TYPE GIFT_TYPE PLEDGE_PAYMENT I would also encourage you to submit a suggestion in Suggest and Vote. We really do read and act on our customer feedback and would welcome your ideas on how to improve DonorPerfect. Best, Stephanie
      Reply
  2. Donna Deweese permalink
    I agree with Paul. Neither the transaction listing nor the gifts by date report has the solicitation code that my accounting department needs. I prefer the simple Daily Report.
    Reply
    • Stephanie Kanak permalink
      Hi Donna, Thanks for letting us know that you agree with Pat about the Daily Log report. Your feedback is important to us. If the Gifts by Date or Transaction Listing reports don’t have all the data you need, I’d encourage you to submit a suggestion in Suggest and Vote for how to improve them. We'd love to hear your ideas. In the meantime, there are 2 ways to get the exact data found in the Daily Log report, including the solicitation codes you need for accounting. You can create a new Easy Report or you can create an Export to File listing, using an export template formatted for the Daily Log report fields. I outlined how to do that in my replies to Pat and Nancy above. If you can't find that info in the comments, let me know. Best, Stephanie
      Reply
  3. Christine permalink
    Agreed. We also used that report on a daily basis. A heads up to your customers who used it frequently would have been appreciated.
    Reply
    • Stephanie Kanak permalink
      Hi Christine, Thanks for letting us know that you use this report and agree with the others. Prior to the release, we posted this blog post and a message in DonorPerfect in the top bar along with some other in-product messages to let clients know that changes to Report Center were coming. Is there a better way that you think we could notify clients about upcoming changes? You can let me know here or feel free to submit your ideas via our Suggest and Vote process. Best, Stephanie
      Reply
  4. AMY DREHER permalink
    I used the daily log for many reports as well. I will look into the new reports for replacement. This will also mean replacing some of the auto reports that I had set up. Everyone check your auto reports!
    Reply
  5. Mary DeVeau permalink
    Not at all happy about the elimination of the Daily Report which I literally used daily! I've created an "Easy" Report to try to replace it, but since there is not editing function for the easy reports I have to do a lot of work in the resulting excel spreadsheet to make it usable. Please bring back the Daily Report! It was one of the most functional reports you had.
    Reply
    • Stephanie Kanak permalink
      Hi Mary, Sorry to hear that you’re having trouble using Easy Reports as a replacement for the Daily Log report. You can also run an Export to File listing report. First, you need to create the Daily Log Export Template. You’ll use this when you run the Export to File listing report. Create the Daily Log Export Template 1. Go to Settings > Export Templates to add a new export template with just the fields in the Daily log. 2. Set Type to Gift/Pledge Export and sort by Last Name. 3. Remove any unnecessary fields and add the fields from the Daily Log Report. Here’s how mine looked. 4. Save your export template. You'll pick it when you run the Export to File listing report. Running the Export to File Listing 1. Select Reports > Report Center. 2. From the Listings Folder, select Export to File. 3. Select Gift/Pledge Transactions as the Typeand set the date range for the dates you want. 4. In the Export Template drop down,select the new Daily Log export template you just created. 5. Preview the report or select Export to File. You can open it in Excel or Google Sheets. (Here’s my preview) If you have ideas on how to improve Report Center, the Easy Reports module or other suggests I’d encourage you to submit a suggestion in Suggest and Vote. We’d like to hear your feedback. Best, Stephanie
      Reply
  6. Erin permalink
    Is there a way to add a column to the Gifts by Date report to show the solicitation code for each gift?
    Reply
    • Stephanie Kanak permalink
      Hi Erin, Unfortunately, you can’t edit the Gifts By Date report but you can create an Easy Report or an Export to File listing report with the same data and add the solicitation code to them. Please see my reply comments above for Pat, Nancy or Mary for recommendations on how to do that. I list out the exact fields you’ll need there. Best, Stephanie
      Reply
  7. Kathy Veer permalink
    I also used the Daily Log Report. I'd be fine with the Gifts by Date report if you would please ADD the following to it: Solicitation Pledge Payment Gift Narrative Reference/Check number It would also be great if there was a way to sort it alphabetically. The Gifts by Date are arranged by date (as the name states) but I'd rather have them alphabetically like the Daily Log was arranged.
    Reply
    • Stephanie Kanak permalink
      Hi Kathy, Unfortunately, you can’t edit the Gifts By Date report but when you export the report to excel, it will include the Solicitation, Pledge Payment, Gift Narrative, and Reference/Check number if you select an export template that includes them. See the Export Options box at the bottom of the report to change which export template it uses. To build your own export template, check out my comment reply to Mary above. I outline which fields to use there but you can certainly add your own too. Also, please stop by Suggest and Vote to share your ideas for how to improve the Gifts by Date report. I think these fields would be great additions to the report. I’m sure others would too! Best, Stephanie
      Reply
  8. Abigale Lamb permalink
    I use the daily log every Friday. It includes all of the information I need to provide to my finance department. I am not happy about taking the extra steps when printing a report.
    Reply
    • Stephanie Kanak permalink
      Abbey, Good news! The Daily log report was restored last night. You'll be able to use it again this Friday. Thanks for reaching out to us. Best, Stephanie
      Reply
  9. Stephanie Kanak permalink
    Hello All, I just wanted to update everyone on who commented on this blog post and to thank each of you for taking the time to give feedback. It truly made a difference! Effective immediately, the Daily Log Report is available once again in Financial Reports.
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Note: XHTML is allowed. Your email address will never be published.

Subscribe to this comment feed via RSS