Support for the new WBT HTML giving reports?

[jmuehleisen]

Greetings all.

Last night I was able to finish 5.37.12, which I hope will address most of the known issues in the WBT HTML gift importer.

It also addresses some problems where giving history updates were not appearing properly in the Donor giving details screens.

To properly update the donor giving details, simply repost the giving reports for the months that seem to be missing.

Now, several people reported problems with multiple gifts from the same donor in a single month where the program only posted the first gift. I THINK I have that one fixed. If you find that this is still a problem, please let me know.

So, give this update a try and see how it goes. I recommend using "Live Update" if that is an option for you rather than a manual download, but feel free to use whatever works best for you.

[carol_schatz]

John,

Thanks for all your work on the WBT HTML files. In one note, you said, "If you do decide to post a month and something doesn't come out right, you can always clear a month and post the batch again once the next update comes out, though."

Another place, you used the term "repost."

How do I "clear a month"? What does it mean to "repost"?

Thanks,
Carol

[jmuehleisen]

Carol,

You can simply go through the contributions posting routine a second time with the same data file. The program will realize that you are reprocessing a file and will simply update the data files with the data in your html file, and should fix any problems that may have occurred.

So, just do the file again. You don't have to go through the address updates ... just say "skip all updates" ... if you want.

Now, if you do want to "clear a month's giving history" completely, there is a routine that does that on the pull down "tools" menu at the very top of your screen (/File /Edit /Reports /Tools). Look for an option that says "Clear a month's giving info."

I hope that helps!

[jmuehleisen]

Thanks to some very good feedback from some users, I have found another bug in the gift posting routine that may cause some problems in certain circumstances with multiple gifts from a given donor.

The problem only occurs if multiple gifts are received in the same month as that donor is added to the database (or linked to) for the first time.

This problem was not specific to any one organization, but was a problem in the generic part of the gift posting routine.

At any rate, I think (hope and pray) that I have this one fixed in this latest update: 5.37.14. It is available for download via "Live Update" or manual download from the downloads page.

[djklord]

I'm using DM 5.37.14 which I think is the latest available.

About a month ago I tried to import my latest Wycliffe HTML gift file into DM. It didn't work, but I figured I'd wait for others to complain and then get the latest fixed version of DM. Well, it's been a month and nobody else seems to have complained, so I'm wondering if the problem is only with my setup.

When I import the HTML file, DM appears to be processing it, then I get a message from you warning that this is a Beta version of the Wycliffe HTML import tool - but that's it. The "Next" button never becomes available; it remains greyed-out. And, if I try to generate a report of what I just imported, I am told there are no gifts for that month.

Has anybody else reported this? or do you suppose something is corrupted in my setup?

Dan Lord
IT guy at Wycliffe North Central

[djklord]

I wrote a few days ago about the fact that my Wycliffe HTML report for Aug did not import into DM. Well, today I tried to import the Sept. report and it worked fine. So, there must be something unusual about my Aug. report. I may have to enter that data by hand.

If there are any other Wycliffe people reading this forum, did YOUR Aug. report import OK?

Dan
IT guy @ Wycliffe USA North Central

[Hankster]

Here are the problems that I have encountered with the Wycliffe HTML import. I'm on 5.39.05 and have been for a number of months. Each month I have been running into the same problem and thought I'd mention what I'm seeing. For now I have been hand editing the HTML file with Notepad (not too fun) to work around the problems:

(1) Comments that wrap to two lines in HTML goof up the import process with the donor's name or address coming into the wrong fields. My manual fix is to fix the format so that the comment is all on the same line in HTML, and there is room in the statement for this. I then delete the HTML code for the part of the line that wrapped so that the comment is all on a single line.

(2) I receive a monthly donation from a church whose address includes "%persons name" and then on the next line "street address". This normally goofs up things too and the wrong fields are matched up. Seems like I have the same problem for another church who has a PO box listed on one line and then a street address on the next line. That sort of address is probably not officially valid, but Wycliffe's system allows it and it just seems like DM has some trouble recognizing two line street addresses. My manual fix is to get rid of one line and combine the two into a single line street address.

(3) I just ran into this new error today for a donor who is giving with a credit card. The Wycliffe statement now has a "CC" indicator on it to indicate the payment method of Credit Card. From analysis of past WBT statements, I can see that this new field appeared with the statement that was generated at the beginning of October 2007. For now my fix will be just to delete the "CC" text in the HTML code.

I don't expect "normal" people to be hand-editing HTML code, but for those who might be encountering the same issues maybe this will be helpful. Also for John maybe this info will be useful the next time he has time to work on debugging the import process. John: Let me know if you want a sample file to experiment with. I keep the original files as well as my modified ones and will be happy to give you one to test the bugs with.

Hank Scott
Wycliffe / JAARS

[jmuehleisen]

Hank,

Thanks for the detailed analysis on this.

The "CC" problem has been fixed in 5.40 or later which should come out in the next day or so.

The other items are on my list as well, but won't get fixed in this 5.40 update.