davidson@intvax.UUCP (03/30/87)
I have just started reading this newsgroup so I wouldn't know if this question has been asked recently. Because I do not use a ibm pc routinely, please forgive my ignorance. My experience with computers has been with scientific and engineering applications on large unix machines. I do not have any business application experience with computers. I am treasurer at my church where someone recently donated a ibm-pc clone. It is my job to computerize our book keeping system. Does anyone have any suggestions on how best to do this? If I had to do it without any advice, I would use a spread-sheet (1-2-3?) for cash receipts, use some sort of check writing package for cash disbursements, and some sort of general ledger package. Since the member records will be computerized also, it would be nice if contributions could be posted to member records also. I know of a few "church packages" that claim to do *everything*. The problem with these is that they cost $1,500 and up. Our church can't afford to spend that much money. We wouldn't be computerizing now if it wasn't for the donation of the computer. I would be grateful for ANY suggestions someone would have! -- William M. Davidson Sandia National Laboratories ...ucbvax!unmvax!sandia!intvax!davidson (505) 846-1868
flowers@ucla-cs.UUCP (04/05/87)
>It is my job to computerize our book keeping system. >If I had to do it without any advice, I would use a spread-sheet >(1-2-3?) for cash receipts, use some sort of check writing package for >cash disbursements, and some sort of general ledger package. >Since the member records will be computerized also, it would be nice if >contributions could be posted to member records also. > >I know of a few "church packages" that claim to do *everything*. The >problem with these is that they cost $1,500 and up. Our church can't >afford to spend that much money. Give PC-SIG a try. They are one of the groups that has a "selective" collection of public domain software and sharewear, which they distribute for $6.00 a disk. They include many spreadsheets, bookkeeping, word processors, utilities, etc. I have tried a few and some are real wins and some are disappointing (something that impresses a teenager doesn't always impress a computer professional), but at that cost, you can afford to experiment. Some of their disks, like Fansi Console, are also sold as commercial products by other companies. They seem to offer reasonable support, they have a technical info number that I've used, but not for anything critical, though I've heard good things about it. They are having a new catalog of all their disks (705 total) due any day now (their previous catalog covers only the first 300 or so, and remaining disks are listed only in short updates). They have recently been updating much of their inventory to get current versions. One of their disks, #659, is listed as a program to keep track of church contributions in 20 different categories. [By the way, has anyone tried Dos-a-Matic (#498), described as a program which loads multiple programs in memory and allows you to switch among them by hitting a single key?] Much of the software they have is also available on bboards, and places like SIMTEL20, but PC-SIG can be convenient. I've seen ads for other organizations like this, but this is the one I've familiar with. PC-SIG 1030D E. Duane Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 800-245-6717 (800-222-2996 in CA) If you want, for a few hundred dollars, you can buy the whole inventory on CD-ROM.