Batch Contributions Entry Control Methods
Batch Contributions offers three control methods to help ensure the accuracy of your contributions entry. These are helpful if your offering is very large and must be processed in several batches by different people. You could also use it if you have many people who give to more than one Giving Fund each week.
Control Method 0 (No Control Method)
Control Method 0 is using no control method during contributions entry as described previously. You may check Hide Control Methods on the Batches tab of the Contributions System Preferences if you choose this option. If not, make sure Control Method 0 is selected and leave the Control No. field blank on the Batch Setup window.
Control Method 1
The final choice is Control Method 1—the most complicated, but also the most accurate method. Using this method you need to know the number of Giving Funds included in each giver’s contribution, which you will multiple times the numeric Giver’s Code/envelope number. The resulting products from all givers is totaled to make the control number. For example, if our 3 gifts from 3 Giving Units were as follows:
Giver’s Code 100 gave to 2 Giving Funds: 100x2=200
Giver’s Code 101 gave to 3 Giving Funds: 101x3=303
Giver’s Code 102 gave to 1 Giving Fund: 102x1=102
The total of 200+303+102=605 is the Control Number. So, on the Batch Setup window you would select Control Method 1 and enter 605 in the Control No. field.
Control Method 1 not only ensures that your have credited contributions to the right Giving Unit, but that you have broken the gift down properly.
Obviously, all this calculating can become unwieldy if you have a large number of gifts to enter. This is where dividing the offering into batches becomes so helpful.
Control Method 2
Control Method 2 is the middle ground—not the simplest, but not the least effective in ensuring accuracy either. Using Control Method 2, you add all the numeric Giver’s Codes/envelope numbers and multiple that total by the total number of contributions. The resulting number is your control number which is entered in the Batch Contributions Setup window.
For example, you have 3 gifts from 3 Giving Units whose Giver’s Codes are 100, 101, and 102. First you add the numeric Giver’s Codes 100+101+102 = 303. Then you multiple that total time the total number of gifts, 303 x 3 = 909. On the Batch Setup win- dow you would select Control Method 2 and enter 909 in the Control No. field.
This control method ensures that you do not credit contributions to the wrong Giving Unit. For example, if you mistakenly typed a Giver’s Code of 110 instead of 101, the calculation would be 100+110+102= 312 and 312x3=936. As you enter contributions, CDM+ performs the same calculations you did before you started and the result would not agree with the number you entered in the Batch Setup window, alerting you to an error—not just that you missed a contribution or miscounted, but that you may have misdirected a gift.
Control Method 3
Using Control Method 3, you simply choose Control Method 3 and enter the total number of contributions you have to enter as the Control No. on the Batch Setup window. The number will decrease as you enter contributions. If it is not zero after you have entered the last contribution, you have made an error somewhere—either in data entry or counting the number of contributions.
About Control Methods
If you need a quick reminder of what each Control Method is and does, you can do so within CDM+.
In the Batch Contributions Entry window, click on the small Add button near the top. When the Batch Contribution Setup window opens, click the About Control Methods button at the bottom of the window.
