Release Notes
DIMS Version 1.2 goes Live today (April 06/10)
Today The Diocesan Information Management System (DIMS) will be upgraded to Version 1.2. The upgrade contains updates that have been identified to improve the appearance and add new capabilities in the continued evolution of the system.
Following are the highlights of the upgrade to Version 1.2:
1. The ‘Place of Birth’ field is now included in the print of Baptism Records. Complete records can now be printed which provides;
• Efficiency improvements in providing Baptismal records to the Diocesan Archives
• The ability to improve the process for printing certificates of baptism. The certificate printing can now be setup to print directly from DIMS, reducing internal administration.
2. You will notice a change in the screen background. It is now a clear white rather than the speckled background, used in the previous versions, to give a cleaner, crisper appearance.
3. Maintaining ‘household’ names and addresses is now supported. This capability has been added to increase the value to parishes who wish to utilize DIMS for maintaining their parish lists. All parishioners (names and addresses) can be added to DIMS and associated with the group ‘Parish Member’ (which currently exists). With the household related fields added, communications (email or labels for Canada Post mailing) is enabled. The ability to maintain a current database of names and addresses opens many opportunities for individual parishes (or deaneries / archdeaconries).
Two (2) new fields have been added to the People Profile;
• This Person is the Head of a Household? This field is ‘clicked’ on to indicate this person is the Head of the Household.
• Once marked, the following field ‘Household Mailing Label Name’ is mandatory.This accommodates the appropriate name for the household / family for the purposes of mailings (e.g. seasonal or news letters). It is defined to meet Canada Post standards for mailing which has lots of space for including family member names if desired. Of course the associated reporting capabilities are included:• Addition of the Head of Household fields in the People List – Excel Report
• Mailing Labels for ‘Head of Household only” from the Parish List menu
4. A demo site has been created to enable TAS Solutions to move forward with demonstrating the DIMS capabilities to future clients. I am interested in offering my assistance to any parish that would like help setting up or populating their data in DIMS.
Please let me know if there are parishes that are interested. In addition, I am interested in gathering the next set of wish lists, as well as any/all feedback on this release. I believe the inclusion of the household fields and communications capabilities will open up to other opportunities, to evolve DIMS to being a more comprehensive church data management system.
Regards
Sharon
TAS Solutions
DIMS Version 1.1 goes Live today (May 21/09)
Today The Diocesan Information Management System (DIMS) will be upgraded to Version 1.1. The upgrade will contain updates that have been identified to improve the usability of the system and add more capabilitities associated with Baptism record keeping.
Following are the highlights of the upgrade to Version 1.1;
- Improvement to the usability of Baptism recording and reporting capability;
- Added the ability to Print Baptism records
- Added the ability to view all Baptism records that have been entered (capability remains to view by year)
This improvement establishes the foundation needed to further improve the efficiencies of managing Baptism records. Two examples include; - Ability for the Diocesan Archives to access records directly reducing internal administration
- Ability to look at additional opportunities (e.g. Printing of Baptismal certificates)
- Improved the friendliness of how the calendar functions. This improvement addresses 4 areas; Baptisms - Date of Birth, Baptisms - Baptism Birth, Official Attributes - Date of Ordination to the Diaconate & Date of Ordination to the Priesthood
- Added the ability to easily input (type) the year rather than reliance on cumbersome time consuming arrow navigation
* Improved the ability to maintain complete/accurate profiles
o People Profile additions to dropdown lists - People (Maintain);
+ Prefixes (The Rev'd Deacon)
+ Suffixes (Deacon and QC)
+ Positions (Priest-In-Charge)
o Baptism Records - Added the ability to capture 'Father's Occupation' and 'Mother's Occupation' - Parish (Maintain)
* Updated/corrected mis-spellings present in Release 1 eg.
o Corrected in 'Parish Statistics Report 'On Weekends' to 'On Weekdays' (in reference to attendance)
The Synod Office would appreciate any comments with respect to the improvements that have been made. We would like to be in a position to provide feedback back to TAS Solutions with respect to the value of the improvements. In addition, input on an ongoing basis is welcome (and necessary) as we continue to enhance the DIMS functionality.
Regards
Sharon
TAS