ACS Software

ACS

Whereas I can work seamlessly with ACS a lot of my coworkers have difficulties and I'm constantly showing them how to do things they don't do on a regular basis. It has solved the issues of church body data management. Everyone has been trained on how to enter the information into the database. It's just difficult for those, who don't work in the details very often, to get information out of it.

Pros

I love that once you understand the logic behind the software it's very user friendly.

Cons

If you don't take a training class on the logic behind the software it's difficult to understand the more detailed inner workings of the software.

ACS Financials

Great at what they do. An industry leader

Pros

Great accounting software package with robust reporting options.

Cons

Not able to easily import bills. Wish it could link better with our bank and online billing.

Outdated and Frustrating

Possibly I am only using one aspect of the software, but it seems like one must have to have a lot of training in the program to know how to use it well. The user interface is also very outdated.

Pros

For our needs, it does take our general weekly attendance and keep track of it, which is what we need.

Cons

This program is NOT user-friendly. It seems to take two different attempts to log in and then you have to follow a series of confusing links to get where you need to go.

ACS is okay

Pros

The thing that I like most about this software is that it can hold a very large amount of data.

Cons

The thing I like least about this software is that it is not user friendly, it is difficult to figure out how to use.

Great at somethings

Like I said in the title ...there are certian things ASC does great...The G.L. is one of those...but out side of that there seem to be several competitors that are now out pacing ASC...Infact we will be moving away from thier people suite in the spring...

Pros

Great at the general ledger and a ton of flexible reporting

Cons

Ugly U.I. which sounds silly but makes it a lot harder to get the average user to engauge with
Steep learning curve

Not Intuitive, But Great Once It's Going

ACS is good stuff -- if it is set up correctly and consistently. I like it overall. But there is a steep learning curve.

Pros

I love how flexible/customizable it is, to fit nearly any faith community. It also can be integrated with other programs (giving, background checks, etc.).

Cons

TOTALLY not intuitive. Also, I was assured that the ACS Finance training I was going to was completely for non-finance people and I couldn't follow it at ALL due to the heavy, HEAVY reliance upon accounting jargon.

Helpful, but not user-friendly

As a new employee coming into the administrative secretary position a few months ago, I was confident that it would take me no more than a couple of months to get familiar with ACS and to be flying through the steps necessary to keep an accurate accounting record. I have a higher than average knowledge and skill base with technology and software. I have been discouraged with how long it is taking me to grasp the full scope of the ACS software and how best to manage our accounting needs.

Pros

ACS Technologies accounting software for churches has many capabilities that are necessary in the accurate accounting of all the funds coming into and going out from the church. We are able to print detailed reports for our Finance Team to review each month, follow a clear auditing trail, and have up-to-date information on the funds remaining for each ministry team.

Cons

ACS is not at all user-friendly and requires a great deal of specialized training in order to be up and running within a reasonable amount of time. It is not intuitive and while the customer service phone line is very helpful and readily available, it is extremely difficult for someone to come in as a new employee and take over the reigns in regards to accounting. There are training sessions available, but they are typically only offered in South Carolina where the ACS corporate offices are located. That makes it difficult for a smaller church to afford to send one or two employees for training in a timely manner. There are manuals available for print, but again, weeding through the many pages of the manual is not an easy task for a person who is unfamiliar with the software. The tools needed for church accounting are there, however, they are difficult to master in practice.

Good management software for churches

Church membership management, running reports, accounting and bookkeeping, contributions, etc

Pros

- Easy to use
- Great customer service
- Great customizability

Cons

Could look more modern, but certainly gets the job done

ACS for First Church

Pledgers who are not attending.

Pros

Reports, tracking a stewardship campaign over several years, customer service is tops.

Cons

Uses a software that doesn't convert excel spreadsheets into a functional spreadsheet. The columns do not keep the formulas. Therefore you have to make the formulas in a new column. Multiply steps for reports. Should have more reports that are already set up in the software.

A Great Product Overall with World-Class Customer Service

ACS is a church software product with several different suites to choose from. I found the People Suite, then Realm, extremely helpful in keeping member records, and the Financial Suite gives the church the reports and information needed for making budget decisions.

Pros

ACS Realm is a simpler version of ACS People Suite, and much more intuitive. The implementation was smooth and the transition fully backed by their wonderful customer service. I also love getting a live, knowledgeable person on the phone within a few seconds of calling.
Payroll is also very easy in ACS Financial Suite.

Cons

The Financial Suite is not intuitive, but mistakes have gotten easier to fix due to upgrades. The church is still waiting to switch to ACS Realm Financials, as payroll cannot be done there, despite well over a year of promises that it is happening soon. It would be helpful for Realm input of donations to flow to the Financial Suite.
Also, ACS People Suite gave options for certain reports that cannot be run in ACS Realm.

ACS is overall okay.

Pros

I like how it stores a lot of information and that the customer service is always very prompt.

Cons

I do not like the ​interface, it is outdated and can be confusing.

ACS - Finance - People - Headmaster

We selected this product years ago, because we needed a church database software that could do a good job with Finance/General Ledger processes. The product we were using at the time did not perform well. We researched a variety of products, narrowed our search to 3, and visited areas churches that were using the 3 products to test them out. At that time, ACS was much more user friendly than the other products. We have now been talking to ACS about converting to Realm. Watching demos, Realm is much more modern looking and ease of use is high. We will be working on transitioning to this within the coming year. After talking to other churches who have made this transition, we will take a gradual approach - activating Realm with staff for a time period first before fully activating with the entire congregation.

Pros

Performs general ledger and accounts payable functions well. Headmaster is used for Preschool/Kindergarten classes.

Cons

Headmaster is a little cumbersome to use, but you get used to it. Heavy on data entry to set up students. We looked into using Event Scheduler, but determined it was too cumbersome for our use.

Our church uses it to track congregants and their personal details.

Being able to easily recall information about people in order to reach out to them.

Pros

It was easy to pull up information on how to contact someone or to find out personal details about their family. This is especially helpful in large churches where you might not know everyone who attends very well.

Cons

I don't have any cons that I can think of at the moment. I might have to say that the information may need to have stronger security settings, or I was given more access than some people (ie. volunteers) maybe should have.

ACS, it has everything I need. It's great

I improve my way of organizing and analyzing my activities inside and outside of my social environment. Applications are necessary because they help us improve our relationships and have time for other activities

Pros

It is very useful- I liked the ease of use and the characteristics it offers for the management of the church and the school. In addition, the ACS customer service and development teams were incredible. I recommend it a lot. Excellent

Cons

It is necessary to make some updates in certain areas to streamline the customer service process. In addition, it does not have the latest in operating system updates and passwords.

I used ACS in my previous job as a Finance Manager for a church

Pros

I really liked the ease of use and the features that ACS offered for church and school management. Also, ACS's customer service and development teams were incredible.

Cons

At times, the wait time for customer service was rather lengthy, especially around peak seasons like in February and March near tax time.

We use ACS for check and supplies ordering.

Pros

The customer service with ACS is very helpful. Their website is user friendly and saves your previous orders to allow for easy reordering.

Cons

Our organization recently switched banks and it required a couple phone calls to design new checks with our new information on it. The customer service was very helpful but it was somewhat time consuming.

Endless Possibilities with this, no matter your size.

Pros

ACS is great if you need everything. They offer a lot, and have been around for a while, so they know the Church world. Their support is usually quick and knowledgable. You don't have to be an IT master to work with them as they walk you through everything you need.

Cons

They offer everything, sometimes it's better when a software focuses on just what You need not everything that raises costs and may end up bloating software.

Very good tool to manage churches even small

Good application for the administrative management of churches

Pros

The customer service is very friendly and efficient. The application is quite robust for the administrative management of churches.

Cons

It is not a very intuitive application, which is compensated with the efficient support it has. Also the interface is a bit simple

We used this at a friends church to see how it would work before buying and decided against it.

Pros

The interface was really clean and simple, it seemed pretty easy to move around for the most part when working in it.

Cons

It was just too basic for our needs, not robust enough to really do what we wanted. I wish there was more to do everything we needed for our church.

It is really an option to maintain a conection between members of different churchs

As member of a catholical community I would have actual information about my churh

Pros

It is an important tool to communicate information , independent of the church size, with total access to information anytme and anywhere

Cons

This software only is supported in english, then it is exclusive to use only in english spoken countries