Church Windows Software

It worked but it was too much for our small church.

Pros

It was power and robust. Had all the features that church could want.

Cons

To difficult to use for volunteer staff. Only other people who used could be asked for advice so it was hard to learn without going to trainings

Church windows software is really easy to use and really stable application on our environment.
so far we have not had any issues and the software does what is suppose to.

Pros

I work with church windows almost every day we host church windows to our clients and the software is really easy to use and when our clients call for issues its more like they have user use error but its really simple to explain the software to them. and as far as I know the software is really stable and I haven't had no issues since I been working with it for the pass two years.

Cons

so far I cannot say I have anything bad to say about the software it does what is advertise and our clients have no issues and when they do and contact church windows support they get the assistance right away and they solve the problems in no time. and I have not encounter any major issues at all.

Fully automated manual processes, increase transparency and confidence in reporting.

Pros

The software is easy to learn. We implemented to automate manual processes. Webinars are offered monthly and archived for use in the future. On line help is also available. When I call the company, I am always connected with a customer service within one hour.
The reporting capability is tailorable and easy to navigate.
Today, all members are defined and data is easy to use. Revenue or collections, pledges, and special contributions are tracked with better granularity. The treasurer function tracks expenses, but overall we were able to define all assets and liabilities for the first time. We generated balance sheets and income statement. Reporting is now recurring and many more are kept informed.

Cons

The company is small, but I do not consider that a true con. I can not say enough positive about this company and their product.

Pros

I like that this financial tool for churches also includes managing payroll. Most financial tools just focus on balancing budgets, but this does more.

Cons

I don't like how the permission functions work for non-administrators. My team can't have access to do many tasks that I delegate unless I also make them administrators.

Great organization, if only through wading through an outdated user interface.

Pros

Church Windows has many useful features, their experience in the industry shows in the best ways. It'll even give you ideas.

Cons

Church Windows is quite expensive and its design is clearly ported over from older systems, I'm guessing back to Windows 3.1. It desperately needs a modern re-design, especially to justify the price.

Pros

I didn't like a lot. It was an outdated system visually, and functionally. I guess I appreciated that those who didn't know much about tech since 1995 wouldn't feel out of place

Cons

The features and functions require redundancy, which became impossible to use. ability for multiple people to manage it was also therefore impossible .

It works.

Pros

Always looking to improve the software. Help is a phone call away and they usually know their stuff. I really like how I can use to site and email questions instead of calling for something simple.

Cons

Some functions just are not user friendly. I hate leaving a message and waiting for a call back. It seems maybe they can do some one step process instead of more than functional ones.

I did not receive any benefits from this software. The only thing I received by using this software is frustration.

Cons

When info is typed in one field, it does not populate in other fields that essentially mean the same thing. Example, when a church member dies ... I have to mark them "dead" in three places! The visual appearance of Church Windows is dated ... back to the late 90's ... it it's functionality is pretty much stuck there, too.

Church Windows software is great for tracking the tithes for your church. We updated our old version when we got a new computer. The download process wasn't the easiest and ended up having a bad CD sent to us by the company but after 2 months of finally talking to someone who knew what the were doing, we had a file uploaded to us by email and were able to download it and now everything works. The program is hard to understand right off the bat, but if you use it weekly you get used to it.

Pros

Great software to use if you know what your doing or have time to do learn it.

Cons

Not easily usable
Technical Services and Customer Support as well as Technical Support, not the most knowledgeable. Took over 2 months to finally get the system running and each time they said it was a windows update issue. which was not true.

Advice to Others

Use if you need to track offering or tithing. If you have a knowledgeable person for computers then the accounting part of the software is very useful and can create clear and precise reports for your council and budget needs.

Worked with Church Windows over 12 years. Easy to use, integrated payroll, donations, acctg and membership. Everything you need in one place. On the rare occasions I did need to call, the support couldn't have been better. Perfect for the non-accountant, non- payroll people and those well versed in it.

Much more complex than the original church window program. If it were not for the tech assistance most users would be completely overwhelmed. The program was suppose to make many jobs easier, but we have not notice any simplicity.

Our office has some very proficient computer people and find that your email of statements, that was suppose to be a "slam dunk", do not have the time to try to figure out how it works. So we do the statements the old fashion way instead of emailing.Much too complex for the average user.

The tech people are mostly helpful but not 100%. Some have an attitude problem. My favorite is Rachel. She is extremely helpful, patient and knowledgeable plus thorough. She is a real asset to your organization.

Our church has been using Church Windows for about a year and couldn't be happier!
Each module of the Church Windows software is so helpful! It is so clean to have all our administrative and financial software in the same system. Each module is so well laid out and readable. I learned Church Windows just by using it - it's that intuitive! And, if you want to know how to get more out your software, they offer quick webinars and have a library of training videos! Church Windows phone support is extremely friendly and their email support responds very quickly!
I work heavily with membership and it stores detailed contact information on each of our members and enables us to easily print specific reports for any need: detailed contact list for a ministry area, simplified birthday reports, those we don't have an address for, and all kinds of attendance summaries.
This software is helping us to define and fill-in our membership roles, helps our ministry areas run more smoothly, and allows us to track and define membership goals.

Thank you Church Windows for such a useful and comprehensive product! I suggest this to any organization looking for a thorough,yet easy to use software.

My primary use is the membership module. The telephone support and user manuals are very helpful in getting CW to create nearly anything I need for membership tracking, records, and reports.

CW software helps you keep all financial records recorded and at your fingertips with a few strokes of the keyboard. The different modules allow you to jump from year to year with ease to find or make any type report. As you learn how to navigate CW, your calls to the support staff reduces, which is bittersweet. The support staff consist of all kinds of personalities to suit any personality......and you learn how to maneuver around and figure out your question before they return your call sometimes..... The great advantage of CW is the support of the staff to help you when you have a question. They are like friends and family....I joyfully recommend them. I've never been employed in a career like this and would consider myself with no experience. I enjoy this work and CW has been one of the reasons for my success in my opinion

I had a few minutes of training on the Donations module and have used it successfully for 16 months. It is very easy. I've used the Membership module for the same amount of time and been able to produce many reports that are helpful to the Pastor. About six months ago, we received the Accounting module, and while I don't know much about accounting, I am able to quickly produce the major accounting reports and draw information from them for our church meetings and annual report.

When I took on a new job recently, I was introduced to Church Windows. At first, I used the same logic as I did with a comparable software, at the end of the day, that approach didn't work. So, rather than trying to figure it out myself, I was going to call its help desk every time I needed help. And you know what, that's how I learned the system. I spoke with Church Windows technicians almost daily, sometime two and three times for the first month or two. There is no better customer service. I would rate each technician with a nine out of 10. As each day passed during the first two months on the job, working with Church Windows just got better and better, and a whole lot easier. I was amazed at how many functions the software can perform. At the end of the day, it beats ACS hands down. Now that I'm comfortable with the system, I don't talk with the techs too much anymore, unless it's to call them up and say hi.

I have been using this program for a number of years and have assisted a number of church in getting it set up. I attended the local training which they provided on the west coast every year when we first began using the program . I find the customer service to be outstanding . The only problem I find is that when a new person takes over in a church , they don't call for help and get messed up.... my advice...use customer service, check their website and keep up to date with what they offer you and things will go well.

Church Windows is very flexible. There is usually a way to access the information that you need. It is not particularly easy to use. The options which give it the flexibility also make it quite cumbersome to learn and use. Several people with whom I work think Church Windows is very tedious and frustrating, but I find simpler software can also be frustrating because you do not always have the options to get the information you need without cut and pasting into excel spreadsheets. I personally have found the webinars very helpful and the customer support very knowledgeable and willing to help. We are fortunate enough to have a computer "guru" on staff, but I would think that it would be difficult to run Church Windows without in house technical support to discuss technical issues with Church Windows (no one else here is able to "talk the talk"). The simpler programs with which I have worked have required much less customer support interaction- fewer updates, fewer options, but also fewer problems/ unknowns. Bottom line for me is that I believe accounting software is a trade off between ease of use and flexibility of use. I find Church Windows to be more flexible than simple.

Easy to use, great tech support, very helpful

I've now watched three church administrators in two different congregations struggle with Church Windows. It is neither clear nor functional: even generating a simple membership report is inordinately difficult. We spent hundred$$ for live tech support in December 2014. In without getting what our people needed to make it useful. In Feb 2015 we got a new administrator who must learn the software, but Church Windows will not allow us to purchase another live tech support subscription unless we put several hundred more dollars into a software upgrade and sign up for their most expensive 12 month subscription. In both my congregations I've had tech professionals in the congregation try to figure out Church Windows. Even they come back shaking their heads over how difficult this software is to use.