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    Frequently Asked Questions

    Jump to: Accounts and People,  Mail,  Financials,  Forms,  Calendar and Events,  CMS (web) pages

    For more help, you can search through our help docs and webinars by topic in the ShulCloud Help Center.

     

    Accounts and People

    What is the difference between account type/account billing type/tag/charge type?

    Account Type: is a designation of the relationship an account or family has to the shul on a basic level they are Members, Non-members, Resigned, Organization (and deceased). Here is a helpful Guide to Account Types.

    Account Billing Type: is a designation of the financial responsibility of a member account to the shul, i.e. a grouping of how much they will be charged for dues. It is used primarily for Batch billing.

    Tag: on a basic level tags are used when grouping individuals (sisterhood, board members, youth groups, etc.). A more advanced usage would be to add administrative rights on specific forms or events without granting general administrative permissions. Here is a guide to Creating tags.

    Charge Types: are line items that function like a debit on an account for a specific purpose. Payments are made to offset charges.

     

    How do I add a family member?

    When viewing an account, you can go to the people tab in the horizontal bar and click add person.

    FAQ_accts2.png

     

    How do I associate a person with someone from a different account?

    On the people tab when viewing an account, to the right side of the person is the option to add a relationship.

    FAQ_accts3.png

     

    How do I edit a child's information?

    You can either edit the child’s information from the people screen in admin menu-> people, or from the people tab when viewing the account on the right of the child’s "person."

     

    How do I send someone a login link?

    You can send an individual a log in if they have an email address, by going to the people tab when viewing their account and clicking the little envelope next to their name.

    FAQ_accts5.png

     

    Why can’t a member log in?

    Here is a helpful guide as to Why can't a member log in?

     

    How do I merge accounts?

    Here is a helpful guide as to Merging accounts.

     

    How do I make or add someone as an administrator?

    You can add admin permissions either from the edit account page or by editing the person directly. Here is a helpful guide to Admin permissions and what they do.

     

    How can I see what the members see?

    You with the ‘Special: Change Password, Login as other Member’ permission you will be able to login as any user and see what they would see if they were logged in.

    (this is a very powerful permission and should only be given to admins with high levels of access.) here is a step by step on how to login as another.

     

    How can I add a special note on an account for Admins only?

    You can use CRM notes to leave notes on an account and limit who can see which type of note, create, follow up, and save files. Here is a help doc on setting up and Using CRM notes.

     

    How do I mark someone as deceased? 

    you can follow the steps in this help doc on marking someone as deceased.

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    Mail

    How do we increase our deliverability?

    You can add SES verification to your email senders to increase the deliverability of your emails, follow the steps on this help doc on SES deliverability.

     

    How do I make a mailing list?

    Please refer to the help doc on Mailing Lists and their options.

     

    What are the different mailing lists for?

    Mailing lists defines the nature of the mailing you are sending, and therefore the recipients. Each mailing lists has its own unique relevant features and tags to personalize the mailing. All custom mailing lists utilize the announcements mailing lists tags.

    You can refer to the Mailing lists help doc Mailing lists, and a description of each one.

     

    How do I filter my recipient list?

    The initial filter is done when selecting the mailing list. General mailing lists like announcements will have more people in them by default than specialized ones like billing or lifecycles.

    Once a mailing list is selected and you continue to step 2, If you want to send this mail to everyone, simply click continue on the top right side.

    However, if you want to target only a specific group of people, you must first clear the list, and then click on Advanced Targeting.

    FAQ_mail_4a.png

    Once you open Advanced Targeting, you can customize your list usinig a number of different filters: by Account Type, Minyan, Person Type, Age Range, Tag, Email or Mailing Address status, and by enrollment in a course (school module only). Once you have set your filter, click on "Add This Filter to Recipient List" to generate your recipients.

    FAQ_mail_4b.png 

     

    How do I attach a document?

    In ShulCloud, we only send statements , invoices and receipts (and their cover letters) as attachments. You can however upload whatever file you wanted to attach to the email into the file directory in Admin Menu-> files, and then link to it.

    Please refer to this help doc on Linking to a file in the directory.

     

    How do I get people to log in from their email?

    You can embed a login or custom login link into your email, which will log in the user based on the email address used when sending the email.

    A login link takes the user directly to their My Account page and will prompt new users to create a password, while a custom login link functions the same way but can be directed to any page, such as a form or event.

    When using rich text you will find the option on the left of the page:

    FAQ_mail_6a.png

    When using the custom login link you can enter the URL starting with the / after your Shul’s website name to specify the page the link will direct the user and enter in the text that will be used as the link.

    FAQ_mail_6b.png

    In the mail builder when you are editing a text box, you would select the chain link option next to the word [token], then change the link type to token and use the magnify glass to select a page to direct the user to.

    FAQ_mail_6c.png 

     

    How do I test my emails to make sure they look right?

    You can test you emails in two ways, you can send youself a copy of each email the recipients would receive by entering in your email here in step 3 of the mailer:

    FAQ_mail_7a.png

    Note: we do not recommend for emails with large recipient lists.

    Or you can send yourself a sample test email in Step 6:

    FAQ_mail_7b.png

    This will select a recipient at random from the recipient at step 2 and send the admin their letter.

     

    How do I save mailing templates?

    For Paper mail you would use a word template, these are word documents that utilize special merge fields that can be “read” by the ShulCloud mail system. You can read this Help document on how to Use Word templates.

    Email Templates are created and saved in the mailbuilder. Just create new mail and select Mailbuilder on step three, and then launch the mailbuilder on step 4. You can select basic template and then create your template like any other mail. But instead of clicking done and sending the mail you will click template on the top left and save as template.

    FAQ_mail_8a.png

    You will be able to name the template and override any previous versions or create a new one here.

    The next time you set up a new email your saved template will be available when you launch the mailbuilder here:

    FAQ_mail_8b.png

     

    How do I change how people are addressed?

    You can adjust how people are addressed in the body of your email or when creating mailing labels by using the field templates. You will find them in the mail builder by clicking on the [Token] button in a text box and selecting one of the field templates there:

    FAQ_mail_9a.png

    You can also find them when using rich text on the left side:

    FAQ_mail_9b.png

    Field templates can be created and/or edited in Admin menu-> My Lists-> Field Templates

    Here you can select how each of the field templates will display the name based on whether there is one person or two people on the account using the tags available under the editable section on the right.

    FAQ_mail_9c.png

     

    Mailing labels show both adults separately in recipient list, I only want to send one to account?

    The system will always print one label per family, having both adults in the recipient list means it will combine them both into one label instead of making a label for the one adult (based on certain field templates).

     

    How can I send a mailing label to each member of a family individually?

    ShulCloud will automatically combine any recipients from the same account into one paper mail. If you do not want them to be combined you will need to create multiple mailings for each member, just make sure there are no other members of the account in the recipient list.

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    Financials

     

    How do I send a statement?

    You can send a statement directly from an account to an individual by following the steps in this help document on creating a statement.

    To send the same kind of statement to more than one person at a time follow the instructions in this help document on outstanding statements.

     

    How do I send an invoice?

    You can send an invoice to more than one person through the mail system by following the steps in this help document on generating invoices.

    To send an individual invoice you can edit the charge and scroll to the bottom under charge information and you will see the invoice options:

    FAQ_financial_2.png

     

    How do I issue a refund?

    For online payments:

    You can refund a payment made online directly through ShulCloud's integrated gateway: Stripe. Follow the steps in this help document on refunding an online payment.

    Note: online payments from gateways other than Stripe, will also need to be refunded on the gateway in addition to recording the reversal in ShulCloud.

    For checks/cash or payments Follow the steps in this help document on reversing a check payment.

    Note: For checks that are refunded in QB you will want to run the reversal and batch it in a deposit. Then mark the deposit as imported in order not to have a double entry in QuickBooks.

     

    How do I transfer a payment from one charge to another one?

    If the charge already exists on the account, you simply have to edit the payment and uncheck the association from one charge and the check the one next to the other charge.

    FAQ_financial_4.png

    If the other charge is not on the account yet, you can add it first.

    Then either leave the original charge open, or reverse it as necessary.

     

    How can I find the balance of a specific charge type?

    You may want to consider going to Admin Menu-> transaction reports-> charge types. Grouping by charge type, will give you a general overview of the charges/payments/reversals and end balance for the charge types specified within the date range selected.

     

    How can I see who paid for their membership?

    Go to  Admin Menu-> transaction reports-> charge types. Grouping by account will give you any charges/payments/reversals with an opening and end balance within a date range per charge type by account.

     

    How can one person pay for another person’s account?

    An Admin can set up a third party pay option from either the online payments page or the add transaction screen. You can also adjust a completed payment as well.

    Here is a help doc on how to do third party pay.

     

    Where can I find financial reports?

    There are two places to find transaction reports, in the admin menu you can go to transaction reports or to reports and scroll (or Ctrl -F search) to reports under Transactions, Reports, Online Payments, Batch Billing.

     

    How do I change or adjust  more than one transaction (charge or payment) at a time?

    In some cases, you can adjust multiple charges or payments at once, please refer to this help doc on bulk adjust transactions.

     

    Can I charge membership dues to everyone at once?

    ShulCloud offers the ability to Batch bill your membership, this will generate a charge on all specified accounts based on certain specified criteria. Here is a tutorial on how to Create a new Batch bill.

     

    How do I know if a payment was processed online?

    When viewing or editing a payment, on the bottom there is a section for payment information.

    FAQ_financial_11.png

    Payments that were made online would have a created by link to the online payment for the transaction.

     

    How do I apply a credit on an account?

    There are two ways to add a credit on an account for services. First, if there are open charges on the account i.e. dues you can reverse the charge a certain value and note the reason (i.e. volunteer work).

    If you want to apply a a credit toward a future as yet to be named charge, you can create a non monetary payment type, by going to admin menu-> my lists-> payment types

    Create a new type, call it something easily identifiable and check off that this is non monetary payment type.

    FAQ_financial_12.png

    Then go to add transaction, and add a payment like any other, just select this as the payment type.

    Following these steps will add a new payment on the account, but will not sync with financial software.

     

    How do I set up a payment gateway?

    Follow the steps in this help doc on setting up a gateway.

     

    How should I handle non-cash payment i.e. volunteer work or time?

    You will go to admin menu-> my lists-> payment types, create a new payment type and check off to not include on a tax statement and that this is a non monetary payment type. 

    FAQ_financial_15.png

    Then when you go to the add transaction screen, you can make a payment like any other just use this payment type to offset the charge.

     

    How should I handle barter or good donations? 

    Barter or goods donations are donations of goods that are used to offset an account balance. You will go to admin menu-> my lists-> payment types, create a new payment type, unlike volunteer work these are considered monetary and should show up on the tax statement.

    FAQ_financial_16.png

    Then when you go to the add transaction screen, you can make a payment like any other just use this payment type to offset the charge.

     

    How do I add a charge type to the donation page drop down menu?

    Go to admin menu-> my lists-> charge types, either select a charge type or add a new one and check off the first box under Online Payments called 'Show on the Donation Dropdown' 

    You can then change the public name of the charge type if you like (the default will be the same as the charge type name) and save the charge type.

    FAQ_financial_17.png

     

    Is there a way to ensure that a payment plan cannot be set up past a specific date?

    Yes, please see here for more info.

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    Forms

     

    Where do I add the payment options on the form?

    We do not collect Credit Card information in ShulCloud, and strongly urge you not to request that information in a form. There are several payment or financial fields that you can use to set up a charge on the account that can be paid towards. If any of them are used on the form, then once the form is submitted it will direct the user to the payment page associated with your online payment gateway.

     

    Can I allow users to fill out the form with a charge but pay at a later date?

    Yes, if they are logged in to an account you can allow users to bill to their account in the form options.

    FAQ_forms_2.png

     

    How do I share the form with our membership?

    There are two ways, to share a form with your user base. First, is every form has its own unique URL. It is set up on the form options page:

    FAQ_forms_3a.png

    By clicking on go to form on the top of the page, you can copy and paste the URL as a link on any page or email, or add it to your navigation, in admin menu-> navigation.

    You can also embed the form on a CMS page by following these steps on embedding a form.

    Using a form for an event:

    You can use a form in lieu of a simple event registration, if your event registration is more complicated that a simple sign up. Simply turn on event registration and toggle the option below and choose your form from a drop down menu.FAQ_forms_3b.png

    If you want to keep the simple event registration sign up, you can add a few questions to the registration from a from by scrolling to the bottom of the registration page and selecting a form from the drop down indicated below.FAQ_forms_3c.png

     

    Can I make some form fields required for some people?

    When you add or edit any field in a form, there will be 3 checkboxes that you can use to require that field being selected:

    FAQ_forms_4.png

    Public: is anyone who is not logged into an account.

    Specific people: allows you to specify who people based on either their account type or a tag

    Admin: anyone with either form Admin permissions or Admin permissions on that specific form.

     

    Can I make some form fields visible to only some people?

    When you add or edit any field in a form, there will be 3 checkboxes that you can use to make visible that field being selected:

    FAQ_forms_5.png

    Public: is anyone who is not logged into an account.

    Specific people: allows you to specify who people based on either their account type or a tag

    Admin: anyone with either form Admin permissions or Admin permissions on that specific form.

    This would be a great way to make multiple identical fields visible to different people with different information, i.e. a payment field with different rates based on membership status (account type).

     

    What do all the form fields do?

    Please see this help doc that goes into detail on all the form fields and their descriptions.

     

    Can I have the form use different charge types? Charge different amounts?

    Yes, Charge types are selected within each payment or financial field, (sometimes multiple per field if there are choices).

    Some fields allow you to preset a value to a selection, others allow the user to select the amount, or a quantity with a fixed rate.

    there are a number of payment fields available each with their own functionality. Here is a list of payment field descriptions.

     

    How can I make some fields appear based on a selection in another field?

    You can use form logic, this will allow you to ask the user a question and based on their selection have different fields become visible, including payment fields.

    You can read up on how to use our improved form logic here in the Guide to form logic.

     

    Can I make the same fields to appear a certain amount of times based on amount specified by the user?

    Yes, using repeater fields, you can have the same group of fields appear multiple times based on the users selection, You can read up on how to create repeater fields here in the guide to repeater fields.

     

    Do I need to make my own Donation form?

    While you certainly can make your own donation form, (there is a payment field called donation drop down) you are not required to make one.

    When editing the site settings you can toggle the Donate and Payment page (yourdomain.shulcloud.com/payment.php) to allow for donation.

    FAQ_forms_10a.png

    The payment page will then look like this:

    FAQ_forms_10b.png

    Allowing for dedications on the bottom, and a selection of charge types to donate towards from charge types that have this option selected in Admin menu-> my lists-> charge types:

    FAQ_forms_10c.png

    If you decide to make your own donation form, please keep in mind that any dedication information will need to be added manually to the transactions after the fact as the dedication reports/mail system will not pick up information from the form field.

     

    When I test my form with a payment it allows me to bill to my account, even though the form option is turned off?

    Admins can always bill to account regardless of form settings, if you have the correct permissions you can log into another account and test it that way to see what the member would see.

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    Calendar and Events

     

    How can I sync my google calendar with ShulCloud?

    You can run a continuous sync from ShulCloud to your Google calendar, but only do a one time import from Google to ShulCloud

    You can follow the steps in the help doc on syncing to your calendars.

     

    How can I set up a recurring event on the calendar?

    If the “event” goes on indefinitely (even at intervals) such as prayer times, you may want to consider setting up a Schedule Rule.

    Otherwise you can add a or multiple sessions to the same event, or even clone them one at a time.

    FAQ_events_2.png

     

    Can I add a registration to an event in the calendar?

    Follow the instructions in the help doc on setting up event registrations.

     

    How do I add an event to the event widget?

    When creating/editing an event there will be three options to add the event to a widget or slider.

    On the event widget and slider you will have the option to add another name,short description and image to appear on the widget/slider as well.

    FAQ_events_4.png

     

    Why did my schedule rules disappear from the calendar?

    That will generally happen if a Holiday rule is now set on the same date. Holiday rules will override any daily rules, regardless of the time.

    If you want to include the daily rules as well you will need to add them as holiday rules on that date too.

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    CMS (Web) Pages

     

    How do I add or remove tabs on the navigation bar?

    Follow the steps in this help doc on creating the navigation menu.

     

    How do I add a new web page?

    Follow the steps in this help doc on adding a new web page.

     

    How do I edit a page?

    Assuming you have the appropriate CMS permissions, you will see on the top left of a CMS page the start editing button:

    FAQ_cms_3a.png

    Once selected you will be given a series of options for the webpage as well as options for sections to add remove or edit them.

    FAQ_cms_3b.png

     

    How do I add links to pdfs, images, widgets, and embed videos or forms?

    Follow these help docs for:

     

    How do I create and add a slider on a web page?

    Follow the steps in the help doc on how to create sliders

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