Setting Default Values

Defaults are values that are set to automatically fill in when you add a new record. For example, if you set your default state to SC, when you add a new address, the state field is automatically filled in with SC so you do not have to type it in.

In all cases, even though a default value may have been filed in, you can change it by typing something else.

Defaults have two purposes: they can speed up data entry by reducing the number of fields that require you to enter something, and they can increase accuracy by presetting a value that is most likely to be correct.

You set most defaults on the Client Defaults tab of the Admin tab that appears when you select Administration from the Hello menu. You can also set gift defaults through the Quick Gift Entry process.

The fields for which you can set defaults are arranged by sections, corresponding to the tabs in the Bio screen.

To set a default value for a data entry field, do the following:

  1. From the Hello menu, select Administration.
  2. Open the Client Defaults tab.
    1. Each field name is listed, followed by field where you select the default value.
  3. Locate the field and enter the default value.
  4. Click on the Save icon to save the default.
  5. You must click on the Save icon that appears on each row.
  6. After you have saved the default value, the date, time and your user name appear to indicate when this default was entered.

In addition to field defaults, there are several other choices available on this tab:

  1. User password expiration rule (Household/Org section) - this allows you to decide if you wish passwords to expire after a certain number of days. Entering a choice here is a way to set the default value for this rule on the User tab when you are adding new users to the system.
  2. Use IATS (Gifts section) - check the box if  you are using IATS to process credit cards, and add your IATS agent codes for credit card and/or recurring gift processing.
  3. Recurring Gifts - when you set up recurring gifts, you can set the parameters, like amount and frequency of the gifts, within ExceedFurther or you can send these parameters to IATS. If you elect to have ExceedFurther handle these transactions, you periodically use the Recurring Gift Manager to track when transactions need to be processed. If you elect to use IATS,  the cards are charged automatically through IATS and the results are imported. In both cases you use the Recurring Gift Manager to add these transactions to your donors' giving history.
  4. Gift Receipts - if you are adding receipt numbers to your gifts, you can choose to have them automatically increment with each gift. Use these options to set the starting receipt number and the increment step (generally 1). You can also add an alphanumeric prefix to your receipt numbers. If you have set your country on the User Management tab to Canada, you will also be using the other Canadian receipt options.
  5. Membership Expiration Rules
    1. Membership Expire Date Rule - this determines how a new expiration date is assigned when dues payments are entered. There are three choices:
    2. Stays the same each year - this indicates that the expiration date is the same month and day each year. Only the year will increment with a dues payment.  
    3. Depends on the dues paid date - this indicates that the expiration date is determined by when the dues are paid. The expiration month is the same as the dues paid month. The expiration day of the month is set by the next choice.
    4. Fixed date - the expiration date is set to a fixed date that you enter. Every time you add dues, the expiration date is set to the date you entered as the default. When it's time to set the default expiration to a new date, return to User Defaults and enter the new date.
  6. Membership Expire Period Rule - this determines what day of the month the membership expires. There are two choices:
    1. First day of the expiration month
    2. Last day of the expiration month
  7. Membership Numbers
    1. Membership Auto Increment - if this box is checked, the membership number assigned to a new member is automatically determined by the last membership number assigned.
    2. Membership Starting Number - this is the first membership number to be assigned to a new membership.
    3. Membership Increment by - this is the number to be added to the last membership number to determine the next one. This would normally be set to 1.
    4. Membership Prefix - add an alphanumeric prefix to your membership numbers.
  8. Guest Excess Payment Option - if you are using the Guest features in ExceedFurther, and a guest overpays an invoice, you can choose to leave that excess payment as a credit balance on the invoice or choose to transfer it as a credit balance to be used on a subsequent invoice.
  9. Auto Update Volunteer Hours - if you select this option, it is assumed that volunteers scheduled to work on a particular day should be credited with the hours once the date has passed. You can adjust the hours for volunteers who worked more or fewer hours than scheduled. If you do not select this option, you can mark volunteers who worked through the Volunteer Manager.
  10. From Email ID - enter the email address that should be used as the sender when you send email from ExceedFurther. Note that you can specify only one sender for your email. This applies to email sent from the New Mailing window. If you send an email directly from a user Profile, your personal email client is opened and the email is sent from your email address.
  11. Zip Code - you can set your zip code format and elect to turn on zip code look up. When Use Zip Code Lookup is checked, the city, county and state are automatically filled in when you add a zip code to an address.
  12. Fiscal Year - enter the start and end dates of your fiscal year. Many reports give you the option of using the calendar year or your fiscal year as the date range.
  13. Total Giving - when gifts are added to biographical records, ExceedFurther automatically calculates gift totals, YTD gift totals, and the date and amount of the first, last and largest gift. These are based on all gifts, dues, sales, pledges, and pledge payments. These are displayed above the list of gifts on the Gifts tab in the Bio screen. You can also access these values in various reports.

In addition, you may prefer to calculate a different total that better reflects your organization's view of what constitutes total giving by a donor. For example, you may wish to exclude unpaid pledge balances or include the value of in-kind gifts. You may wish to include soft credits. You can specify the criteria for calculating total giving on the Client Defaults tab, at the bottom, by selecting gift types and gift methods to include.

The Total Giving that you specify here appears as "Total Giving" and "YTD Total Giving" in the summary section above the tabs in the Bio screen. It also appears in the Giving Summary tab.

To set up your criteria for calculating Total Giving, do the following:

  1. Select a Gift Type from the Gift Types list.
  2. For that Gift Type, select all the Gift Method codes to include.
    1. Note that if you include In-kind donation as a method, the Value of the in-kind gift is included in the calculation.
  3. Click on Add
    1. The list below displays all the selected combinations of gift type and method.
  4. You can use the X to delete one or more of the gift type/method combinations.
  5. Repeat for each Gift Type to include until your have built the full list.
  6. Click on the Include Soft Credit if you wish to include soft credits.
  7. Click on Save.
  8. Click on Recalculate Totals.
    1. Note that this may take some time. You can continue to work on other areas in ExceedFurther while it calculates.