Avis clients sur ACS

A Great Product Overall with World-Class Customer Service

Commentaires : 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.

Avantages :

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.

Inconvénients :

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 - great value for churches and small nonprofits

Avantages :

As a small nonprofit, we have used ACS General Ledger, People, and Contributions for over 15 years. What I like best is that it is an affordable, integrated, double-entry accounting system designed specifically for churches and small non-profit organizations. The People and Contributions modules allow us to easily monitor pledges, acknowledge donations, summarize gifts by fund, and report on subsets of our donor base using criteria we choose. The General Ledger offers the custom budget-actual reports and statement of financial position (non-profit balance sheet), as well as the summary of restricted accounts that is not found in typical for-profit packages. ACS also allows your administrator to set specific user permissions customization, so you can limit each user to only the functions that he or she needs. Vendor support is key, and we have found the vendor support behind ACS to be very solid. The software does not do everything, but what it does it does well. When we have had problems or questions, ACS technical support has pro-actively worked them out. In most support sessions, the ACS rep is temporarily granted remote control of our local computers and works directly with our data and reports. Support reps are readily available when we call, and they are very knowledgeable of the product.

Inconvénients :

Overall, we like ACS. I don't have a lot of criticism. The addition of a functional expense statement would be very helpful, since this is the format used by the IRS on Form 990 (required of most 403(b) organizations but not for most churches). Direct delivery of GL reports by email would also be helpful, but printing to pdf and emailing is not terribly difficult. As our number of donor records and years of data have grown, I have found the software to slow down somewhat, particularly when running custom extracts of donor data.

Not Easy or Quick to Use

Commentaires : The old ACS system is just much too dated and expensive for current usage. ACS does have a new product called Realm that is supposed to be much easier and more flexible to use. I have looked at some of the demos for Realm and it does look like a vast improvement. If a church were to consider using ACS, I would encourage them to either specifically look at ACS' Realm product or go with another vendor entirely.

Avantages :

The best aspect of ACS is that it can hold and track a massive amount of diverse data. You can track all of the things you would expect in a database like names, contact info, birthdates, etc. As a church, you can track the first time someone attended, when they got baptized, and other random bits of info you may want to keep.

Inconvénients :

The traditional ACS system is incredibly difficult and cumbersome to use. Its computer app interface looks like it was made 20 years ago; it is not aesthetically pleasing. It requires hours and hours of training to learn how to use (they hold training sessions at different locations throughout the year and have various online helps). Running what you would think would be simple reports is not easy (I have had to pull together updated reports that have members names and addresses to do mailings. I have had to call ACS to have them walk me through how to do such reports as doing so is in no way intuitive. Also, using the computer app program to login to ACS takes several minutes to log into, which can be frustrating if all you are trying to do is look up a phone number (they do have a webbased platform where you can log in, but its function is not as robust in what it can do as the computer-based app, which as I said is slow and cumbersome).

Bulletproof, contains all the core functionality, but dated

Commentaires : Crucial information that aids in caring for our church family.

Avantages :

I love that this software has been refined and is extremely reliable and fast. Efficient data entry and keyboard functionality. Powerful reporting. Covers the basics of what a ChMS should offer with ease, speed and power.

Inconvénients :

This software is dated. It's "cloud" based, but lacks lots of modern communication tools such as text communication, easy email distribution and remote web-based functions like small group attendance, and volunteer management. In all honesty, ACS is so big and has so many add-on features, it can probably do all of these things, but it's hard to know all of the functionality because it's not easily explained anywhere (and I've been a user for 12 years). Also, it's reporting process is not difficult for someone with some background in reports, but it's far too complex for an average pastor or lay-leader to use - which requires a database person to run reports. Also, no customizable dashboards, etc. So, it will probably do most everything you want, but you'll need a ChMS expert to figure it all out and run the reports...

Aching for ACS

Commentaires : The customer service at ACS is outstanding and would recommend this company and their products to anyone.

Avantages :

This software was the solution we needed. When ACS Realm is fully launched, we will find that our questions will be answered with the product provided.

Inconvénients :

Sometimes the software can be clunky and not able to fully customize the solution we need but then the question is asked, "What do I really need to do?"

It's reliable yet dated church management software

Commentaires : We have been ACS users for probably close to 10 years and it works, it does work. However, we are in the process of switching to The Rock and, although it's much more powerful, The Rock also requires a greater size management team with technical programming proficiencies. When choosing your management software, you'll pay for it one way or another. In my opinion, ACS is a great solution for small to medium size churches...say up to 2000 people.

Avantages :

ACS is a fairly reliable and robust church management software useful for, among other things, managing your general ledger, giving, kids check-in, and people database. If you're a musician, I could tell you that it's like a Shure SM58 vocal microphone...you can drop it 100 times and it still works great...but other mics sound better...and may cost more.

Inconvénients :

It is very much out of date according to today's standards. It seems to prefer a large amount of bandwidth for our kids checkin machines running ACS for checkin...it technically isn't a ton of data, but ACS really seems to prefer having a big pipe for it, network wise. ACS is fairly limited in who can and should have access to different parts of it. My biggest complain, though, would be that ACS just hasn't kept up with the development side of their platform to match the technology that everyone is used to using in 2019.

ACS for First Church

Commentaires : Pledgers who are not attending.

Avantages :

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

Inconvénients :

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.

ACS

Commentaires : 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.

Avantages :

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

Inconvénients :

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 is overall okay.

Avantages :

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

Inconvénients :

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

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

Avantages :

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.

Inconvénients :

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

ACS is okay...

Commentaires : We can keep track of our members and visitors and keep good records for visitation.

Avantages :

The transition from Servant Keeper to ACS was smooth. The onboarding team and the customer service reps are easy to work with and try to be as helpful as possible. The Church Life app is great, and has been a blessing to our church members.

Inconvénients :

Working through a separate "portal" is a total pain. The software seems like it's not advancing with the times, and I would much prefer a true "cloud" based system. We are often "kicked off" the portal and have to log in again. We also have difficulty with AccessACS, because it can only be accessed by a Windows based browser (and we all use Mac computers). It's a bit of a hassle to access AccessACS through a separate browser to do the needed uploading tasks and helping our folks with their passwords and such. Finally, they really haven't updated much in the software. It's stagnant, and I see some areas where we may want to explore more modern technology.

Helpful, but not user-friendly

Commentaires : 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.

Avantages :

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.

Inconvénients :

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.

Grateful!

Commentaires : A very good product. I would recommend them to anyone looking for a flexible system.

Avantages :

As a small non-profit, we were looking for software to help streamline our data collection and reporting; one which focuses on client management and tracking. When we were introduced to ACS, they were a God-send. It was a flexible system that provided numerous options. We were able to manage our client intake much more easily than in the past. Overall, we found them to be a great fit for our organization.

Inconvénients :

Once you understand the main parts, the system works well, however, more integration is needed. Usually, the help-desk representative was very prompt with their answers to questions. There were so many features that we didn't get to learn them all.

ACS is an okay program I feel it is very outdated and needs some major updated to be compatible.

Avantages :

Navigation with this software is quite easy to use, I enjoy the ability to search for my contacts easily, but once again it is slow and outdated and could definitely use a face lift.

Inconvénients :

As stated before in my previous comments above, ACS needs to be updated to reflect more modern graphics, and accessibility. I think it would be wonderful to have an app that links to your phone.

ACS was a huge learning curve for me, but its robust database made it worth it.

Avantages :

ACS is powerful. It holds a whole lot of data and can do everything from help manage group and events to managing payroll. Once you learn how to navigate the software, you are able to dig into a lot of different search criteria and information to find just about any piece of info you would want on a church member. I personally do not work with the financial side, but I hear nothing but great things about how secure and robust the financial info is as well.

Inconvénients :

ACS has a huge learning curve and the user interface is antiquated and pretty hard to navigate. The ACS team knows this however and rather than rock the boat for those who know ACS inside and out, they developed REALM which we have since moved to.

Research other products firt

Commentaires : Excellent customer service for an older version of the product.

Avantages :

ACS offers excellent customer support. I have heard that the newer version is more advanced.

Inconvénients :

We use an older version of ACS Financials and need to upgrade. The older version is rigid and reporting can be burdenson.

A review of ACS

Avantages :

The ability to use the membership management when entering data and the ease of creating databases as needed in the accounting system.

Inconvénients :

Currently there are no issues with this software

Solid, but not exciting

Avantages :

ACS has a lot of features, and customizable fields, etc. Great customer service for problems (for additional fee per month).

Inconvénients :

Updates come out very slowly, and the product feels at least 5-10 years out of date. Reports are not very customizable unless you purchase additional module. Not very responsive to requested features. Not Mac-compatible (unless you use cloud version which is more expensive). Have trouble getting staff to use the software - they tend to just want to access it on their phone app. Online Giving is not easy for first-time users. Lots of small group leaders have had trouble using the online attendance tracking.

Great software

Commentaires : We love ACS and will continue doing business with them.

Avantages :

Love the support team and their vast knowledge of the product. It is easy to use.

Inconvénients :

Needs more reporting/queerying options for accounting.

Lots of options and power, but the interface is severely outdated and clunky

Commentaires : We have used some form of ACS since 2005. It handles finances, child check-in, event scheduling, volunteer scheduling, attendance, groups, contact information, and much more. It even has an online arm.

Avantages :

ACS has just about everything you could ask for, and then some. Their pricing is more competitive than other major companies.

Inconvénients :

Although there is an online arm of this product, all the information must be kept locally (although some would think this a pro). The controls are non-intuitive and clunky. Even the online version of this has the look and feel of something just above MS Dos.

Easy for those who are not keen with numbers

Avantages :

simple to use, but a lot of capability. Easy to keep track of giving and make reports for unpaid tuitions.

Inconvénients :

difficult to use for a school when students drop or change classes after making payments. Wish there was a way to connect to another software to automatically load registrations.

ACS is a financial/membership workhorse for our church

Commentaires : ACS has been an invaluable tool for us to manage the finances and membership of our church. It handles details which allows us to focus on ministry.

Avantages :

The ability to sort individuals and groups within the larger congregation. We have set up numerous subgroups in our congregation and use ACS to generate our directories.

Inconvénients :

Some categories could not be customized as we would have liked. In the people arm, some fields were mandatory even if unnecessary for our purposes.

Endless Possibilities with this, no matter your size.

Avantages :

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.

Inconvénients :

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.

Love this program

Commentaires : I use mainly the People side of ACS and it is so helpful with keeping all of my groups together. Love this software.

Great for a small church

Commentaires : We wanted a way to integrate membership management and giving records. This afforded us that possibility.

Avantages :

The ease of use was great. First-time users were able to learn it quickly. Also, there are good instruction videos as well as customer call center. Able to meet our needs without stress

Inconvénients :

For a small church, the price could be a little cheaper per month or offer a multi-month discount