The "Normal" progression for new users of CB/DB would be as follows:
When you first start up CB/DB, you should get a warning message to complete the form concerning "My Church", and when you clear that message, the "My Church" form should appear. When you start this, you should fill in the entire address, as your User Key for use of CB/DB is calculated mathematically from the full Church Name, the City, State, and Zip. (See the License Status Form topic for details about this key.)
If this doesn't happen, click on the "Open My Church Record" button on the Main Switchboard. Some of the identifying numbers can wait a day or two while you find those numbers, but the name and address should be completed right away.
This is a cosmetic "requirement". In the design of CB/DB, the Old English text font was used on all reports for display of the Church Name. This font was ubiquitous in older versions of Windows, but is not included, e.g., in Windows XL. It is packaged to be copied into the directory with CB/DB (CBW5.mdb), and can be installed for use with Access (and other MS Office products). If you don't install it, Windows will substitute some other, good or bad, text for the Old English - you may or may not like it.
To install it,
| go to Start, |
| then to Control Panel, |
| then to the "Fonts" icon. |
| Once in Fonts, click on Files, then on "Install New Font". |
| In the Browse explorer window, find the cbw5 directory. |
| In the cbw5 directory you should see "oldengl.ttf". Select it, then click the o.k. button and it will be installed and you'll be notified. |
Offering Processing requires that you have the following tables completed:
| Family |
Family records are accessed by clicking on the "Work with Family/Member Data" button on the Main Switchboard. This takes you to the "Family and Member Records switchboard. Then use the button to work with Active Family records. Before you can enter offering for an individual family, each family must have a family record which the gift record will reference.
| Envelopes |
Once a family record has been created, you can make an envelope number assignment to that family. You do this from the "Family and Member Records" switchboard.
| Income Accounts |
Income Accounts are accessed from the Main Switchboard by clicking on the button to "Work with Accounting Tables". This in turn allows you to work with Assets, Liabilities, Funds, Income, and Expense records. A small starter set of each of these types of records is in the system when shipped to you. It contains one record of each classification. You should carefully review these records to determine if you need to add more before you get started. You can print out lists of these records by clicking on "Report Selector" and requesting "lists", and then select the lists for each of these types of records.
To work with expenses, you will need to work with the following tables:
| Expense Accounts |
All expense transactions must charge the total of expenses handled to one or more expense accounts. A small starter set of expense accounts is in the table to assist you in getting started. You should review the list of expense accounts already available, and then add any others that you know you will need. You can add these at any time, but it is helpful to think through your needs before you start.
Expense budgets and budget spreads can be entered at a later date if you don't have that information immediately available.
| Liabilities |
The normal withholding liability accounts for payroll are in the start-up table. However, if you have a mortgage you will want to enter a liability for that. Note that CB/DB will handle only tax withholding and mortgage type liabilities. All other commitments must be handled as budgeted expense items, or by creating a fund for which you collect moneys, and from which you make disbursements.
| Employees |
The payroll records process identifies payroll withholding and expenses by means of an employee number and the expense groupings associated with an expense account. For that reason, you must enter all church employees in the Employee table. This is also accessed by a button on the Accounting Tables switchboard.
| Suppliers |
Supplier records are not required. They must be used, however, if you want to print checks containing the supplier's address for use with window envelopes. The use of supplier numbers also makes possible the researching of expenses by supplier. In other words, this use is encouraged. If you do not use supplier records, you must use "None" in the Accounts Payable record for this field.
Once the family records are created, work can begin on entering data concerning individual members.
| Member Data |
Since all the information required for complete records may not exist in one place, you may want to examine the Member form and determine the exact information you will want to gather. You may then want to create a form to have each member fill out.
| Church Activities |
You can determine what activities (e.g., choir, Sunday School, etc.) of the church you want to keep track of, and enter that list in the activities table. Once the activities and members are all entered, you can use the "Relate Members to Activities" button on the Family and Members Switchboard (or the "Activities" button an a member's form) to tie the members to activities.
See the topic on Backup and Restore!