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Why is it that the same problems continually nag church computer users? To find out, Your Church approached representatives from ACS (Automated Church System); By the Book; Computer Helper Publishing (maker of Church Windows); Logos Management Software; Parsons (a division of FindEx); PowerChurch Software; Servant PC Resources; Shelby Systems; and Suran Systems and asked them to answer your most pressing questions. Here are their selected responses.

We've just gotten new church management software, and I'm worried about security. How can we keep sensitive information, such as contribution records and the pastor's counseling notes, secure from staff members who need access to the system but don't need to know everything?

Security is a big issue. And software companies have developed numerous ways of dealing with it.

Wes Haystead, president of Logos Management Software, says: "The objective is to allow everyone on the staff (and authorized volunteers) to access a single data source, but with limits on their access to specific kinds of data." Logos's software allows users to be blocked from a complete module (i.e., Contributions), specific menus within a module, specific routines on a menu, or specific tabs within a routine. In addition, Logos provides comment fields with additional password security—blocking curious users from knowing that comments even exist.

Greg Moyer, general manager at Servant PC Resources, Inc., says his company's Servant Keeper software features more than 80 levels of security for each user. "Thus, you can be very specific about customizing each user's security level," he says. Security levels range from read-only rights to unrestricted access. In addition, users may be given the ability to add, update, and/or delete in some, none, or all areas of the program.

Church Data Master plus (CDM+) from Suran Systems has a separate menu item to track confidential notes. Any user can be blocked from these notes.

"Additionally, in a multiple-staff environment only those notes entered into the program by a specific user can be viewed by that user," says Randy S. Clay, the president of Suran Systems.

Roll Call, church management software from By the Book, uses a hierarchal password system. "There are four basic levels of passwords, and each level has added attributes," says Scott McGlasson, media director for By the Book. Passwords provide a range of security levels from view-only to complete access. Also, confidential comments can be made that are not visible to users without a high-level password.

Recently, our pastor visited a church member in the hospital. The patient's roommate overheard the conversation with the comatose patient and said "Pastor, I'm over here!" In a growing church, where it is hard to remember faces, how can we avoid making that mistake again?

"There is probably no way that any software program will be able to prevent people from making embarrassing blunders," says Haystead of Logos. "But, a good church management program should let users quickly view and print family or individual photographs."

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