Offering Troubleshooting

When Jewel was originally created, there was no AdventistGiving, no Zoom, few members mailing their donations to you or dropping them in a slot at the church. The offerings were regular and the dates were predictable.

Every. Sabbath. There. Was. An. Offering. And Jewel was designed to enter each offering in chronological order. No going backwards or jumping ahead. The Offering Date counter rolled from one Sabbath date to the next automatically.

Then, when the final Sabbath offering of the month was entered, Jewel would ask “Is this the last offering of the month?” Treasurers would say “Yes” and the Next Step moved forward to Remit. Very clean and simple. always in date order. The process kept you on task like those bumper guards in a bowling alley that keep the ball rolling towards the bowling pins.

Then AdventistGiving happened. And electronic banking and payments. The world has changed, and Jewel has reflected those changes.

Start New Offering - Offering Date

The Offering Date counter is not telling you what offering you should be entering next. It is merely taking your last-entered offering date and moving ahead to the next Sabbath's date. If it's wrong, change the date to what you need it to be, then proceed.

Changing the date: There are two ways to change the date on the Offering Date counter.

1. Use the little up and down arrows to move from one Sabbath date to another.
2. Highlight the existing date with your mouse and enter the date you want it to be.

Must be within the current Jewel month: As long as you are entering a date within the current month, Jewel will use it. Even if it is out of order. It does not even have to be a Sabbath date. But it must be within the current month. If the Offering Date counter indicates a date outside of the current month, you'll need to either edit the date or (if appropriate) close the current month so you can enter the next month's offerings.

What is your “current month”? The current month is the month that Jewel says it is. Look at the bottom LEFT corner of home page to find out. If you think you are entering September or November but Jewel says “October” in the bottom left corner, something is wrong and you need to contact your tech support.

Entering offerings out of order: Once you know you are in the right month, it is still a good idea for you to enter your church offerings in order, but if you accidentally skip one, you can go back and enter it without assistance. If you are importing AdventistGiving, Jewel will insert it where it should be in the month.

When you enter an offering date that is out of order, Jewel may ask you things like this:

Jewel is not telling you that you can’t use that date. It is just asking you if you realize that you skipped a lot of days. And it is fine to say “Yes.” There are a number of these “guard rail” messages that you will see from time to time. These are guidance messages, not warning or error messages. Jewel is giving you more flexibility in entering dates, but is also checking to make sure that is what you want.

Duplicate Date Warning

Here is another “guard rail.” If you didn’t mean to put two deposits on the same day, you can say “No” and go back and fix the date. If you are ok with two on the same day, you can say “Yes” and continue. Either are valid choices, depending on your preference.

Duplicate Offering Warning

Another really helpful “guard rail” is that Jewel will alert you if you might be duplicating an offering. If you get this message, don’t just blow past it. Click on “No” and go to the Deposit Report and investigate to see if this is truly a duplicate. This can save you and your tech support both a lot of time, because reversing duplicate offerings is a bit of a hassle. Plus, when you enter an offering twice, you send double the remittance to the conference, and you won’t get it back until those duplicates are reversed.

Outside the Current Month

This “guard rail” message shows up if you enter a date that is outside of the current month. It might be accidental. Example: You enter an October 30 offering, and afterwards the Jewel Offering Date counter rolls over to the next Sabbath which is November 6. You forget to change it back and you enter another deposit. Notice that this doesn’t have a yes and a no – just an OK. Jewel is telling you that you can’t enter offerings in a future month without closing the current month, so you can click on “Ok” and go back and fix the offering date.

NextStep Not at Start New Offering

Occasionally your Next Step button may say Edit Deposit Slip, Enter Contributions, or Make Deposit. All three are telling you that you are in the middle of an offering but have not finished yet, so you cannot move on to start a new offering until you finish. If you have started an offering in error, you can cancel it at any of the above three stages.

Enter Contributions means that you have not entered all the envelopes. Click on “Enter Contributions” then finish entering them.

Make Deposit means that everything is entered and the totals match, but you stopped before you actually made the deposit. Click on “Make Deposit” then click on the OK in the top right corner of the Make Deposit page to finish.

Remit to Conference means it's still not too late to enter another offering without help from tech support. Go to Offering (at the top of the page, beside File), then Start New Offering. Read the warning message and answer appropriately. If your answer is Yes, enter your offering. If you answer is No, you'll need to close the month to be able to enter offerings in the next month.

If your NextStep button says anything else, call your technical support for assistance.

The Donor's check number is too long for the box

This sometimes comes up with cashier's checks or money orders. In this case, enter the last few digits of the number. That will be plenty to identify it if there is ever a need.

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