General Interest Classes

Technology is developing at an incredible rate. How will this impact the way you work with data or how that data works for you? Discover exciting solutions that allow your ACS data to integrate with Microsoft® Outlook®, mobile phones, electronic displays, and Google™ gadgets.

Join a panel of church administrative assistants to discuss common challenges administrative assistants face, share ideas and solutions, and develop skills that will enable you to become more effective in your role.

Actual hands-on help may help you remember what you've learned. Be sure to visit the Consultation Center to put what you've learned to use. If you have questions regarding any of our products, you can find answers from the qualified support specialists and trainers.

In the current culture in which the church is operating, a policies and procedures manual is a must. Participants in this session will learn how to properly establish such a manual or to review the manual that already exists in their church, including:

• Aiding the effective and efficient functioning of staff, ministry groups, and church members
• Assisting church leadership in sound decision-making
• Reducing the possibility of risks to the ministry
• Optimizing the fulfillment of the church’s ministry purposes and goals
• Keeping necessary written ministry guidelines in one place for easy and quick reference

Software can help you achieve your ministry goals, but making a purchase is just the first step. Join ACS implementation specialists to discuss how to devise a plan to implement tools and processes to produce ministry results. This class will cover:

• Determining when implementation services are needed or when implementing on your own is enough
• Sharing case studies from the field
• Understanding why churches engage in implementation services
• Building a successful project plan

Join representatives from the ACS Professional Services staff and other experienced ACS users for an open discussion of technology-related topics, such as network performance, intrusion detection, spam protection, spyware protection, and more.

When the going gets tough, people turn to the church. Find out how you can truly help people who are struggling with tough economic times. This class will cover a variety of topics, such as:

• Developing policies and procedures for benevolence ministries
• Providing events and workshops that equip people with job skills, financial management tools, and legal advice
• Tracking this information in ACS

Discover the fundamentals of the OnDemand delivery system, used by over 700 sites and 6,500 users every month. Come and learn how OnDemand could benefit you. This class will answer questions about:

• Printing
• Working from anywhere
• Saving reports to your local hard drive
• Determining necessary Internet types and connection speeds

Learn how to find the answers you need 24 hours per day using the ACS Knowledge Base. This class will cover:

• Logging on to the Knowledge Base
• Using the natural language search capabilities to find answers to your software technical questions
• Addressing questions that are not in the Knowledge Base

Get a glimpse of the insights offered in the ACS network administrators certification course. This class touches on:

• Maintaining a network
• Cabling
• Improving network performance
• Tightening network security for the ACS application

Microsoft® Outlook® provides an integrated solution for managing and organizing schedules, tasks, notes, contacts, and other information. Discover ways to maximize this integration and manage your tasks and projects more efficiently. This class will cover:

• Converting e-mails to tasks or calendar items
• Using the timeline calendar view
• Using categories to organize Outlook items
• Switching between task or calendar views
• Customizing report views to create progress reports
• Assigning tasks to others

This class builds on material covered in Tips & Tricks: Microsoft Outlook.

Join Matthew Irvine, ACS client and IT director of First Baptist Church of Belton, TX, to discover strategies and tools for making data available to your congregation and getting them to use it. This class will cover:

• Determining what functionality to roll out
• Pilot-testing your Access ACS configuration
• Running an e-mail address-gathering campaign
• Launching Access ACS with your congregation
• Communicating the tools and benefits of Access ACS

Microsoft® Outlook® is far more than just a tool for composing and reading e-mail. It allows you to organize, manage, and plan your communications, your daily priorities, your contacts, and your schedule. Discover some tips that will help you use this fabulous tool, including:

• Setting up subfolders to help you keep your e-mail, calendars, and contacts organized
• Flagging e-mails for follow-up
• Setting up rules to automatically move, forward, or delete certain e-mails
• Setting up notifications of when your e-mails are delivered and read
• Importing and exporting calendar or contact information
• Setting up recurring events or tasks