When you link your Sharefaith Connect database with your Online Giving, the system will attempt to automatically match gifts with the correct donor. This eliminates the need for you to manually reconcile gifts, or do any file-based export/imports.
Report Location
We recommend reviewing the ChMS Sync Error Report once per month to resolve any errors, or even once per week if you have a large online giving base.
To find the errors report, navigate to the top right in the Giving Manager software and click General Settings → ChMS Integration (tile) → Sync Errors tab.
Review the listed errors in the report and check and see if a missing transaction was previously addressed manually in the ChMS. Also, review the FAQs below to review common errors. In the case where manual corrections have happened, on the Sync Errors page simply select Action → Mark As Good to clear the transaction from the list once it is verified. Using this Action will not send the record over to the ChMS again.
If the transaction was not found in your ChMS, you’ll want to select Action → Try Again. The transaction should appear in your ChMS software in 15 minutes or less.
Common Errors
The most common error is an Ambiguous Person Search. This happens when the matching process has found more than one person that meets the search criteria. (This is usually caused when a donor email address is used by more than one person in the database).
To correct this error: Under the Action button at the far right, choose 'Match Donor.' A suggested name(s) should show in the modal based on information pulled from Clover People. If there is no name, try the search using the email address. Complete the pairing process to link the donor in giving with the member in the database by clicking the 'Match' button. Then choose the action to "Try again." This should direct the donations into Sharefaith Connect properly.
The donation should disappear from the screen. Within 15 minutes, this donation should now appear on the donors Giving History in Sharefaith Connect. All future Giving donations will be linked to this same person.
FAQs
• To fix 'The giving fund is not mapped to a ChMS fund' Error
Go to General Settings → ChMS Integration. This error means you do not have any fund mappings established for this fund or a Default fund set (We don't recommend setting a default fund as a general guideline).
- The recommended method is to set up clear fund mapping from Giving to the ChMS. Click 'Try Again' under the Action button for each contribution once the mapping is set up to direct the funds into the correct categories.
NOTE: setting a Default fund will send ANY unmapped fund donation to the database to that fund. Often this can add extra tracking work and fund adjustment in the database if routed incorrectly. Usually, it is best to NOT set a default fund and review the sync error report so money lands in the correct fund the first time.
• To fix 'Error saving donation – Bad Request'
Try again on these errors after making sure the fund mapping is correct. Optionally a default fund can be set, but see the above note to understand why a default fund may not be recommended.
• To fix 'First Name and Last Name must be valid'
Go to 'Donors' and find the person whose last name (or first name) is not set. Then use the Action button on the right to Edit Profile. From here you can update the name fields. Then use the Action button again to try sending the donation over to the ChMS.
• Other Comparison Options
If you don’t automatically sync with a ChMS product, you’ll need to compare records manually and make updates as appropriate. We suggest:
- Leave the ChMS Sync Errors report open on the screen
- Select the text and copy/paste into an Excel workbook
- Taking a screenshot for comparison