User Reviews
Roll Call by By The Book
USER REVIEWS - All reviews
Purchased Date: December 01, 2011
Bishop, New Life Covenant Ministry
December 27, 2011
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Pros
Roll Call is certainly a blessing and a miracle to my ministry. I have NEVER worked with such a fine and superb ministry software as Roll Call. The best part is the technical support that is available. Although, I had minor questions during my trial period - I still found the software to be EXTREMELY user friendly. I had to input data for the entire year during the trial period. I truly enjoyed the input and looked forward to working with each component of the software. In fact, I purchased the software prior to the trial expiration date. My contributions have been processed more timely and without a burdensome experience.
Cons
I have no "Cons" i.e.., negative comments regarding the product or the support staff.
Overall
Overall...I would highly recommend this software to any organization that has a need for "STRESS FREE" membership processing. The reports are very detailed and also allows many options for EVERY need.
Purchased Date: December 01, 2011
Pastor, Revolution Church
December 20, 2011
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Pros
I have been in ministry for 17 years now and have never been satisfied with any church data management software until now. Rollcall is both a simple to use product and powerful ministry tool. In a world of complicated and expensive data solutions, Rollcall is a breath of fresh air. It not only meets my ministry needs, but exceeds them in a way that is very cost effective. Instead of a "one size fits all" approach to data management, Roll call has succeeded in offering the perfect size that fits us both financially and functionally. Thank you guys for working so hard to develop a product that keeps my life simple.
Cons
The only suggestion I might make is that the reaction time of the server be increased or some indication that what I click on has been recognized so I don't keep clicking and confusing the server locking it up.
Overall
Best church data solution on the market!
Purchased Date: March 01, 2011
Deacon, First Baptist Church of Lansing
November 22, 2011
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Pros
Version 10 is easy to use and implement. Works well on a MAC as well as a PC. You can't beat the pricing as compared to many other softwares we looked into. You maintain / host the software on your on your premises and on your hardware. I was able to save time by importing membership data in a CSV format. It is very flexible in customization providing numerous fields to change for our specific needs. Customized "Access Levels" gives us security at different levels.
Cons
Report customization is lacking and could use more flexibility. The Query tool is is a bit cumbersome but works.
Overall
We highly recommend this software for all church sizes. We needed something to get us out of the file cabinet records drawer and into the real world using electronic media. This is a simple software package that provides us everything we need to maintain membership and contribution records. Our church size is approximately 100 Members and this fell right into our budget range.
We just upgraded to Version 11 and see even more improvements that will help us better communicate with our members and visitors with letters, mailings and Email. The report documents are much better and we see great improvements in the user interface.
Purchased Date: July 01, 2011
Property/Finance Committee, Grace Free Methodist Church
September 06, 2011
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Pros
Just keep up the good work. This software is rich with features.
Cons
1. Font selection default and Heading in same font as report.
2. Be able to customize a directory.
Overall
Love it! Keep up the good work. V11 is great.
Purchased Date: April 01, 2011
Associate Pastoral Assistant, First Assembly of God Church
June 13, 2011
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Pros
VERY helpful staff
adaptable to our specific needs
user friendly for new volunteers
parents spend less time waiting
saves time - our previous printed/laminated tags constantly needed updating
kids love "stickers"
allergies on tags is a PLUS
Cons
cannot see child's entire profile from check in screen - we are too busy to log out and log in as administrator
Overall
would like to have the ability to see all of a child's profile from check in screen
Purchased Date: July 01, 2010
Congregation Council, Elk River Lutheran Church - ELCA
February 23, 2011
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Pros
The database structure is well done with a predictable interface. Most impressive is the financial input and tracking. We are implementing using a check reader. This has greatly improved accuracy and has cut the time in half we used to spend counting weekly offerings. Having the check reader alone tips the usability and should be a standard purchase for all Roll Call users.
With only a little work, all of the data can be exported for use in other software.
Our initial set-up allowed us to import our initial members from a tab-delimited file without problem. This saved days of input and allowed the migration of our data to be quickly accomplished.
Financial offering data is easily tracked and the standard reports are very easy and adequate.
The program runs equally well on both Windows and Macintosh platforms.
Cons
Like any relational database, users should be familiar with database functions. This is not a simple spreadsheet list but rather a robust multi-function package that requires some study. However, training materials and support are quite good. Most functions are straightforward, but some require reading the manual for proper implementation. Assigning security levels to various users is a little difficult to understand - the documentation for this part of the program could be better.
This is not a web-based solution for those wishing to give partial database access to congregation members.
Overall
Roll Call is a robust software package with strong sales and technical support. The ability to use a check reader makes this software very attractive. Set-up is straightforward but will take some study. Data can be exported for manipulation in other software, but to do so will take some higher level skill. Financial summary data can be written to disk for import by some accounting software packages. As a stand-alone or networked database, Roll Call is an excellent affordable product that is worthy of consideration for either Windows or Macintosh platforms.
Purchased Date: February 01, 2011
Pastor Wife, Summit Ridge Church
February 04, 2011
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Pros
We have loved the Roll Call software for the Child Check In System. It has been easy to use, others have been able to easily figure it out and when we have had trouble the staff at Roll Call has been VERY helpful to answer all of our questions! Had to call serveral times and they were always ready to help us!!! Thank Yo!
Cons
We are using a Netbook, as we are a church who sets up and tear down each week, to do any of the behind the scenes work on the software we have to plug into a monitor. Not wanting to always have to carry the big monitor, we would love to see the ability to scroll up and down easier to see the whole screen on our Netbook. For just the child check in we have been able to use just the Netbook Screen.
Overall
Had served for 10 yrs at our previous church in Children's MInistry and have used varying check in's. This system has been the easiest and I love the ability to grow with more check in computers and or key cards as our ministry grows. Would highly recommend it to any church looking to update their system!!!!!
Purchased Date: January 01, 2006
Accountant, Hope Christian City Church
January 24, 2011
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Pros
easy to use
overall just works well
I started using it in 2006
they are quick to respond to questions and very helpful
Cons
none that I know of.
Overall
absolutely
Purchased Date: December 01, 2010
Pastor, Union Bible Church
January 06, 2011
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Pros
Our Treasurer thinks the program is fantastic! She loves the help you offer and the help instructions.
Cons
We haven't discovered any as yet.
Overall
We heartily recommend this program to any church.
Purchased Date: December 01, 2010
Administrator, Praise Temple Community Church
January 04, 2011
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Pros
I demoed several online programs and found this was the easiest for me to navigate for my (Church's purposes). Although at this time it is only being used to track membership and donations, it has other features we thought we could benefit from in the future and the price fit our Church's budget. I think it's a great program for small churches.
Cons
Would like the option to not have visiting churches/individuals who give nice donations, for which we might need to give a donation receipt count as part of our 100 members.
Overall
Great for price and easy to use.
Purchased Date: December 01, 2009
Preschool Director, Celebration Baptist
December 28, 2010
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Pros
Customer Service has been the most amazing with this company. I have spoke with Kim every time I have called or she has called me back quickly. She has helped me every step along the way and I always know they are just a phone call away.
Cons
I would like for the birthdays of the children to be on the printout tags. They are working on this for the newest version, although it is not available yet
Overall
Buy this program so you are able to work hand in hand with a company that cares. It has everything needed at an affordable price.
Purchased Date: March 01, 2000
Pastor, Grace Church
October 29, 2010
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Pros
Generally unhappy, poor forms; not wysiwyg.; expensive.
Cons
Generally unhappy, poor forms; not wysiwyg.; expensive - also takes a long time to load (memory hungry)
Overall
I would not recommend this to a church.
Purchased Date: October 01, 2010
SECRETARY, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
October 27, 2010
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Pros
After reviewing several other membership tracking softwares, I almost had my mind made up, but decided to look one more time. Roll Call popped up and I decided to try the demo. Within an hour and a half I was able to setup, the church information, several trial members with contact information, Sunday School class groups, attach members to groups, complete contribution batches, a link to quickbooks for the contribution deposit and then a year end conribution report that would be mailed out at the end of the year! WOW!! It was so EASY! Roll Call is just what we need to track our members, their attendance and their contributions. I'm so excited, I can hardly wait to really get going!
Cons
I haven't noticed anything hard or confusing about Roll Call yet.
Overall
If your church is small to medium size and you are looking for a software to track it's members information as well as one that is user-friendly, Roll Call is the one!!
Purchased Date: May 01, 2010
Treasurer, St. Paul's Episcopal Church
July 29, 2010
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Pros
Does what I need it to do.
Cons
I have nothing more to add
Overall
I have nothing more to add
Purchased Date: December 01, 2003
Church Secretary, First Baptist Church of Boca
July 28, 2010
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Pros
The support I received from your staff was tremendous!! I can't say enough good about your people: how kind, helpful and willing they were to walk with me step by step whenever I had trouble working the program. Thank you! You ministered to me by your kindness.
Cons
I am one of those people who needs someone to personally show me how to work a system. I don't do well with books and trying to figure things out on my own. I think I would do better with Roll Call if I'd been trained one on one with someone here at the church to show me.
Overall
Excellent system.
Purchased Date: N/A
CEO, Abiding Light Ministries, Inc.
July 27, 2010
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Pros
We use RollCall to track donations to our ministry in support of our orphanage in India. I love the fact that at the end of the year it is VERY simple to print out the donation reports that we mail to all our donors.
Cons
A lot of the features are designed for larger churches so we don't use all of the features.
Overall
This is an excellent product for large and small churches and is very useful for other ministries.
Purchased Date: August 01, 2008
Children's Ministry Co-Ordinator, Northgate Life Centre
July 26, 2010
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Pros
I like the way Roll Call is a whole church system - we bought it primarily to keep track of children's church but it is so much more than that. It is easy to teach and administer and has the flexibility to be modified for our needs. The back up assistance after purchase has been outstanding - no question is too trivial for the company to follow up. My every issue has been addressed and answered to my complete satisfaction. The company have also assisted us in acquiring the bar code scanners etc that we decided to use with the system, which allowed us to get them at a good price and with no questions as to compatibility.
Cons
The query function is not entirely intuitive (at least for me) and while information can be extracted to another program for further manipulation, it is a slightly cumbersome process. I would also like to see more options for information and formatting with the badges so we can include all the detail that we would like to see. Also the ability to change font, size and orientation would be good.
Overall
I am very happy with the program - the few things I don't like we have been able to work around and are more than outweighed by the functionality of the whole.
Purchased Date: October 01, 2006
Communications/Tech Director, Eastside Community Church
July 23, 2010
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Pros
AWESOME customer service. They quickly take your calls or call you back. They will remote in (if that's what you choose) to help you move files or look into any issues.
Cons
Sometimes when the server reboots, we have to go manually turn on RollCall Server.
Overall
I would recommend this product, we have found it very effective for our ministry.
Purchased Date: N/A
Secretary, Central United Methodist Church
July 22, 2010
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Pros
Easy to use for beginners.
Cons
Struggling to get others to use it. They are more comfortable with other software.
Overall
I haven't had a lot of experience using it or setting it up. I have found it easy to use being new to it, but I need to learn more about its capabilities.
Purchased Date: April 01, 1994
Executive Pastor, Christian Community Church
July 22, 2010
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Pros
This software has been an asset to our church for over 15 years.
Cons
With the advent of online giving and online membership functions. I wish this software was web-based.
Overall
Five stars!
Purchased Date: March 01, 2009
Adminstrator, The Downtown Church
July 22, 2010
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Pros
As a new start up church, we were looking for a church management system that was easy to implement, intuitive for volunteers to run, provided a child check in feature, and integrated donations with our accounting software. Strong customer support was also critical for us. The team at By the Book is a wonderful group of people - informative, friendly, responsive and well trained. Roll Call has exceeded our expectations.
Cons
Using the group email feature with Hotmail hasn't been too successful.
Overall
I highly recommend By the Book and their church managment software, Roll Call.
Purchased Date: May 01, 2008
Pastor, Westwind Church
July 21, 2010
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Pros
We love the idea of putting people into groups.
The Giving tracking excellent
The The ability to handle lots of data is great.
Cons
The email function is too basic. In this day and age there should be HTML functions. This is a MUST!
The financial reports are left to the creator to edit if you want reports that people can read. If I do a 12 month giving report it goes across three pieces of paper unless I copy and paste a bunch of it which is a hassle. I think you need much more visually friendly reports for people to read.
The query section is difficult to navigate. There are lots of possibilities (which is great) but could there be basic one's in place (Women's ministry, etc.)
There is no right "click" opportunities to copy or paste, you have to go the the "edit" section of the men and select it. Shortcut keys are important.
Overall
I think as a basic database this works great. Our church has continued to update this software and probably will continue to do so. We also, unfortunately have to run Quickbooks for non-profits for paying bills and such. How awesome it would be if there was something to link the two. I have told other church planters like me to look into this software, I think it is priced right and grows with the church. I would suggest that the makers of Roll Call continue to make this software user friendly. Even more so than it is to date.
Purchased Date: January 01, 1992
Secretary/Bookkeeper, First United Church of Christ
July 21, 2010
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Pros
Roll Call is easy to use and addresses all the needs of our church's data organization and reporting. I'm not tech-savy, and the support team is there to quickly answer my questions and help in solving any problems.
Cons
Can't think of anything at the present.
Overall
I would recommend Roll Call.
Purchased Date: December 01, 2008
Admin. Assistant, Calvary Temple Church of Portage, Inc.
July 21, 2010
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Pros
For day-to-day use, very good
Cons
Can't delete an individual who has contributions on file; would like to be able to delete a single person's contributions
Queries are not very user friendly
Fonts don't match on personal donation receipts (report itself & customized paragraph)
Overall
Would recommend to other churches
Purchased Date: March 01, 2010
Interim Administrator, Calvary Community Church of Kona
July 19, 2010
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Pros
This program offers a lot. I am still teaching myself the different features included in the program. Learning from trial and error.
Cons
Can't think of any.
Overall
Once I am able to master the different features offered, it should be a wonderful program to have. It does the basics, and that's all I need for now. I'm glad to have this program to track the church's tithes and offerings.
Purchased Date: April 01, 2008
Office Administrator, Forest City Community Church
July 14, 2010
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Pros
Ease of use
Ease of installation
Cons
Nothing I can think of right now!
Overall
We have been very happy with the software. The customer support is tremendous.
Purchased Date: N/A
Administrator, DREAM Team Intl dba Kailua-Kona Intl Dream Ctr
July 14, 2010
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Pros
Ease of usage
Cons
The only con I have is the lack of knowledge in me, of what this program can really do. It is easier from me to see it being done than read how to do it. My own laziness. Other than that, it meets our needs 100%.
Overall
Couldn't do alot of things manually that this program allows me to do. Love it!
Purchased Date: January 01, 2008
Business Manager, All Nations Fellowship Church
July 14, 2010
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Pros
Strong software in the area of reporting, donations, membership mgt, attendence tracking. Intuitive and easy to use in terms of the core features. Very feature rich; Excellent overall package for the money.
Cons
The advanced query writer is awkward and difficult. Some inconsistency and quirkiness across different reports. For example, a single active member of an inactive/non-member family will cause the entire family to show on a active member report. Saving & recalling queries & reports is not intuitive. Inadequate flexibility in formatting letters; weak emailing in terms of editing, mass distro and interface with mainstream email clients.
Overall
I would definitely recommend Roll Call to other Churches. It's a great tool to help one manage the core needs of managing and processing a congregation. While there is room for improvement, overall it's easy to use and you can't beat what Roll Call offers for the money.
Purchased Date: N/A
Tech, Culver-Palms UMC
July 13, 2010
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Pros
I really like the Mac Interface. Very Intuitive. Tons of very usable features.
Cons
The Quick reports are a bit difficult to follow. I was trying to make my own Picture Directory and could not get the photos to print. I have been using 4th Dimension for about 22 years and still could not get those pics to print. What's up with that?
Overall
I would like to see more ready made reports. Specifically a picture directory in 8.5x5.5.
Purchased Date: N/A
Financial Secretary, North Stamford Congregational Church
July 13, 2010
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Pros
The program is easy and keeps tracks of members donations on a weekly basis. Quarterly statements can also be issued which enables members to keep track of what they have donated and shows them their pledge as well as what is due on their pledge. Members want an end of the year statement for their taxes and Roll Call also has a feature that makes that simple. One of the best features of Roll Call is the customer support. Whenever I have called them they are friendly, courteous and always able to help with any question I may have. Quite frankly, I wouldn't be able to do my job without Roll Call.
In addition to keeping track of members and their pledges, I am also able to keep track of gift income and rental income. Roll Call makes it easy to calculate income for the church which must be presented at monthly meetings.
Cons
There are no cons!
Overall
I highly recommend Roll Call!!!
Purchased Date: July 01, 2009
D.R.E., Saint Peter
July 13, 2010
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Pros
I can't believe how many different uses this program has! I use it for every event to keep track of attendance as well as for security purposes.
Cons
Could have a bit easier interface, although having said that, the technical support offered with it is second to none.
Overall
I would highly recommend this program to anyone who is in charge of children. It doesn't make sense not to use it.
Purchased Date: N/A
Office Manager, Sisters Community Church
July 13, 2010
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Pros
Overall easy to use
Great Customer support - quick to respond w/ step by step help if needed
Reports for attendance easy & complete
Produces a great directory of church members
Easy to use donation screens & reports
Cons
Reporting is difficult if not familiar with tables or queries
Icons have pictures only. Adding text would be helpful
Overall
I would recommend Roll Call completely. I have been using it for about 2 years and am very happy with the results we get. It can easily be adapted for smaller or larger churches. The program has a lot more capabilities that we don't currently use at this time.
Purchased Date: January 01, 1993
Parish Manager, Christ the King Church
July 13, 2010
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Pros
Holds a lot of information.
Support staff always willing to work with us.
Cons
Special reports are sometimes hard to set up.
Overall
Meets our needs.
Purchased Date: March 01, 2009
Lay Children Ministry leader and , Banner of Christ Church
July 12, 2010
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Pros
Very good and is easy to use.
Cons
Very mouse friendly. Non-mouse or keyboarders have larger learning navigation learning curve.
Overall
My Wish List would be:
A quicker list view of people checked into a session and a quicker check in/out for nursery from such a view. Infants seems to come and go throughout a service and instead of check back in. Let them use the same tag for the day... and it check them back in, with that by recalling history or something simular to that. Keep collective checkin and out history for recall. Cannot be used as a church daycare, in/out tool. Newer version can, but cumbersome to use in that capacity.
Solution is a bit pricey for the number of users and for the custom keytags with barcodes compared to some of the other companies that offer these type of solutions.
Purchased Date: N/A
Admin. Secretary, Valley Baptist Church
July 01, 2010
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Pros
the program can do far more than what our requirements are at present.
Cons
can't think of any.
Overall
I think it's a great program for our church of 250 but would be even more beneficial to the needs of much larger churches as a management tool especially in their childrens program.
Purchased Date: September 01, 2009
IT Volunteer Leader, Unity Church of the Hills
June 20, 2010
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Pros
Very intelligent design to include the functions necessary for most churches, small to large. Easy to learn and use. Good user documentation and tutorials both printed and on-line.
Truly outstanding support no matter if it's a how-to application question, assistance in formulating a complex query or help in installing a version upgrade.
Good security which provides several levels of access..
Good support for the youth ministry including a child's special needs and allergies. Includes reminders for renewing of background checks.
An excellent array of reports for every type of user from a data entry person, a financial person, volunteers and the volunteer coordinator, the youth ministry people and the minister and board of directors.
Cons
Competitors point out it is not browser based. That is not an issue for us. If remote access is required, we can attain it through a third party remote access program such as "Logmein" which is free.
Overall
Would recommend without hesitation or reservation for any church that wants to organize it's office functions, keep up to date information on its members and to be able to provide donation information to a member, including statements, at the push of a button. Also includes tracking of donations and pledges for the minster and board of directors.
Purchased Date: January 01, 1999
Administrative Assistant, First Unitarian Church of Providence
June 18, 2010
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Pros
See Overall Recommendation.
Cons
See Overall Recomendation.
Overall
I've been using this product since it was being developed by Mr. Gene McGlasson whom I even had the pleasure of meeting about 10 years ago! I remember calling him a lot and telling him what didn't work or was acting up. I kept upgrading version everytime he had a new one until I was pretty happy and I am still using an old version which pretty much does what I need. I remember long time ago installing one of the newer versions and I can't remember exactly what it did that I was not happy with, so I decided to keep using an older one. Nevertheless, I am still using a very old version and I am pretty happy with it. Thank you very much.
Purchased Date: N/A
Administrative Assistant, Whitemarsh Island Baptist Churc
June 15, 2010
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Pros
Roll Call has been helpful in keeping up with offering records, Sunday School and worship attendance. It is simple to use.
Cons
It would be nice if the updated version would have information as you scroll over the icons. This would be easier to find what you are looking for.
Overall
I would reccommend this program to the most computer illeterate person. I have always had excellent service from Roll call.
Purchased Date: April 01, 2008
Children's Ministry Leader, TerraNova Church
June 15, 2010
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Pros
RollCall has allowed us to completely automate our child check-in. It is very easy to use. The kids are able to check themselves in every morning. We are able to accurately track our attendance, run labels for various mailers, send mass emails, and run visitor reports to send postcards to our visitors. It also allows us to do an accurate headcount during class to make sure that every child is accounted for and checked in. We also use RollCall for our summer VBS program, and our mid-week bible study for our kids.
Cons
Some of the query and reporting features are fairly complicated. I no longer send emails out using RollCall. Instead, I export the email addresses and send them out separately. The email feature is very touchy and if I accidentally use the Enter key on the 10-key pad, it will send my email out immediately before I'm done typing it.. To avoid this, I no longer send emails through RollCall. Also, changing the fonts for some of the mailing labels is not an option, and it is a feature that we would like to use.
Overall
I would definitely recommend RollCall. The price is very reasonable, the customer service is fantastic, and it has allowed us to really grow our ministry.
Purchased Date: February 01, 2002
Treasurer, Hopewell First Church of God
June 15, 2010
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Pros
The times I have sent an e-mail asking for guidance on how to do something, the support has been the best I have ever had (even when I was working and we had our own support staff). The responses are very timely and they have always walked me through what my problem was. Kim actually gets a 10 in my rating!!!!
Cons
No complaints
Overall
Same as pros above
Purchased Date: February 01, 2010
Mr, Riverside Community Church
June 15, 2010
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Pros
Good value for the investment
Cons
Some times difficult to use but I think there are many features we do not take advantage of..
Overall
Highly recommend
Purchased Date: July 01, 2007
Membership Secretary, New Song UMC
June 15, 2010
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Pros
Ease of use. Ability to contact a support problem and quickly get an answer.
Cons
We need a program that will track our visitors to determine if they are still attending after 6 weeks.
Overall
Outstanding
Purchased Date: N/A
Receptionist, Faith Christian Family Church
June 14, 2010
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Pros
Roll Call has been a blessing to me in my data entry for the church. We have had great success with this program and I highly recommend it to a church of any size.
Cons
I really don't have anything bad to say about this program.
Overall
Very user friendly. There are so many benefits to Roll Call from data entry to reporting. Being able to pull just the information that you want on reports is a blessing. You don't have to wade through information that you don't need. I love Roll Call. It has made my data reporting much easier.
Purchased Date: January 01, 2007
Administrative Secretary, Pioneer United Methodist Church
June 14, 2010
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Pros
Overall great tech support starting with transfer of data from FileMaker Pro database to Roll Call. Easy to learn basics from just using the program and/or online helps and/or calling tech support. Tech support feels like family after calling and working with them just a couple of times. Entering donations, printing quarterly/yearly/individual statements, keeping track of pledges, running donation/pledge reports - all very easy to learn. I haven't found much that's not user friendly and whenever I've had a question tech support was just a phone call away. I love being able to call Kim, have her connect to my computer and watch as she shows me how to figure something out. If she's not sure she turns me over to Dave and he has been able to walk me through anything I needed. I really appreciate Dave walking me through the download process for every computer in our office. It was a blessing to find such a great program!
Cons
One of the areas we are having problems with is the "missing worship report" - however I haven't called tech support about it yet. Also, one of my volunteers thinks the way the attendance report with the dashes and number one's is hard to understand. I don't find it that difficult but she thinks there should be an easier to read format. I really don't have any real concerns as I know that tech support could help me with just about anything.
Overall
I would highly recommend this database program to any church needing a more efficient way of keeping track of membership records, from mailing lists to giving records to Sunday morning worship attendance. All of my volunteers have been able to quickly learn their area from me just sitting down with them for a short time and walking through the process. I would recommend the full tech support service for at least the first year, if not every year. It's very comforting to know there is someone just a phone call away who can walk you through the process. Overall recommendation would be an A+++.
Purchased Date: N/A
Director of Technology, FBC Everett
June 14, 2010
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Pros
easy for end users
combines giving, attendacne, and child checkin into one simple tool.
great tech support and office staff
Cons
needs webserver interface thus have to install and update client software
slow to print lables for child checkin if on wireless, recomend wired connections for best performance.
Overall
great prodcut and includes overall snapshot of the org's health
Purchased Date: August 01, 1998
Secretary, First Baptist Church of Port St. John
June 14, 2010
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Pros
Lots of choices to pull so many reports by different categories.
Great for membership and contributions.
Familiarity is your greatest asset. The more you use the database, the easier it is to pull reports and information.
You can create your own groups, and you are not limited to generic reports. So you can be as specific as you want to be.
Cons
More workshops need to be available to help you realize how many reports can be pulled. This helps with all the custom fields. This is an area we did not utilize at first because we did not realize what could be available. I did go to one workshop in Fort Lauderdale but a lot of the workshop centered around contributions. I deal more with membership and family records. Ignorance is the enemy when you need information and can't figure it out.
Overall
After several years of experience with they system, I am very confident and continue to create reports and databases that fit our needs which is the greatest asset of this program. We have set up deacon sets and family groups which has been very instrumental in visitation and outreach in other areas.
Purchased Date: February 01, 2008
Secretary, Bible Baptist Church
June 14, 2010
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Pros
Customer Support
Mac and Windows compatible
Ability to customize via Tech Support
Cons
The jump is too large (from 500 up to 1000) people.
I would like to be able to customize some of the forms/reports, but I can usually export and edit in another program (eg: Excel)
Overall
First, it's a great product, but the tech supports puts it way over the top as far as meeting our needs. The designers ARE the tech support!
Purchased Date: April 01, 2002
Office Manager, Cross Pointe Church of the Nazarene
June 14, 2010
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Pros
More user friendly than the original version
Operates more like Microsoft office
Interfaced
Cons
Pictorial directory cannot be emailed or saved to disk for publication
Lists and reports cannot be emailed
Overall
Create a way to have families together when doing attendance as a society we have more & more blended families. I.e. group parents alphabetic and then children with different last name with the family number. Same as when there is a Jr. or Sr. suffix after someone's name.
Purchased Date: N/A
Previous Pastor, Goshen Mennonite Church
June 14, 2010
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Pros
I have used this in a limited way, but it is very easy to enter data and wonderful to tract information on people!
Cons
I have found it harder to make specific reports that I want, but that could be because of my limited ability.
Overall
I have not used some of the features of this program, but I heartily recommend this program. I have used it in a limited way since the early 90's. The people are very, very nice to work with. They are a company with names and friendly voices on the telephone and so helpful. Try them out!!
I do not mind being a referral, but I would have limited help to give as you can see.
Purchased Date: July 01, 1995
Office Manager, Prestoncrest Church of Christ
June 14, 2010
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Pros
Everyday use for members, classes and groups is very easy to navigate. Donation information is easy to record and track. Most users are able to search for basic information with a little training.
Support has always been excellent and the people are very friendly and easy to work with.
Cons
Email is not user friendly for anything but straight text and is not useful for cutting and pasting from word docs. The formatting and some of the characters do not translate exactly. It would be nice to be able to forward forms such as attendance rosters directly without having to print and scan to email for teachers.
Overall
Roll Call has been a work horse for us and would be a good product for anyone to purchase. We found it worked well with Mac, which was the main reason for our original purchase.
Purchased Date: February 01, 2001
Church Secretary, Burnt Store Presbyterian Church
June 14, 2010
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Pros
Can produce many reports using roll call, as well as labels, etc.
I use it everyday to look up info on members, friends, etc., who attend our church.
Cons
In the attendance part we need Roll Call to show the association for each person so we can credit the correct person when doing attendance as we have more than one with the same name in many instances.
Overall
Overall I think it is a great product and can be configured to do many different things.
NOTE: I was not able to obtain the original date of purchase from the Treasurer. She could only be certain that we had paid for tech support in 2002, so she assumed we had to have purchased it in 2001 or prior to that.
Purchased Date: March 01, 2010
Administrator, Crossroads Apostolic Church
March 20, 2010
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Pros
I have used Roll call Version 9 & now !0 for several months. It is an outstanding church membership program! The program is easy to set up and use with great downloadable documentation. Customer service at By The Book is is superior.
Cons
I haven't found any cons.
Overall
Great church management program backed by outstanding customer service team. A high quality program that doesn't break the bank. Buy Roll call and you will love it!
Purchased Date: February 01, 2007
Administrative , Apostolic Truth Tabernacle
February 26, 2010
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Pros
This software is very user friendly! I've used it for six years. We are very satisfied.
Cons
I like it. All that I use of it is good. It's the only one I've ever used.
Am very satisfied. Others may or may not compare, I don't know. I'm sold out on by the book RollCall software.
Overall
I recommend this software to any novice or an experienced administrator. This program along with their outstanding staff is a win win! You will not be disappointed.
Purchased Date: June 01, 2005
Outreach, Bluff City UPC
February 17, 2010
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Pros
We love the detailed record keeping & reporting. The cost is most certainly a bargain compared to functionality. With the implementation of version 9.5, the check-in feature is allowing us to empower others to have a sense of ownership in our church outreach. One might say roll call has inspired an internal revival of church workers. Thank God for Roll Call. We give it an A++, & with the below described improvements it would easily surpass everything out there in our opinion.
Cons
I would like to see a greater ability to multi-task with-in the same window. A central desktop type opening window with a look similar to quickbooks would be more appealing than the current file tab selection.
Overall
Roll Call is currently Super. It is hard to improve upon perfection.
Purchased Date: March 01, 2005
Administrative Pastor, Calvary Fellowship
September 30, 2008
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Pros
ROLLCALL is a great product for the price. Allows you to track many aspects of a members participation like attendance, groups involvement, giving, etc... It also allows you to run many different reports. If a report you desire does not exist then tech support will create one for you. It offers a child check in feature that can be used on Sunday morning for children's church. This not only looks professional but adds security making first time parents feel comfortable leaving their children in your care. Price varies according to church size which makes it very affordable when your are a young growing church.
Cons
Since ROLLCALL is not web based it can sometimes be difficult to access from a location other than your building, like your home. Also, child check in can be slightly complicated if you are meeting in a portable facility. You will need to either access the database through the internet and create a VPN, this may require some upgrades to your system, or copy the data file to a portable computer for Sunday service and then replace it to your server after. This adds a few steps which you must be diligent to do in order to avoid loss of information.
Overall
I think it is the best church software package available for its price range.
Purchased Date: January 01, 2008
Secretary, Clairemont Emmanuel
September 26, 2008
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Pros
I appreciate the balance of professional -- but personal -- support when we need it.
It makes it easier to manage my tasks because of the program set-up (I don't have to keep 5 different pages on separate issues; I have them combined in Roll Call)
Cons
Would like to customize reports (add/delete information) a LITTLE bit more: fonts, change margins, etc.
the queries are a little overwhelming to sort out
Overall
I would highly recommend this product to anyone inquiring!
Purchased Date: N/A
Children's & Welcoming Ministries, Rockland Community Church
September 26, 2008
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Pros
With the constant upadates they are making it is easier and easier to use. I love that you can request something and another church has also and they do it. Thanks Kim and Dave
Cons
Don't like that you can't control CTRL EP and paste - but haven't requested that so maybe in the future.
Overall
Great program - Great Company to work with. 2 Thumbs up.
Purchased Date: March 01, 2008
Admin. Assistant, Oasis Community Church
September 25, 2008
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Pros
The biggest Pro for our church is to have all of our membership information in one place. Before RollCall, we had about four different spreadsheets, all with different information for the same people. The good thing is we were able to import most of the data from our spreadsheets into RollCall. The directory functions are so easy to use and it prints out a nice looking directory. We are just implementing the Child Check In and already find it such a time saver! No more lines waiting to check in your child!
Cons
The biggest con is not being able to access the database remotely. We have a small church which means most of the people that need to access RollCall have other jobs and would like to be able to access from home. I would also like to see a more robust word processor, particularly allowing importing of Word Templates for letterhead.
Free tech support runs out too quickly. Since most churches are not in a rush mode, a better delivery of support would be on an hourly basis - say 15-20 hours of support, (which would include getting started classes) and when that runs out customer needs to pay for it. It just took us so long to get going that our tech support ran out and funds are limited.
Overall
It's a good product and reasonably priced. We have only been actually using RollCall for about 5 months and most of that time was in a learning curve. We are not using it to it's full cabability but so far, it meets our needs. I'd recommend to anyone implementing Roll Call to hold off purchasing until you are actually ready to implement so as to take advantage of the all the free tech support and training.
Purchased Date: December 01, 2007
Ministry Administrator, Keystone Community Church
September 24, 2008
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Pros
We're very pleased with what we've been able to do with Roll Call and the
customer service is EXCELLENT! Implementation went very well and easily, based on past business experiences.
Cons
Haven't found any cons to-date.
Overall
We are very pleased with the product and would highly recommend Roll Call to other Churches or organizations.
Purchased Date: July 01, 2006
Pastor, St. Mary
September 23, 2008
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Pros
The software NEVER crashes, always works quickly and efficiently with our macintosh computers running Leopard 10.5.5. It meets our needs. Support has been there whenever I have had any questions
Cons
I have not had any problems with this software.
Overall
Love this product
Purchased Date: February 01, 2008
Exec. Secretary, Christian LifeFellowship
September 23, 2008
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Pros
It is very easy to use, especially if you have never used a similar program. Customer service is second to none. The more we learn about Roll Call, the more we realize it will do almost everything we need it to do and more.
Cons
After using PowerChurch for years, it was hard to switch to a new program, but so worth the time.
Overall
If you have a lot of groups that you want to keep track of, a large children's ministry to check in and out or if you want to begin a database of member's and giving I would highly recommend RollCall. The security of our children and youth is high priority and RollCall helps us achieve that.
Purchased Date: January 01, 1998
Office Manager, St. John Lutheran Church
September 23, 2008
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Pros
Extremely powerful; more features below the surface than most places would ever need. There's not much it can't do. Fantastic tech support.
Cons
Many of the most powerful features are not mentioned in the documentation (probably because most places would not be using them on a regular basis). These powerful features are really not anything the normal user could ever figure out, but as I said, the tech support is great, and they are always willing to help, either via email, or phone, or even writing custom formulas.
Overall
Highly recommended for any organization that requires a powerful database to keep track of attendance, offerings, and the like.
Purchased Date: N/A
Director, First UMC of Winter Park
September 23, 2008
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Pros
It is very Easy to use and works great with our Student Ministry
Cons
E-mail ability is limited to very basic.
Overall
This is a great software that i have recommended to many of my friends and will continue to do so!
Purchased Date: May 01, 2002
Publications Director, New Hope Christian Center
September 23, 2008
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Pros
- Entirely customizable reports
- No monthly fees, pay based on capacity, so a smaller church can grow into an increasing capacity, paying for more capacity at a later date.
- Cross-platform, both PC and Mac on same network
- Support is hands-down the best support I've seen with any product, ever.
-Major version release every 12 months (They haven't missed one yet!) Minor releases much more often.
-Easy to roll out an upgrade to all your clients. Simply upgrade the Server install, and clients auto-upgrade at the next login.
Cons
- As of version 9.5, there is no online ability.
Overall
Fantastic product, and I recommend anyone looking for a church software solution seriously consider Roll Call.
