On November 23, 2008, the United States Postal Service's new Move Update Standard goes into effect.  This is a change by the USPS to reduce undeliverable mail by requiring mailers to update their data when someone moves to a new address. Under the new rules, anyone using Standard Mail or First Class Mail (automation and presort rates) must demonstrate that they have updated their mailing list within 95 days (formerly 185 days) based on a National Change of Address (NCOA) database. 

So what does this mean for ACS users?  We have updated the Cass-It! software to have the ability to certify your address records to meet the Move Update Standard.  This is done by updating your data against the National Change of Address data.  So if Joe Smith moves to 1313 Mockingbird Lane, tells the post office he has moved but does not let you know, then using the Cass-It! software will update his record to the new address for you.  The Post Office has less undeliverable mail, you get the best available postal rates, and Joe Smith still gets his bulletin.  Everyone is happy. 

For more information on the new requirement, see the latest ACS E-News which is dedicated to this topic.

Like most of you my church had its All Saints service last Sunday in remembrance of the church members that have left us in the past year.  It made me reflect on the people who have worked for ACS that also are no longer among us.  I would like to take a minute to remember these good people who contributed to the work being done at ACS.

 - Brooks and Jonceel Kennedy – Sales and Training back in the ACS for DOS days

 - Charles Gwaltney – Sales in Louisiana and the surrounding area

 - Sandi Bass - ACS Central Services

 - Karen Collins – Financial Customer Support and Training

 - Lori Yarborough – ACS Central Services

 - Lorraine Rigdon – Certified ACS Trainer in Augusta Georgia that passed away this year

The ACS programming team has delivered another great update.  More than a thousand churches have downloaded ACS 10.0 and positive results are being reported.  To see what is included in the 10.0 update, check out the release notes.  The ACS Knowledge Base also has many articles available to answer common question on the update.  And finally, here is the link to access the 10.0 update.

Many thanks to Steve Cumbia (director of programming) and his dedicated groups of programmers, testers, and technical writers for their hard work on ACS 10.0. 

Yesterday, ACS published a press release notifying our ACS clients that Hal Campbell is no longer president of ACS Technologies.  Hal is succeeded by Tom Rogers, who is an original stockholder and longtime member of the Board of Directors.

I would like to take a moment to thank Hal for the leadership he has provided ACS during the last 30 years.  I also want to thank Hal for many other things.  First, Hal hired me back in 1983. I thank him for that. Next, I thank Hal for his easy going people skills which fostered a culture of close camaraderie among the staff.  This camaraderie kept us going during the tough, early years, and it still exists today.  I also want to thank Hal for being the original champion for the customer.  He taught us all that ACS was first and foremost a service company. “Taking care of the customer” was always the main event.   Finally, I want to thank Hal for being a friend.

ACS has released our first application published in the iTunes App Store!  Open iTunes and search for “Church” and ACS Church Life is the only church software application at this time for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  It allows you to look up names in your ACS database and provides directions.  Now your ministerial staff will no longer need to call the church office when they get lost.

If you are an iPhone user, check it out. 

I have been travelling this week visiting churches using ACS in different cities.  I learned long ago that there is no better way to get feedback than to spend time visiting with people that use the software.  How is ACS meeting your needs?  Are you having any problems?  Have you had the opportunity to call customer support and how has that gone?  Have you loaded the latest update? 

These site visits are very beneficial to me and I hope they benefit the people I visit.  The best part of a visit for me is when there is a question or concern that I take back to the home office for follow-up.  My job is to direct these request to the proper expert and then watch the great staff at ACS take care of the issue. 

Are you having any problems with ACS?  I would love to visit every church using ACS but there are not enough days in the calendar to make this possible.  But, feel free to email me (marvin.owen@acstechnologies.com) any questions you have and I will make sure you get an answer. 

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Here comes my regular reminder to read (and join) the ACS users group on Yahoo.  You can get some great answers from this group of people that use ACS every day.  Here are some recent postings:

 - General Information about Access ACS (web access to your ACS data)

 - Trouble closing month due to "open" transactions

 - Email gathering

 - Records after Death

 - New windows version coming out next year

Suggest to other members of your staff who use ACS to also join this group. 

Do you do yard maintenance?  Trim shrubs, prune trees, and maintain garden areas?  I have that responsibility at my home and while I do not mind working in the yard, I am not a master gardener.  Bushes are bushes and if they look too unkempt, then it is time to get out the trimmer. 

That all changed last week when we had a local landscaper (who happened to be an old high school friend) come look at our yard.  In the hour we spent waking around the yard I learned volumes about proper yard maintenance.  The more you trim those yaupons (green bushes with little leaves) the faster they grow.  You need to them back to 1/3 their size in April and let them grow naturally.  Those loquats (bush with big leaves) are way too large for the space to keep as a shrub.  Cut it down to three branches and let it grow as a tree...on and on about how to properly care for each type of plant. Wow, I wish I had this information years ago.

This time with a lawn expert made me think about churches using ACS and their limited product knowledge.  Could it be time to bring in an ACS Trainer or get help from an Implementation Specialist?  We could all benefit by spending time with an expert. 

The term Pebcak is often used in the computer industry to classify a common type of problem.  I myself had a Pebcak problem this week. 

I received a gift card for my birthday so I went online with Lands End doing some shopping.  I filled the cart and proceeded to check out.  When I tried to redeem my gift card, it would not accept the codes on the card.  So I called their customer service number and got a quick response. The first support person listened to my problem and transferred me to the online shopping support team.  The second support person got my the information of the back of the card and reproduced the problem.  After a moment of thought, the Lands End representive asked me to turn the card over and read what was on the front side.  I did this and read " L.L. Bean"...."Sir, we do not honor gift cards from other vendors". 

Pebcak - Problem exist between chair and keyboard. 

I learned a new word the other day listening to National Public Radio (NPR).  It's Captcha. While you are entering information on a web page you may encounter a Captcha screen. It's that distorted string of letters you have to type to prove you are a human being.  I guess Captcha is a necessary evil but it sure does slow you down.  It is estimated that a Captcha session occurs 60 million times a day and it takes about 10 seconds.  That's a lot of time devoted to letting machines know we are human. 

The NPR story told about a new concept in word verification would put our time to good use.  Listen to the NPR story of how future time spent on word verification could help libraries digitize the books of the world. In the future our 10 seconds of Captcha time may be used to save printed text for future generations.