Q. What is Church Helpmate Online (CHO) and how is it different
from the standard Church Helpmate Desktop software?
Church Helpmate Online (CHO) is an installation of the Church Helpmate
software program that resides on our servers. This enables you (and
others from your organization) to access the Church Helpmate software
(and your data) from virtually any computer that has access to the
Internet (including both Windows and Mac computers). Users will easily
be able to connect to the same single database regardless of their
location (home, work, church, coffee shop, etc.).
Unlike CHO, the standard Church
Helpmate Desktop software is installed and run locally on your Windows-based
computer. If your organization has a local area network (LAN) installed,
the Church Helpmate Desktop data can be shared across your LAN to multiple
local, on-site (non-remote) computers.
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Q. What
advantages does CHO offer over the standard Church Helpmate Desktop software?
CHO offers several advantages:
-
Ease of remote access
With CHO, users can connect to the CHO program and data from any
computer connected to the Internet. With CHO, all users share the same
data file at the same time…no matter where they are.
-
Automatic updates and upgrades
With CHO, updates and even full version upgrades are automatically
included and implemented without any effort on your part.
-
Performance
In most cases, you’ll actually see a speed/performance advantage with
CHO – especially if you typically have more than one user running Church
Helpmate at the same time (sharing the same data file). Our CHO beta
testers have been very surprised by the quick speed of CHO – and
delighted that it’s much faster than their existing locally installed
standard Church Helpmate Desktop software.
-
Mac-compatibility
With CHO, it’s easy for Mac users to use Church Helpmate. Church
Helpmate Desktop can only be run from Windows-based computers.
-
Automatic Backups
With CHO, your Church Helpmate data file is automatically backed up
daily….giving you piece-of-mind that your data (and time investment) is always safeguarded.
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Q. Would
our church be a good candidate for Church Helpmate Online?
CHO would be of great benefit to you and your church if one or more of
the following are true:
-
You don’t have a
centralized church office and/or you have multiple people working from
different locations (i.e. home, church, work, coffee shop, etc.).
-
You don’t want to
have to set-up and maintain a local area network (LAN) to share your
Church Helpmate data file across multiple computers.
-
You don’t want to
deal with the hassle of installing product updates and upgrades.
-
You have one or
more people from your church who want to run Church Helpmate from a Mac
computer.
-
You are currently using the Church Helpmate
Desktop product and sharing the data file with multiple users across
your local area network - and you are experiencing
speed and/or performance issues.
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Q. Apart from the ability to access the program and data online,
are there any functionality differences between the standard Church
Helpmate Desktop software and Church Helpmate Online?
CHO is just an
installation of the Church Helpmate Desktop software hosted for you
on our servers...so it's the same product with the same design,
feature set, and capabilities. However, there are a few minor
differences due to the fact that CHO is running on our servers.
We've detailed these differences in our
CHO vs CHD
document.
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Q. How
much does Church Helpmate Online (CHO) cost?
Please refer to the Church Helpmate Online
Pricing
Page for details.
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Q.
What about upgrades and updates?...are they automatically included with
CHO?
Yes, the CHO monthly fee includes all updates and
all full version upgrades. Since CHO is installed on our servers, these
updates will be installed automatically for you – you won’t need to do a
thing. We’ll make sure that you are well-informed in advance of any
updates/upgrades to ensure that there are no surprises.
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Q.
What about tech support?...is this included with CHO?
Yes, the CHO monthly fee includes full email and
phone support (as well as updates and full version upgrades).
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Q. Is there a CHO
demo available?
Yes. Please see the CHO
Demo page for more details.
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Q.
If the CHO program is running on your servers, will we be able to
print reports to our own local printer?
Yes. Your local printers (i.e. the printers that
are connected to the computer you are sitting in front of) will be
available from within the CHO program. You can also easily convert,
save, and email any CHO report as a PDF file if desired.
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Q.
If the CHO program is running on your servers, will we be able to save
files (ie. PDF files, CSV files, CH backup files, etc.) to our own
computer’s local hard-drive and/or upload files (such as photo files) if
desired?
Yes, your local drives will be accessible from
within the CHO program. From the “Tools” menu of CHO, you can select
“Windows Explorer”. This will open the Windows Explorer window and here
you’ll be able to copy and/or move files back and forth between the CHO
server and your local hard-drives.
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Q.
Can we run CHO from a Mac computer?
Yes, you can! Just like you can access a website
like Google from a Windows or Mac computer, you can access CHO in the
same way.
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Q.
Will we be able to limit specific users’ permissions as far as what they
can and cannot do in the Church Helpmate Online system?
Yes, absolutely. Church Helpmate provides a
built-in security system that allows you to create as many Church
Helpmate login accounts as needed. Each of these Church Helpmate user
accounts can be configured so that they have only the permissions that
you want them to have.
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Q.
Is CHO a “web-based” church management software system?
Well, yes and no. Technically speaking, CHO is not
a web-based product. It is still the well-known and well-respected
Windows-based Church Helpmate Desktop product that we’ve been developing,
enhancing, and supporting now for over a decade. However, CHO now
“web-enables” our Church Helpmate program by making it available through
the Internet by utilizing the latest state-of-the-art communication
software tools. The CHO program and your church's data will reside on
our secure Internet server. Your computer's Internet connection will
connect to this server and allow you and others from your church to run
the program (and access your data) without having to have the Church
Helpmate software installed locally on your computer. So, while CHO is
technically not a true “web-based” (sometimes known as “browser based”)
application, it is more of a “hybrid” solution. It provides all of the
remote access convenience of a cross-platform web-based application,
while still providing the reliability, feature-rich interface, and
powerful reporting capabilities of a proven desktop application.
customer quote
"With CHO, I really think
you have catapulted yourself beyond
browser-based solutions. Great product."
David Wehrle, CHO beta tester
