ShelbyNext Financials

Pros: Lots of capability to manipulate record track church financial activity. Not so easy to use as it does have a steep learning curve. Customer support is nearly always sterling and most reps know their software. Lot's of features if you want the, but you do pay for what you get.

Cons: Module sales approach. "Oh, you want that feature, then you need to get the xxxx module too." Deployment can be a bit ion a challenge.

Pros: I like that I can use the basic features such as cutting AP checks, processing payroll, entering deposits, and posting GL entries. Posting those things are pretty straight forward.

Cons: $90

Pros: The web based program is easy to use. Support is quick to answer and the Community is a great network of advice.

Cons: The software glitches a lot and has a lot of automatic updates that cause glitches sometimes. But overall it is not a problem. Just need patience with it when that happens.

Pros: While it was definitely a step back from QBO, what I admired the most about Shelby is that offers so many services in one without having to bounce back and forth between various platforms. I have everything working together right there in one service. It is relatively easy to pick up and learn all the tasks you would need to know. Having the PO Management system has been one of the most cost beneficial additions to our organization.

Cons: There are several features that are less than intuitive. I will say the biggest area that is lacking in Shelby is a better credit card management system. I would love to have organization users be able to submit and code their own expenses. Their often times where updates don’t get made properly because of the excessive amount of click throughout.

Pros: It was a huge upgrade from Shelby V5 which was server-based. Cloud-based was a major step in the right direction, but not enough.

Cons: Reports. The ones provided were not very helpful. Also, I hated the fact that when looking at a report online (like the GL which could be 100 pages), when you reach the bottom of a page, you had to scroll back to the top to go to the next page - very annoying.

Pros: Their customer service is top notch. Not only is the wait time minimal, they take a personal interest in getting it right for you.

Cons: Sometimes it feels like there are too many steps to go through. However, these are probably for the users protection.

Pros: The software is relatively inexpensive compared to other financial accounting packages. It provides many features that are used by religious organizations.

Cons: The new Shelby Next product lacks many of the previous features in Shelby V5. It is difficult to contact representatives to resolve problems. There are many bugs in the system and processes are not consistent with many other accounting software packages. The product does not seem that it was tested properly prior to rolling out to customers. There are too many workarounds that should be included in any accounting software.

Pros: For us moving to a cloud based product has been very helpful. Accounts payable with credit card transaction tracking is very helpful.

Cons: There is room for improvement as far as data entry. I think some of the steps could be modified so that it is quicker. The use of projects which I use a lot was made more difficult instead of easier. But this does not change my mind about the product.

Pros: The software was easy to learn and financial statement setup was pretty straightforward. I also liked the ability to customize the dashboard. We have a church and school that are set up as separate companies but under the same tax ID. The software allows for combined payroll tax reports, W-2s and 1099s.

Cons: The software doesn't allow a correction to a journal entry - you have to enter a completely new entry to correct it. There is no automation when entering entries that affect more than one fund - it doesn't automatically create a due to/due from.

Pros: ShelbyNext does make it easy to see a quick snapshot of how spending is going in various categories verses what has been budgeted. This is convenient for any main user to check in on, and not have to make requests of the accountant directly.

Cons: Overall, it feels like it's only made for accountants-it hasn't been fine-tuned or made quick, clear, and easy like other programs we use regularly. Perhaps this is the general problem with accounting software, but as ShelbyNext is meant to have many non-accountants involved, submitting expenses, checking budgets, etc, it could be much more streamlined to make this work. We use the system to not only submit our expenses, but to check on what other leaders/volunteers spend in our areas, but this, too, isn't smoothly designed. When there are errors in expense reports, fixing them always takes a few extra steps that could easily be streamlined. It just overall takes more time than any of us who use it like to spend.

Pros: I like the function of being able to copy/paste information from cell to cell. It makes the process of filling out POs much quicker. The reports functions are nice, too.

Cons: Sometimes it has weird bugs, like when you add rows to a PO, it will delete all the other information in the other rows. That can be annoying. Also, there's a glitch with trying to print POs from Chrome. That's also not super great.

Pros: Church financial software like no other, able to easily handle many funds and generate reports that are ready to go.

Cons: ShelbyNext is so expensive as to be cost prohibitive to many, if not most, churches. It may be the best, but I feel bad so few have access to it for this reason

Pros: Mostly, the screens are easy to navigate.

Cons: Some of the information requires numerous 'clicks' to locate.

Pros: When it works, its pretty easy to use. It's quite intuitive.

Cons: It doesn't work like it should very often. Reports don't match to deposits. Takes way too much time to balance them. When there are known errors, we don't get told and struggle more because we are not aware there is an issue.

Pros: We have used Shelby for 20 years, and this just seemed like the next likely option for us.

Cons: Everything is hard to find, names are so different than ShelbyV5. Reports are extremely hard to print, especially if you have to make the same choices every time, it holds nothing.

Pros: The training and help line have been extremely responsive and that's my favorite part of working with Shelby; I know the help will be there when I need it! The system is in the cloud, so I can access it anywhere I am. I like the fact that I can drill down into financial statements to research numbers.

Cons: The accounts receivable segment is extremely cumbersome and limited. Doesn't speak to ShelbyNext Membership OR User setup, so you have input every customer 3 times. Customers can't set up scheduled payments (and I've taken a lot of heat for that!). No mass edit/invoice feature so you can't bill all customers or correct a large group of invoices for the same thing without entering every record. Can't email invoices! No good way to track memorial contributions so that you can send acknowledgements. Generally, inputting requires A LOT of clicking, because the system doesn't search for account by name (we call it the Shelby Shuffle!). Chart of accounts process is very convoluted.

Pros: I believe the product is very good, limited by my own lack of knowledge on the capabilities. I utilize the Bank Account Management to process cash receipts and that works well. The other primary usage is posting to the General Ledge.

Cons: Understanding what type of reports and functions can be challenging, requiring me to run trial reports from the menu of reports for set-up. It would be helpful to be able to access a sample from the actual list of reports, for example scroll down "Report" under the ledger and right click "detail report," to have a viewable sample report. In the General Ledger I find it very difficult to find a detail batch that was posted, viewable format as carried over from Arena would be ideal verse having to add lines and expanding each reporting month.

Pros: I love Shelby Teller for scanning checks every Monday. It was recently updated and makes my job easier than ever by allowing me to see what the scans look like as I go, and I can then rescan anything that isn't perfect. I also like the electronic deposits of our checks to the bank. No more sending checks to the bank. I do it right from my computer.

Cons: I thought it was going to be able to read giving envelope amounts, but I still have to enter the amounts myself.

Pros: $91

Cons: Have yet to find something I do not like about Shelby software. There is a learning curve as ShelbyNext is multifaceted and takes a little time and patience to use proficiently, but is easy to learn and tech support is always available to help with problems. There are times when I have waited in que for 20 minutes for help from tech support, however understand other people are needing help as much as me; therefore, should my problem take an unusual amount of time to answer, I know tech will stay with me until my issue is resolved . Shelby techs have ability to remote in to system and see your screen which makes solving problems much easier and quicker.

Pros: I have used this software for 20 plus years, it is user friendly and the modules are easily accessible.

Cons: my con was when we decided to go web based, however, now I have gotten so accustomed to it, that it is still user friendly.

Pros: I have been using ShelbyNext Financials only for a year, so I believe there are a lot still to learn; but so far I like it a lot. It's non accountant user's friendly, which help Financial Dept let the others see their updated budget information; with the setup of the correct security parameters In general all the configuration is really easy, while modifying the COA you'll be able to see the levels on the screen which it will help to setup new accounts. The option to have the reports in different formats is useful. Importing the annual budget, the credit card into ShelyNext saves a lot of time and reduce the errors. There is a lot of features that you'll be discovering as your needs appear. In my position, have access from anywhere to the accounting is awesome.

Cons: The cons that I found is the exporting in excel, most used for finances; the reports include additional lines and columns that you basically have to re-format the entire report. We are coming from v.5 which was giving us the option to refresh in excel at any time the monthly balances, with ShelbyNext we have to export in excel every time an once again re-format the report. No much information for the Ad Hoc Reports, which are extremely hard to understand and use them; reports from Payroll relate to employees information only, and reports from Purchasing Management (no reporting at all) are important to us and ShelbyNext doesn't give options. We would like to be able to have consolidate Financial Reports for the different campus we have directly from the software.

Pros: I really dont like it. I am using it but I think it will need a lot if customization for our needs.

Cons: Several issues with conversion. Extremely disappointed.