Finances & Analytics

Now that we’ve covered some of the numerous features available in UCare, let’s take a look at some of the financial features UCare offers. UCare provides what you need to track weekly giving, such as tithes, offerings, and receiving payments for a church cafe or bookstore. We will also briefly cover some of the Analytic tools that can be integrated into UCare using Microsoft’s Power BI. Numerous options are available regarding Power BI and how this integrates with UCare; we will cover it briefly here.

First, we’ll look at Payments and how UCare helps you keep track of your finances. 

Payments 

UCare allows you to record any payments and giving made online or in person. Payment forms can be added to a website or church app or sent via email. This ensures that payments are recorded directly into UCare, keeping manual payment processing to a minimum. Statements and follow-up emails can then be sent at the end of the financial year. Payments can also be refunded if needed.

If a payment service is configured, UCare will allow Credit Card payments and a Direct Debit option. Payment services that can be configured with UCare include Stripe and PayPal. UCare is PCI compliant, and the safety of how credit card information is stored is verified annually to conform with the PCI data security standard.

To add a payment, click + New and select Payment.

If multiple payment services have been linked to UCare, you can choose which one is used. You can also assign a payment to a profile in UCare; once this is filled out, you can choose the payment method, e.g., cash, card, direct debit, EFTPOS, etc.

To view or refund payments, click Payments in the navbar:

By default, payments are listed by the date received, with the most recent payments first. The dropdown boxes at the top allow you to view payments within a specific date range. Additional filters, such as tags, can be set to narrow your search. Alternatively, using the Filter payments search option, you can type in specific payment details like names or payment types. 

Clicking a payment will provide you with the payment details. You can process or record any refunds from here by selecting Refund payment.

You will have the option of refund type, cash or credit card, should you have a payment service linked to UCare. While Stripe will refund the total amount, a fee will still be charged to capture the payment.

You can share the giving Form to a website, church app, or via email using the share icon in the top right corner:

Unlike recording a new payment, the giving Form links the giver directly to UCare and will not require creating a + New > Payment. This also allows the giver to choose When the payment should be processed and whether they would like to make recurring payments.

If members choose to make recurring payments, the Future Payments tab will be visible from the main Payments page. This tab will display the upcoming payments, the payment method, and the expected date. While the payee can cancel or change the payment, future payments can also be deleted in UCare.

Payments can also be imported from a CSV spreadsheet using the button in the top right corner:

This covers some of the basics of using the Payments feature. Now, let’s look at some of the possibilities available in UCare regarding Analytics. 

Analytics

While UCare has some built-in Reporting, numerous data tracking options are available using Power BI that take data tracking to the next level. Let’s take a look at these options.

Power BI

Microsoft Power BI allows you to take data visualization to the next level. Power BI can sync with your UCare data to easily connect to and visualize your data in many different ways. This aids with the decision-making process based on factual data and can easily allow you to gauge the health of your church using statistics. Many other possibilities cannot be covered in depth. The video below will give you an idea of some of the options you can have. 

Power BI can give you access to much more than shown in the video above, including people and small group networking and map visualization, which are particularly useful for small groups. 

This concludes the final Part of the Getting Started Guide. There is so much more available in UCare that has yet to be covered, so if you have any further questions, feel free to browse our Help Articles. Thank you for choosing UCare! We can’t wait to walk through the rest of the journey with you!