ParishSOFT Reviews

Pros

At its best the software does a good job but recently it hasn't been functioning properly.

Cons

Support has basically been absent. I've had tickets sitting for weeks without any reply. I'm trying to prepare tax statements but the software isn't bringing over all donation records which means I have to enter them by hand.

Pros

The demo left a good impression. Being cloud based and having strong search capabilities were definite positives.

Cons

We signed a contract at the beginning of June 2024 for data conversion and access to the software and now it's October 2024 and I'm still waiting for the data conversion to be completed. The project manager assigned to us goes weeks without returning calls or emails and I keep having to follow up again and again just to find out whether we can move to the next step. After waiting for weeks my most recent message was answered with "I'm going on vacation but you'll get my full attention once I get back." On top of that my requests to cancel the contract and receive a refund have also been ignored.

Pros

During the first three years I used this software it worked quite well. It includes most of the tools and functions a parish would need.

Cons

Customer support has been disappointing. It usually takes at least 15 minutes on the phone to reach someone and when you do they often do not know the program well. It is also missing important features that were available six years ago. Also the assistant chat just directs you to articles to read instead of providing real help.

Pros

I can't say there's anything positive because I'm not able to use it at all. The software keeps logging me out.

Cons

It's hard to like anything about it when it doesn't even work.

Pros

Whenever help is needed the staff is very pleasant to work with and that happens fairly often. The downside is that turnover is extremely high so you end up needing to save every email and keep detailed notes about your account and any problems that come up.

Cons

There have been a lot of so called upgrades but they seem to introduce constant glitches. The system feels inconsistent, crashes often and logs you out while you're trying to get work done with limited time.

Pros

Easy to maneuveur the site and the whole platform is simple to use.

Cons

I haven't come across any features that I dislike.

Pros

Something I really appreciate is not having to scroll around just to find a household.

Cons

The downside is that it looks and works in a very old fashioned way.

Pros

One of the best things about the software is the customer service. Their team responds quickly, understands the issues I'm dealing with and is genuinely helpful. Using the software has been a very pleasant experience!

Cons

At this point everything has been working really well and I don't have any negatives to mention right now.

Pros

It had a rough start two years ago and since then it has only continued to get worse. I have nothing positive to mention for now.

Cons

There seems to be very little concern for customers. It was disappointing from the beginning and the experience only declined further over time.

Pros

The online registration feature has been really useful and I also appreciate being able to connect the family suite with religious education.

Cons

Frustrating that I can't edit the email that goes out to new users. I also can't collect all the information I need from new users without sending a follow up email and it would be much better if I only had to click save once when entering a new family.

Pros

Having everything organized in a single software package is a big plus. Our Diocese wants every parish using it and it really helps that when a parish family moves their records can move with them. I'm still learning the system but there are training modules for just about everything. They do take some time to get through though I'm glad those resources are available.

Cons

There are quite a few digital payment options out there that would cost the church much less. At times the system almost feels like it tries to do too much because pulling the reports I need can seem inaccurate and definitely clunky. I also handle more than the average user and there are awkward processes you absolutely have to remember or the data ends up wrong. Once that happens going back in to fix anything is a real headache. If weekly contributions aren't entered correctly or not entered on the exact day they were counted it's very hard to change later and then the year-end report won't reflect things properly. More than anything I wish it were more user friendly and allowed corrections more easily when needed especially since many parishes rely on volunteers who are naturally more likely to make mistakes.

Pros

When our church joined a collaborative with another parish about two years ago, I suddenly needed access to both locations. In the beginning I had to sign into each software account separately which was inconvenient. After I reached out to their excellent customer support they set things up so I can log in once and simply switch from one parish to the other. That change has made my workday so much better.

Cons

Even though I've been using this software for years I'm still picking up new tricks in the system. The one thing that really bothers me is the way parish selection behaves when I switch between areas. For example if I toggle to one parish, open the Family Directory to look up a family and then move to another section like Religious Ed it doesn't stay on that parish. It jumps back to the previous one instead. I've brought this up with customer service and they told me they run into the same issue themselves and they manage far more than just two parishes. It really seems like if you choose parish #1 it should remain there until you intentionally switch to parish #2. I'm not a software expert but it feels like that should be possible.

Pros

From donations and sacraments to religious education this software helps keep every part of parish administration organized and tracked in one place.

Cons

Certain details don't always transfer from one module to another.

Pros

Once I got comfortable with the software it quickly became something I use every day and genuinely enjoy. Family Suite handles our regular daily tasks really well and with a little support from QuickReports or Tech Support it can be customized to do just about anything we need. The Offering program is also very user friendly and it's simple enough that training others to use it has gone fairly well. There's a lot more built into this system than what we use day to day so a refresher course on additional features would be really helpful. A training focused specifically on IQ would be especially useful.

Cons

IQ can be challenging to work with because there are just too many options.

Pros

One thing that really helps is how well it connects all users across the Diocese. I'm able to check whether Mr. and Mrs. John Doe belong to our parish or if they're registered with another parish.

Cons

Report generation can be a little slow at times though I assume that's because the system is pulling information from the full database.

Pros

Whenever help is needed the support team is there and ready to assist.

Cons

The pricing can be frustrating since almost every additional feature comes at an extra cost like having to pay more for the IQ feature and other add ons.

Pros

Keeping track of parishioners' contributions is much more manageable with this. The family suite also works well alongside QuickBooks and I'm able to confirm that the QuickBooks information matches the entries I've made in this software.

Cons

At times I run into difficulty when trying to customize a table exactly the way I want it set up.

Pros

It includes all the essential data fields needed to really know your congregation and stay in touch with them. If your team is committed to entering quality data the software can significantly improve how well you understand the people you are serving. The addition of MyChurch opened up even more possibilities especially for updating older family information, handling e-giving and more. I've been using this software since 2005 and I'm genuinely thrilled with how much the software has improved. The newer version is visually better organized, more user friendly and consistently reliable. Support and product development have also been responsive when issues or needs come up. Training new users is fairly easy because the way information carries over into related suites makes sense and feels use friendly. It also comes with a solid set of core reports that churches are likely to need on a regular basis.

Cons

I still really wish it had a feature that lets admin users build simpler more targeted reports using only selected fields. The standard reports are thorough but they can be difficult to read and I end up spending a lot of time cleaning up the CSV files to remove information I don't need. Maybe there's already a better way to do this but if so it's not obvious. I also wish I could create a custom registration form using the fields from the religious education module. Our registration form already asks for all of that same information so it would make a lot of sense if those responses could automatically populate the system once approved. Right now we spend too much time re-entering data that feels like it should transfer directly. The written help documentation could also be much more visually simplified. It's often harder than it should be to find an answer that actually addresses the question I'm trying to solve.

Pros

Working with it has been very user friendly. Adding members and contributions is easy and printing reports is simple as well. Their customer service has been awesome too. They respond very quickly and whenever any issue comes up they provide all the resources needed to resolve it. The team is very efficient.

Cons

The integration had a few minor glitches but overall everything went smoothly once we were live.

Pros

Getting around the system was simple and the features were easy to understand. I especially appreciate being able to generate end of year statements to send to parishioners. Searching for a family member and pulling up their giving history is also very convenient. The training series has been really useful as well.

Cons

I don't like the margins used in the statements and the grid layout.