Table of Contents

Overview of Transaction Batches

Batches in Gnosis (and most transactional-based systems) group transactions together to make it easier to manage, track and reconcile the transactions that occur in a specific time period. 

See this introductory video for an overview of the batch management system its-self and this batch management video that walks you through the technical details of batch management.

The way you use batches to track transactions is really up to you to determine based on the accounting processes you have in place, but we do have some recommendations to help you get started.

Since those videos were produced, we have also added Auto Batch Rollover functionality.  This new functionality will automatically close out existing batches and open new replacement ones on a defined schedule.  For more information on this new feature, see the section below on Auto-Batch Rollovers.
 

Batch Types/Purposes

We recommend starting with the following best practices when it comes to using batches to group your transactions.  Feel free to modify these as needed to suit your own processes, but this list does provide most of the major considerations that you need to be aware of:

  • We recommend keeping three or more batches open at any point in time.  These batches would be used for the following transaction types:
    • Credit card transactions
    • Cash & Checks
    • In-kind transactions
  • A new credit card batch will generally be opened either daily or monthly depending on the volume of credit card transactions that you process.  Daily batches help reconcile with the daily posting of card deposits from the card processor if you close your batch about the same time as the card processor closes their batch.  If you have a fairly low transaction volume, however, it can be better to wait for the entire month to reconcile the full month of card deposits with your Gnosis monthly card batch.
  • A new Check/Cash batch will be opened to coincide with each check/cash deposit into your bank account.  This way, there will be a simple one-to-one reconciliation for check/cash deposits.
  • In-kind transaction batches can be rolled over when convenient for your accounting process.  If you post in-kind to your general ledger, you will want to roll your batches at least monthly, but if you do not, a longer period may be more convenient.

You may want more than the three basic batches open at a time for any of the following reasons:

  • If you have multiple locations that process incoming gifts, each location will probably want its own batch for checks and cash.
  • If you have multiple persons processing incoming checks and cash, you may want each person to have their own batch to help keep check/cash totals easily accounted for.
  • If you have a number of different income streams each with large numbers of transactions in a day, multiple batches can be set up with the transaction classifications pre-set for each type of transaction.

Batch Names

You also have the ability to name batches individually. See the batch Name field on the Transaction Batch Management screen. This is a text field allowing you to apply a nickname to each batch for tracking purposes. This batch Name will also appear in the batch selection pop-up in Contribution Entry and elsewhere batch numbers are used.

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Credit Card Batches

Credit card batches will capture all card transactions that occur on your website(s), and in your Gnosis administrative applications.  In the transaction batch management area, you assign a single batch to be active for credit cards for a given period and all card transactions processed in that period will be auto-directed to that card batch.  A credit card batch is denoted by assigning the "Credit Card" user to the batch when creating it.  A card batch is made active/current by selecting it and clicking on the "Set Online Def - Heart" button to make it the active card batch.  When you do so, that batch number will be displayed in the top right-hand corner of the batch management screen as the current credit-card batch.

PLEASE NOTE: If a batch is selected as the "Online Batch", you cannot close it. Attempting to do so will lead to a warning that lets you know the selected batch is currently the active online batch. You must first choose a new or different batch as the online batch, and then you will be able to close the batch that was previously specified as the current online batch.

Accrual Batches

Many non-profits operate on a Cash-Accounting basis.  This means you "recognize" the income when it is received, not when it is promised. The alternative approach is called the "Accrual accounting basis," and this means that you (generally) recognize the income when it is promised rather than wait until it is received.

If you operate on an Accrual basis, you will have an added batch type in Gnosis called an "Accrual Batch"  Accrual batches are used in conjunction with Subscriptions in Gnosis as subscriptions are the Gnosis method of recording future intent to pay.  Under this method, when you create an initial invoice for a subscription, you also create an accrual batch entry that records the promise to pay the entire amount.  This accrual batch entry is posted to a non-bank asset account in your accounting system and drawn-down as each regular payment against that subscription is posted to the accounting system.

If you use Accrual Accounting, Gnosis support will configure your system to operate with the accrual batch system so that this process is automatically reflected in your accounting books. An accrual batch is made active/current by selecting it and clicking on the "Set Online Def - Heart" button to make it the active accrual batch.  When you do so, that batch number will be displayed in the top right-hand corner of the batch management screen as the current accrual batch.

Batches and Accounting Reconciliation

Well-managed batches make the task of accounting and bank reconciliation much easier.  Wherever possible, it is useful to arrange batches in Gnosis with a one-to-one relationship to batches and deposits in your other systems. An overview of this process is provided in the Managing Income with Gnosis & Quickbooks article.

 

Moving a Transaction to a Different Batch

Transactions entered in Contribution Entry (including credit card) can simply be reassigned by editing the gift on the Contribution Entry screen.

Check/cash payments to an invoice must first be deleted then re-entered and assigned to the desired batch. Make note of all necessary payment details before deleting.

Credit card payments to an invoice cannot be moved at this time.

 

Scheduled Rollover of Batches

Scheduled Batch Overview

Each regularly used batch may automatically roll over to a new batch based on a schedule in Gnosis 1.2.976 and later.  When this happens, the existing batch is closed and replaced by a new batch with the same name and different period notation.  For example, you may set the monthly credit-card batch to roll over from the "January Credit Cards" batch to the "February Credit Cards" batch.

To facilitate this, there are some additional elements on the batch management screen. In the image below, you can see:

  1. The green "Recurring" icon indicates that you may schedule that batch to close and be replaced by a new batch on a schedule
  2. The "Clock" icon indicates that the batch has been scheduled to be rolled over.  Clicking on the clock reveals the schedule and options that have been set for the batch rollover.  These can be adjusted as desired in the dialog that appears (second image below)
  3. If previously open batches are set to not close immediately when they roll over, they will be seen in the new "Pending Close" category indicating that they have been replaced by a new batch and will be closed after the designated time period - or such sooner time that you manually close them.

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Scheduled batch info dialog:

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Scheduling a Batch to Rollover

To set up scheduled batch rollovers, click on the green "Recurring" icon on the batch that you wish to schedule.  The following dialog is revealed:

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In this dialog:

  • The Batch Naming Pattern is used to determine the batch name for future rolled-over batches as they are created.  For example, a batch naming pattern of "Cash & Checks {month} {day}" will be created with the name "Cash & Checks Sept 23" if it is rolled over on 9/23.  You may have other batches for Credit Cards that might be scheduled to roll over on the first day of each month at 4 am.  These might be set to "Credit Cards {month}" and will end up with the name - for example - "Credit Cards Sept"
  • The Batch Closing Options determine the disposition of the batch being closed.  You can elect to close the old batch immediately, or, specify the time delay after which the batch should be automatically closed.

Lastly, you have the option to roll over the batch immediately, or, schedule the timeframe for the batch rollover to take place - for example, 4 am on the first of each month.  On the scheduling screen, you will choose the timeframe and list who should be notified of the rollover taking place.

If a batch is set as the active credit card or accrual batch, the new batch that is created will also be set as the new active batch replacing the one that was rolled-over.

 

 

 

Comments

1 comment

  • Wendy Jones

    Was trying to determine how to select a user during batch entry.

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