Is535 – Supporting the Missionaries Better with Technology: Ag World Missions
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Supporting the Missionaries Better With Technology: AG World Missions
IS535
Professor
February 13, 2010
Abstract
The following paper is a summary of the issues that take place during the process of handling the finances for Assembly of God World Missionaries. There is an overview of the Assemblies of God as a whole. This includes information about world missions. The overview goes a little deeper by talking about the Financial Services department. There is an explanation of how the systems for financial services work. This is an important task for anyone to be able to understand where the issues come in. There are six different issues that deal with the databases that are used, the telecommunication systems, the missionary statements, reports that missionaries send in, and the lack of communication through out the world missions department. The issues are presented with a suggested solution presented in the next section. Following the suggested solutions are the recommendations to the Executive Committee for the strategic three year period.
At the Assemblies of God World Missions finance department, technology is a great investment; however, in a primarily donation-run organization, technology often takes a backseat. For World Missions, any money that comes in is wanted to be used to help missionary efforts around the world. It is hard to justify spending extra money on new technologies when what is in place works. When issues arise with entering transaction data, missionaries understanding statements, missing phone calls, difficulties explaining things to missionaries, inconsistencies in reporting, and lack of communication of missionary event, it is time to look at what can be done to solve the issues. Technology can be a great ally when it comes to fixing these issues.
Overview of AG, World Missions, and Financial Services
The Assemblies of God is the largest Protestant denomination in the Christian circle. It is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. The Assembly of God has over 50 million adherents worldwide. AG World Missions (AGWM) has missionaries in almost every country who are supported by churches and other individual donors.
As with any other company, money that is brought in must be accounted for. While missionaries work through the Assemblies of God World Missions, they are considered independent contractors by the IRS. So it is their responsibility to keep track of donations and note taxable income. All funds are required to be accounted for. In effort to allow the missionaries to focus more on projects and less on the accounting aspect, the finance department was created.
A missionary is given an account which is tracked by AGWM. The missionary is also given a base salary with cost of living increases based on where they are located. When funds are donated they are placed in the missionarys account. Every month budget funds are disbursed to each missionary on top of their salary. These budget funds are not taxable; therefore, the IRS requires their use to be reported. Missionaries are required to send in quarterly reports while on the field. When home on itineration, raising funds, they must submit a monthly report of cash receipts returning any unused funds.
There are several systems that are in place. First is the MIA system; it is a SQL system which contains the contact information for the missionary, information on their family, current missionary status, and past and current assignments. There is also a link to the minutes, which will be explained later. The next system is also a SQL database called MHM, where the operator can change information such as status, personal allowance, and bank information on the missionarys AGWM account statement. Another SQL database called FIA deals with approved projects that are assigned to missionaries. These projects include construction of schools, churches, and other ministry buildings. Churches can give directly for a project. When created, there is an estimate cost set as a limit for the project and anything above it must be approved.
The minutes that were mentioned above are entered into yet another SQL database. This database is linked to the MIA so minutes can be pulled under the missionary it deals with. Minutes are used for status changes, budget approvals, disbursements over certain amounts, and anything that has been approved that differs from current policy.
The final system, MFA, is also a SQL database that is linked to an AS400 system which is used to print the statements. It used to make transfers between missionary accounts, disbursements, and transfers within missionary accounts to other classes. Adjustments to salary and personal deducts can also be made here. Taxable income and budget funds are tracked within this system as well. Without this program, the financial specialists could not do their jobs.
Current Issues
Issue 1/ Databases not linked
Each of these databases is essential to do the job for the finance department. Issues arise when one database shows one thing and the others show something different. An example of this is; MHM will show the missionary is on the field and MIA will show the missionary is on itineration. This is due to only one area receiving information. This causes problems for the financial department because personal allowances differ from the field and itineration.
Issue 2/Statement hard to read
The AS400 system is used to printout the statements. IBM created this midrange server designed for small businesses and departments. The problem is with the style the system uses to print the statements. The AS400 prints in a computerized manner. Some of the rows on the statement tend to get confused when looking at the printouts. The columns at the right on each page show three different headings; amounts, expense, and income. Figures are either in the expense or amount column. The income column has numbers in parenthesis which denote Accumulation codes that track taxable income and allowable expenses. Not all figures have Accumulation codes. This is confusing for the missionaries because they are looking for income, but do not realize they need to look in the amount column.
Also, when entering transactions into the MFA program, the financial specialist is limited to 26 characters to identify the transaction. This requires the operator to use many abbreviations like chld schl, rcvd, n/rcvd, n/err, stmt,