Activate Financial & Accounting in Panorama Donor Management

Let's Learn

• Overview
• Before You Begin
• To activate the Transaction register and accounting settings
• Step 1: Configure Your Chart of Accounts
  • Edit an Account
  • Add an Account
  • Reorder Accounts
• Step 2. Add Products and Services
• Step 3: Manage Funds
• Step 4: Choose the Start Date
• Select Transaction Options
• After Activation
• Troubleshooting

Overview

Before you can use the Transaction Register or connect Panorama Donor Management with QuickBooks Online, you must first activate the Financial & Accounting module.

During the activation process, you'll configure your organization's:

• Chart of Accounts
• Products and Services
• Funds
• Start Date
• Transaction Register options

Once activation is complete, you can manage your accounting settings and optionally configure QuickBooks Online integration.

Important: Some settings configured during activation cannot be changed later. Review each step carefully before proceeding.

Before You Begin

Before starting the activation process, ensure you have:

• Administrative access to Panorama Donor Management
• Your organization's Chart of Accounts (recommended)
• Products or Services used for donations
• Your organization's Funds (if applicable)
• Your preferred accounting method (Cash or Accrual)

Note: If you plan to connect to QuickBooks Online, you will configure that after Financial & Accounting has been activated.

To activate the Transaction register and accounting settings: 

Step 1. Log in to Panorama.

Step 2. Select Launch.

Step 3. From the Donor Management menu, select Settings.

Step 4. Select Financial & Accounting.

Step 5. Click Activate Accounting.

Step 1: Configure Your Chart of Accounts

After activating Accounting Settins, the first step is to configure your organization's Chart of Accounts.

The Chart of Accounts is a list of financial accounts used to categorize your organization's assets, liabilities, income, and other financial transactions.

During this step, you can:

• Edit existing accounts
• Add new accounts
• Delete accounts
• Reorder accounts

Edit an Account

To edit an existing account:

1. Select Edit next to the account. 

2. Update the:

• Account Number
• Account Name

3. Select UPDATE to save your changes.

Note: The Account Type cannot be changed after an account is created. If the wrong account type is selected, delete the account and create a new one.

Add an Account

To add a new account:

1. Click Add Account.

2. Enter the:

• Account Number
• Account Name

3. Select an Account Type.

4. Click Add to save.

Available account types include:

• Asset
• Income
• Liability

Tip: You can rename the default accounts to match your organization's accounting practices.

Important: Do not delete the Pledge Receivables (Accounts Receivable) account. This is a required system account.

Reorder Accounts

To change the display order:

1. Hover over the order number until the move cursor appears.

2. Drag the account to its new position.

Once your Chart of Accounts is complete, click Next.

Step 2. Add Products and Services

Products and Services are used when recording financial transactions.

For Quickbooks On-line users Quickbooks has a list of products/services that you will need to match Panorama Donor Management.  You can find this by clicking on All Apps and the Sales & Get Paid and Choosing Products and Services. 

Organizations not using QuickBooks should still create at least one product or service so transactions can be recorded in the Transaction Register.

To add a product:

1.  Enter the Product or Service name.

2. Click Add Product.

Repeat this process until all required products have been added.

3. Click Next to continue.

Step 3: Manage Funds

This allows the user to designate their Funds. Some organizations may have many funds and those funds can be specifically designated to specific uses. 

For example, A college has a scholarship fund, all donations to that fund must be designated to the specific fund even though the college may have other funds as well. The donor’s designation of the fund is a critical piece of information. Organizations can face legal challenges when designated donations don’t get added to the proper fund. 

Funds allow organizations to designate donations for specific purposes, such as:

• General Fund
• Scholarship Fund
• Capital Campaign
• Memorial Fund

Each fund must be assigned accounting information before transactions can be posted.

The set up uses a double entry accounting system that allows the organization to keep track of debits and products/services for each fund. 

To assign the debit and products of the fund you’ll need to choose Assign Accounts (shown below). 

It will open the following Modal: 

The user has the option to select the debit and product/service for the specific fund from the drop downs provided. 

Note: The class drop down does not have any options until the organization adds them. The class will need to be added after the accounting activation has been completed.  

Once the organization has chosen the debit and product/services available in the drop-down menu the organization can Save the changes. These settings can be changed under the organization’s account after the Accounting has been activated. 

Choose Save to save the changes for each fund after assigning all the debit and credit accounts under each fund.  All of the debit accounts and product/services can be changed after activation. 

Choose Next 

Step 4: Choose the Start Date

The Start Date determines when Panorama begins recording transactions in the Transaction Register.

Enter the date using the MM/DD/YYYY format.

Important: The Start Date cannot be changed after activation. Be very careful entering this date because once It’s entered it cannot be changed. (If for some reason you do enter the incorrect date, please contact Frontstream Support for assistance). 

• If using the Transaction Register only

If your organization is only going to use the transaction register and does not have or will not be using Quickbooks, the user will need to enter the date of the first transaction recorded by the organization or the organization’s first known transaction.  

• If integrating with QuickBooks Online

If your organization is using Quickbooks or has had an ongoing transaction register previously exported and saved, your organization is going to use the date after the last recorded transaction was made or a date that meets the Statute of Limitations standards for your Organization’s State.  Make sure to use MM/DD/YYYY format when entering the date.  

The earlier you make the date, you’ll see more or a larger number of back dated transactions,  so if you have an on-going event but will still be receiving off-line payments you may want to make your start date for your financial and accounting settings the event(s) start date.  

Select Transaction Options

Choose how transactions will appear in the Transaction Register.

• If your organization chooses the first option only gifts will appear in the register. 
• If your organization chooses the 2nd option, both gifts and pledges will appear in the transaction register. 

If your organization tries to set up Quickbooks before the Financial and Accounting activation: The user sees an error about the Sandbox. 

Complete Activation

Choose Activate Accounting to complete the Financial and Accounting.

The user will see a new modal open to confirm the activation of the Financial and Accounting settings: 

Activation is complete when you choose Activate Accounting. 

The user is then directed to the following Settings/Accounting Screen (shown below): 

After Activation

Once Financial & Accounting has been activated, you can:

• Manage your Chart of Accounts
• Update Funds
• Create Classes
• Manage Products and Services
• Configure QuickBooks Online integration
• View and post transactions in the Transaction Register

Note: If you plan to integrate with QuickBooks Online, continue with the article Connect Panorama Donor Management to QuickBooks Online.

Troubleshooting

• I receive a Sandbox error when connecting QuickBooks.

This usually occurs because Financial & Accounting has not yet been activated.

Complete the activation process before attempting to connect QuickBooks.

• Can I change the Start Date later?

No. The Start Date is locked after activation. If it was entered incorrectly, contact FrontStream Support.

• Can I change an account type?

No. Account types cannot be edited after creation. Delete the account and recreate it using the correct account type.