Program Installation and Database Setup Instructions

Welcome to Jewel! We are excited to have your church on board.

Acquiring a Jewel Install File

First, check if your conference has provided you with a link to download a Jewel Install File. If not, contact sales@jewelsda.com and they can help you out. If you are a Seventh-day Adventist church, please include your church name and conference in your email.

Installation

Double-click on the Jewel Install file you have received. Once the Jewel Setup screen has appeared, follow the prompts to complete installation.

Sometimes antivirus software interferes with the download or installation of Jewel. If this is the case, you may need to click "run anyway", "keep", "see more" or similar to tell the antivirus software that you trust Jewel. Or you may need to temporarily disable the antivirus software while you complete the installation.

Setting Up Your Database

After installing Jewel, you will enter some basic information about your church. You will need (from your existing financial records) a balance sheet showing the ending balances of all church accounts, both bank accounts and local funds like Church Budget. The NextStep Button will guide you through the setup process. Many of you will be able to complete the process simply by reading the on-screen instructions. But if you need more details at any step, they are given below.

Church Name

Your first step in setting up Jewel is to tell it who you are! Enter your church name, as you would like it to appear on printed reports, checks, and receipts. This name will also be used by tech support and conference auditors to identify your database, so including your location is helpful (ex: "Anytown New Life SDA Church" instead of just "New Life SDA Church").

Add Accounts

Your next step is to add the accounts you will be using. Many of the most commonly used accounts are already set up in Jewel, such as Sabbath School Expense, Church Expense, and Tithe. If Jewel is being used by your conference, you will also have your most commonly-used conference accounts already in Jewel. You will need to add in your other local accounts. Use whatever account numbering system is best for you. When you first open the Add Accounts screen, you will notice an account (account #8001) named 'Checking' and another (#8002) named 'Savings'. You will need to EDIT these accounts to put in your bank information, and ADD any other savings or checking accounts your church may be using. It is recommended that you put in your checking and savings accounts first. Then, add any other accounts/funds your church uses that are not already in the accounts list that came with Jewel. If Tithe is not included in your Conference Funds list, click here for instructions. The steps for adding a Bank Account are below. For more detailed instructions regarding adding or editing accounts, click here.

Follow these instructions when entering your bank account information:

NOTE: If you do not plan to use Jewel to print checks at this time, you need only complete steps 1-3. You can come back later to complete the rest.

1. Type: Select Bank Account as the account type.
2. ID: Select the number you would like your bank account ID to be. Bank account ID numbers should be numbered near the existing numbers, in the low 8000's.
3. Name: Type the name of your bank account, including whether it is a checking or savings account. For example: “First Union Checking.”
4. Bank Name: Type the exact name of your bank. This is the name that will print out on the checks and must be your legal bank name.
5. Routing #: This is "routing transit number" or "fractional bank number" that is sometimes printed in small print on the upper right corner of checks, as a backup to the routing number at the bottom. If your bank still uses this number, enter it here. Otherwise, you may leave it blank.
6. Address: Type in your bank's mailing address, using the same number of lines as a normal address label.
7. Check MICR Line: This line consists of your account number, routing number, and check number and can be seen on the bottom of your checks in bold black type along with some unusual symbols. Key in the number and symbols (use the guidelines provided to type the symbols) exactly as is seen on your checks, with the exception of the last 4 digits – type “nnnn” instead of the numbers seen on the check.
8. Deposit Slip MICR Line: If you plan to print deposit slips from Jewel to take to your bank, copy the MICR line from a pre-printed deposit slip, or ask your bank for the numbers and symbols to enter.
9. Statement Frequency: Choose how often you receive a bank statement for this account. Your selection will be used to remind you when to reconcile.

Can I change account numbers and/or account names later?
Yes. But see instructions and cautions here.

Beginning Balances

Your first big decision regarding Jewel setup is whether you will begin entering data starting with the current month, or from January 1. The advantage of beginning Jewel from the beginning of the year is that you will only have ONE set of books to keep up with through the rest of the year. It may take a little more time at the beginning, but it will save you time and trouble in the long run to have all your books for the year in one place. If you decide to start with the beginning of the current month, you will need to refer both to Jewel AND the accounting system you used up to this point. When bringing up reports (specifically year-to-date) you will have to refer to both sets of numbers. You will also need to send out two contribution receipts for each donor at the end of the year - one from Jewel and one from your previous accounting system.

Once you have decided at which point in time to start your bookkeeping, you can enter your beginning balances. Those beginning balances will be the ending balances from the last month of your old system, after remitting to the conference at the end of that month. When selecting accounts, you may either type in the account (by account number OR account name) or you may click the down arrow to the right of the Account field and select from the list. Accounts are listed here alphabetically and then by account number. If you find that you need to edit an account or add another account, you can click on the (+) to the right of the Account field, which will take you back to the "Edit Accounts" page. When you have finished entering the numbers, make sure that the amount in your Bank Account(s) and Local Funds are equal to each other. Jewel will not let you continue if the bank account and local funds totals don’t agree. Jewel also will not accept any Conference fund balances. Jewel assumes that these are remitted each month, so if you have Conference fund balances you will need to remit them before entering your beginning balances, or add them to a new local fund account called Conference Payable. Then when you remit those conference funds, the Conference Payable account will be left with a zero balance. Confirm that your figures are correct by clicking "OK" in the upper right corner of the screen, and then click "Yes" in the following screen.

Edit Names

The next step in Jewel setup is to enter the names of your donors (i.e. tithepayers) and vendors (i.e. utility companies). To add a new name, click the “Add New Name” button, or press F8 on your keyboard. Simply fill in the appropriate information for each name. When entering a vendor name, such as an electric company, that does not necessarily have a 'first' and 'last' name, enter the name of the company in the "Last Name" line. Remember you can also add names as you write checks and enter offerings, so don't worry if you don't have a complete list right now. When you have finished entering all the names you wish to add now, click OK, located in the upper right corner.

NOTE: Verify that ID# 999 has your correct Conference name. If not, please edit it so that your remittance checks will be written properly.

It is recommended that you enter the donor/vendor names manually so that you don't clutter Jewel with old, unused names. But there is an option to import names from another file. If you already have a list of your church's donors/vendors in Excel, Word, or from your previous accounting program such as Donation Accounting or LUCIS, you can import these names by clicking the "Import Names and Addresses" button. (If you are importing from an Excel or Word file, you will need to save or export the file as a .csv file.) Choose the type of Source file you are importing from, then click "Read from Source". Adjust the options as needed so that the names and addresses import correctly, then click "Import Names and Addresses" to complete the import.

Properties

Fill in your church's address and your name as treasurer. You will also enter your church's Entity ID by clicking on “Select Your Church,” choosing your church from the list, and clicking "OK". (If your church's name is not listed, first check your Internet connection. If that does not resolve the problem, contact your conference's clerk and request that your church be added to eAdventist's database.)

The remaining tabs on this screen contain the Jewel Properties that you can use to customize Jewel for your church's needs. It is recommended that you do not change any defaults at this point, but that you take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the Properties content. You can change settings later by going to Maintenance / Properties, once you have become more familiar with Jewel. You will for sure want to set the Backup Path before you close your first month.

Budget Allocations

If your church has voted on a budget, now is a great time to enter it. You may edit budget allocations at any time, but any additions or changes will only apply to unclosed months, not to previous months. So if you have a current budget, enter it before doing your month-end closing process. Please see Budget for detailed instructions.

All Done?

Once your new database is set up, your next step must be to enter a Sabbath offering.

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