Installing the statement generator software is easy. It does require a Windows machine running Windows 7 or better to run. It will not work with other operating systems. To install, follow the steps below: Download the setup application under Admin Tools > Settings > External Applications > Rock Statement Generator. Run the setup. The statement generator setup is a breeze with just three quick screens. Using the Statement Generator Software Once you have it set up, it's pretty simple to operate the statement generator software. Start by launching it and logging in. Users must be a member of one of the groups below to log in with this software: RSR - Finance AdministrationRSR - Finance WorkerRSR - Rock Administration NoteFirst Time UsePlease note that if this is your first time logging in, you'll also be asked for the web address of your Rock server in addition to the Username and Password. Be sure to use HTTPS and not HTTP. If you need to change the Rock URL, you can do so from the Statement Generator screen pictured below by clicking the Tools button in the upper-left corner and selecting Options. To generate statements, click the Start button. Step 1: The Who Needs a Statement screen lets you select whether you want to generate statements for All individuals with transactions and/or pledges, filtered by a dataview, or for a specific individual. There are several options to consider when selecting All individuals with transactions and/or pledges. Exclude inactive individuals: Select this option if you don't want to generate statements for people with an inactive status.Include Businesses: This option, which is selected by default, allows you to generate statements for businesses. NoteAdding Children to Families and Giving GroupsIf your Rock system has a custom job or workflow to move children to new families, don't forget that it will also need to set the child's person record's giving group to the new family (or null to indicate giving individually). If this step isn't done, the statement will go to the address of both the old and new family with the transactions still combined. The Move Adult Children portion of the Data Automation job that ships with Rock will take care of this automatically. If you select Single individual, you'll be prompted with a search box where you can type in a person's name. If more than one person is listed in the grid, click on the person you want to generate the statement for. Press Next to go to the next step. Step 2: Select the template you want to use for the statement output. Rock ships with a default template, which you can customize with your own logo, wording, etc. You can also create your own. The Statement Generator templates are located in Finance > Financial Settings > Contribution Templates. If you select a data view, it's filters will be in addition to the configuration of the "Statement Template". Step 3: The Statement Date Range screen is where you specify the date range of the statements you want to generate. The generator defaults to the current year-to-date. Step 4: The Individual Save Settings screen is where you can optionally choose to save statements to the person's profile under the Documents tab. You can control things like the name of the document, and which members of the family (technically, the Giving Group) should have the document added. Step 5: The Report Settings screen allows you to choose the location where you want to save the statements, designate a base Filename Prefix to use when saving, and determine how the statements will be sorted. You can also choose how the statements are broken up into chapters by entering the number of statements you want to include per chapter in the Max Statements in Chapter field. These settings and others can be updated by clicking the ti ti-pencil icon, described below. You can also choose to Save Settings so the configuration you choose will be set up for you the next time you generate statements. Enabling Page Count Pre-Determination runs each statement twice, increasing generation time and overhead. So, why use it? It helps create a cleaner, more professional statement layout, especially for multi-page statements. Pre-determining the page count allows template adjustments to ensure consistent and appealing design across pages. However, for simple, one-page statements, the benefits may be minimal and not worth the extra processing. You can access the settings described below by clicking the ti ti-pencil icon shown above. How you configure these settings determines how the PDF statements will be created. You might want more than one report. Often it can be useful to have one for mailing, sorted by zip code, and one for internal or auditing purposes, perhaps sorted by Last Name. You can create as many reports as you need, each with its own settings and sort order. Primary Sort - This is the highest level of sort order for the statements. For instance, if Postal Code is selected then the PDFs that are generated will be sorted in order of people's zip code, which is ideal for mailing statements. Sort options include:Postal CodeLast NamePage Count Secondary Sort - This is the sort order that's used after the Primary Sort. This lets you order the statements by Postal Code (Primary Sort) and then by Last Name (Secondary Sort).Destination Folder - This is where the generated PDF statements will be saved. If you are creating multiple reports, then you can save each of them to a different location.Filename Prefix - All of the files that are generated will have a name that starts with the value you enter here. Especially when you have multiple reports, this can help you identify which files belong to which report.Split Files on Primary Sort Value - If you have this enabled, then you'll get a new PDF file every time the Primary Sort value changes. For instance, if you have a Primary Sort of Postal Code then you'll get separate PDF files for each zip code, which is helpful for mailing.Max Statements in Chapter - This is the maximum number of statements that should be included within a single PDF file. The Prevent Splitting - This setting will keep the Primary Sort values from being split across PDF files. When this is enabled, it could mean that more statements are in a file than the Minimum Contribution Amount - This is the minimum dollar amount a statement must have in order for the statement to be generated. For instance, you can choose to print statements only for those who have given $10.00 or more. This can help save on mailing costs by reducing the volume of statements generated. You might set this to a lower value for reports you'll only be using internally.Include International Addresses - Determines if individuals with international addresses should have statements generated. Addresses with countries that are the same as the organization’s address (Global Attribute) or addresses with blank countries will be considered local. You might not mail statements internationally, but you may want to include these for your own internal purposes.Do Not Include Incomplete Addresses - If this is enabled, then statements will only be generated if the associated address has at least an address line and a zip code. You'll want this enabled if you're generating statements to be mailed.Opted Out - If an individual has opted out, then a statement will not be generated for the family if this option is enabled. Like the setting above, you'll probably want this enabled for statements that you're mailing but you might not need it if you're generating a report for internal purposes. NoteOpt-Out/In StrategiesRock includes a person attribute named 'Suppress Sending Contribution Statements,' which enables individuals to opt out of receiving paper statements. By default, if any member within a giving group selects 'Yes' for this attribute, the family won't receive a printed statement.To transition to an 'opt-in' strategy, ensure that the default value for 'Suppress Sending Contribution Statements' is set to 'Yes.' In this configuration, statements will only be generated for giving groups where at least one person has chosen 'No.' If you're switching from an opt-out to an opt-in approach, consider clearing all existing attribute values. This can be accomplished using SQL queries or bulk updates. The statement generator will start to process the statements after you press Generate Statements. When the process is complete, the generator will display a summary with the number of statements generated and related details. An additional file called @Summary of Results will be saved along with the generated statements. This file contains all of the run information pictured in the screen above. NoteDisplay ScalingIf you notice the statement generator results are the wrong size (e.g., the font is very small) it could be related to your display's scale setting. The recommended setting is 100%. For Windows computers the Scale and Layout can be adjusted under Settings > Display. Speeding up Generation The Statement Generator typically runs quickly, but larger organizations may notice long processing times. Below are some tips to help reduce the time it takes for the process to finish. Fast Disk: The hard drive on the computer where the Statement generator is installed can have an impact on how long the process takes. We recommend an SSD (M2s) for the computer that's running the application.Page Count Pre-Determination: In Step 5 of the process described above you have an option to Multiple Processors: Having multiple processors will significantly reduce the generation time. The Statement Generator will utilize all of them.Logo: The file size of the image used for your logo has an impact on the size of the PDF files that are generated. A smaller image file, and a logo with a Base64 (inline) source will help speed up the process.Broken Links: Broken links in the template will cause performance problems. For instance, if the logo can't be loaded due to a broken link, PDF generation can take up to four times longer.