Charge Conference Technical Updates for 2022

By: Chris Hampton, Director of IT Services

Charge Conference "season" is upon us again. This year we have made a couple of changes, including introducing a Fund Balance module to putting the clergy comp section all on one screen. We have worked hard to continue to make the CC season as simple and easy as possible. Below are key points and reminders to help assist you this year. Look for the keywords *New for 2022* to see new information.

Please remember that the clergy compensation, church leaders, and (new for 2022) the fund balance report will need to be submitted through your church/clergy dashboard, while charge conference forms are submitted under "Submittable Forms" in the Church Dashboard.

If you have any technical issues with any modules or forms, please contact IT Services at (704) 464-0994 or it@wnccumc.org. Please reach out to your district for inquiries about the questions or how you should answer them.

Charge Conference Forms

• To find your church's Charge Conference online reports/forms, you will go to your Church Dashboard and click on Submittable Forms and then "2022 Charge Conference Forms."
• *New for 2022* -  We have split the LSM question up in the Agenda and Minutes so that you can list those continuing and starting based on what level of Lay Servant they are. Please enter each name separated by a comma.
  • 
• *New for 2022* - We have moved the fund balance report to a module. For written and video instructions, please visit this page: https://www.wnccumc.org/detail/fund-balance-2022-16609726
• *Reminder* -  You can now access your church dashboard from your clergy dashboard. If you are at a multi-point charge, you can have multiple church dashboards open simultaneously without logging out of the previous one. Just click on the "Church Dashboard" link in your Clergy Dashboard.
  • 
• *Reminder* - Please read the instructions carefully. Please also note that your district may have additional instructions to supplement the official instructions. 
• *Reminder* - We copied over ALL of your data from last year to help speed up this process. Instead of "Start this form" you will see "Edit Form." When you click edit you will be taken to the NEW form with last years data entered. You may change whatever data you need, and then click save at the very bottom. You must open and save each form, regardless of if you have to make any changes.
• *Reminder* - Forms now say "Save" instead of "Submit Form." This helps remind you that you must fill out each form, save it, and then "officially submit" your charge conference forms. Please note that each district varies on what needs to be submitted when and the approval process for each form.
• For more instructions on filling out a form and officially submitting your documents, please check out this video.
• 
  
   

Fund Balance (new for 2022!)

• This year (2022), we are introducing a new Fund Balance module to replace the Fund Balance form you have used in your Charge Conference paperwork for the last three years. This new module is more user-friendly and shows all the funds in a more natural grid-like way, making it easier to update and view your funds' information from year to year. Even better, it handles all the calculations and is easy to print and keep for your records!
• For written and video instructions, please visit this page: https://www.wnccumc.org/detail/fund-balance-2022-16609726.

Clergy Compensation 

• Clergy compensation can be accessed from both the church and clergy dashboards. You can click either the "Start" button inside the 2022 box or the "Start New Compensation" at the top of your screen. 
• *New for 2022* -  We have updated our calculations to show health numbers rounded to cents and better calculate pension numbers for charges with a housing allowance.
• *New for 2022* - We have removed the various screens and instead have the entire form on one page, separated by sections. You can now easily reference numbers between sections without going back and forth. Each section continues to calculate and let you know when there are errors that need updating.
• *New for 2022 - We have added your "adjusted years of service," which will be used to calculate your service time (full time, 3/4 time) based on the minimum longevity salaries approved by the Annual Conference. To see those numbers, please reference the supplement from Annual Conference.
• *Reminder* - Select 1/1/2023 as your comp start date. If you do not, it will not calculate correctly.
• *Reminder* -  Every new report starts your service time at "Quarter Time." This automatically updates as you enter your compensation and select the effective start date.
• *Reminder* - Do not enter the signatures until after you have completed your charge conference AND your district has approved it. Each district will provide instructions for accomplishing this.
• *Reminder* - We will continue using Clergy Compensation 3.0, which was released last year. Please check out this video to see what changed last year: Clergy Comp 3.0 - YouTube

Church Leaders

• *Reminder* - Do not enter an end date if the person serving is not ending. If you select an end date and then they continue serving into the next year, it may report that your church has no leaders for that position. Please keep the end date blank unless they serve for one year or have a specific end date.
• *Reminder* - Even if you have no changes and the end dates are blank, you must still report that you have completed the church leaders module. It is also important to check contact information. We used that information this year to send out Annual Conference information, so it is important to verify that your contacts have valid addresses and emails. You can click the blue "I am done" button if everything has been verified.
• 
• Please check out this video for more instructions on how to fill out church leader.

The importance of charge conference reporting yearly helps to move our annual conference forward. We have worked hard to make this process as effortless as possible, allowing you to continue doing important ministry in your area.