Testing the Program Out

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When you first install the program, you will probably want to test it out to see whether it really suits your needs. This will probably involve at least entering one or more donors, one or more donations for them, and generating sample receipts. There are a few possible strategies for doing this.

 

1.Real Data, Sample Receipts: Enter real data (categories, donors and donations) for the current year (the first year you would really want to generate receipts for using DONATION). When you come to print the receipts, use the Receipt à Current Donor Sample menu option, so that only a sample receipt is generated for the currently selected Donor, and the receipt information is not saved back to the database. If you are satisfied with the program, just continue working on the real data (you don't have to delete anything). This is probably the simplest way to test the program. N.B. Until you have a License Key for DONATION, you cannot create real receipts anyways.

 

2.Fake Data, Sample Receipts: Enter completely fake data. When you come to print the receipts, use the Receipt à Current Donor Sample menu option, so that only a sample receipt is generated for the currently selected Donor, and the receipt information is not saved back to the database. When you are satisfied, delete all of the data you have entered, using Database à Delete All Data.

 

3.Fake Data, Real Receipts: (You should consider this option only if you are comfortable using Windows Explorer, or can enlist a friend or colleague who is.) Enter completely fake data, and generate real receipts if you like. (However, to create real receipts, you would have to have already converted the program from the Evaluation Version that it is first installed as, to the full version.) Then, when you are done, delete all of the data you have entered, using Database à Delete All Data.