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In database view, under Batch we can see batches from database view as well as Web View Batches. But in Webview(RE NXT) I can only see batches created in webview. When database view goes away, how will we be able to see the batches from database view for historical records as well as for audit purposes?

This is an excellent question @Jeff Lallo. Let me tell you what my experience has been.

Batch is generally the quickest way to enter multiple gifts. There are exceptions to this, but I've found that for gift entry in volume this is the way like @Rachel Cavalier mentioned earlier.

The other issue is control. There are no restrictions or guardrails with individual gift entry. A gift comes in and is entered individually; there are no reports available (which is why so many organizations have relied on the Batch Control Reports) and no batch IDs to help with reconciliation. Entering as a batch means there's more points of control, and no one person just doing their own thing. That also belies another question for my batch entry folks. Are you approving and committing your own batches or is there a check and balance system in place where a supervisor or a colleague does the committing?

As you can see @Jeff Lallo, there's no clear answer. Sometimes it's "just the way we've always done it", but that doesn't mean that policy wasn't put in place for a reason. I'd be willing to bet that it might have something to do with reporting and what finance needs as these systems don't operate in a vacuum generally speaking.

In our office, we only use batch entry because we pull by batch ID to create the file for our posting to the GL which is not Financial Edge. By pulling by batch ID, the transactions are grouped together so our business office can match up the commitment reports easily with the output file. There have been times when something needs entered, or corrected, outside of a batch and we have used the GL Post Date in our query but for the most part, we use the batch ID.

I have a feeling the criteria for your Addressee/Salutation is set FROM CONFIGURATION as opposed to FROM INDIVIDUAL and so it only pulling the format for married. Use FROM INDIVIDUAL and choose Primary Addressee and Primary Salutation for each of those.

Our organization switched to requiring all gifts to be entered via batch because we have donations being deposited (via check/wire/ACH etc) into 2 separate banks and finance requested that gifts deposited to each bank be posted to FE separately. The only way I can efficiently post gifts deposited on the same day in 2 different banks separately is by batch since gifts deposited in different banks are entered into different batches. It is much simpler and quicker (not to mention less room for error) for me to use a query with ASK operator for batch numbers in the posting process than pull gift import ids and copy paste them into a query.

Great question, Jeff. As a consultant I teach that all gifts that affect Finance (e.g., Cash, Stock RG Pay; not Other, RG; Pledge maybe, maybe not) "must" be entered into a batch, even if there is only one gift. The reason is that RE/Dev should be posting in summary to Finance, whether FE or not, not a gift at a time. Therefore, all postable activity needs a common ID to post, reconcile, report, question, research, etc. by, and because posting should be in summary, Batch ID is that ID. So it's a pain the … neck … if there are gifts without Batch IDs that are stragglers that need to be accounted for, etc. Especially with monthly reconciliation, which every org should do even if they post to FE, having that common ID for batch level reconciliation is hugely helpful.

We use batch for all cash/pay-cash gift entry - only pledges and recurring gift records get entered one at at a time.

There are a few reasons:

1. Easier to make sure you've not missed any gifts and to know where you are up to within a set of gifts
   1. E.g. we process card payments taken over the phone or from card details written on pledge cards and we enter each day's batch of these and know what total amount we should have. Less of a problem if only one card payment has been put through, but when you might have 25 transactions to enter then that total at the end helps! (Could we import instead? Maybe but it gets very fiddly when you have a wide variety of payments in that batch - pledge payment, tribute gift etc etc)
   2. If we entered gifts one by one, then we'd have to stop and do a report to find out "did I do it right?" rather than being able to see immediately "oh I have one less than I was expecting" or "I am missing £5"
2. We use attributes/custom fields extensively and use batch templates to help ensure the appropriate ones are added to each gift. Entering one by one would require each of the team to remember what attributes were required for every gift which is unfeasible and open to error.
   1. We have 3 bank accounts payments might go into - an attribute for this helps with reconciliation and also helps to exclude one accounts' gifts from being eligible for Gift Aid
   2. Attributes to group payment sources to make reconciliation easier for our finance team
   3. Attributes to collect celebratory messages, relationship information for in memory gifts etc
3. Speed of entry! We might be entering many gifts a day and with batches it is very quick - particularly if you set default fields. I cannot imagine going to constituent records one by one in web view, waiting for the page to load and then entering a gift. Even using the add gift button in the sidebar doesn't add anything that we wouldn't have in batch.
4. Batch description is actually pretty handy when the auditor wants you to lay your hands on some paperwork (ours is digital only). Our is all filed by batch type (e.g. cheques and charity vouchers, standing orders, card payments, website donations etc) and there can be some overlap with the gift subtypes or pay methods and having the batch description attached to the gift and therefore in the report the auditor gets makes it quicker to retrieve any "paperwork".
5. I suppose this one is a personal one - at the end of the month, if I accidentally date a whole bunch of gifts 30th September instead of 30th August in database view batch, I can use "global change date" from the tools menu in batch if I spot it before the batch gets committed or I can use global change on a query using the batch number if it only gets spotted as that commit report flashes in front of your eyes. Would that wrong date get spotted as quickly if the gifts are entered one by one? Would be it be as quick to fix? Probably no.