March 24: We now estimate that there are about 1000 groups actively using ODB. Perhaps half of these are using an ODB version that is at least 20 months old, such as ODB 1.0.2.

If you are one of these people, the time is now to upgrade to a newer version -- either the 1.1RC6 version released last April (click here), or the brand new 1.1 version whose release is imminent. Version 1 of ODB has hundreds of new features compared to 0.9. These include notes, pledges, HTML reports, reminders, additional supported fields, auto address parsing, improved search capability, to name a few. In the past year and a half we have been working hard to ensure that these features work as well as the basic ones.

The improvements in 1.1RC6 are well documented (see the list here).

The additional improvements you will see in the final 1.1 release (currently available to testers as 1.1RC8) are as follows:

-Greater Vista compatibility
-Fixed glitches with donation amounts in excess of $100,000
-Added feature to approve mass updates to codes one by one
-Added summary reports for search results in the Notes and Pledges areas
-Added support for HTML stylesheets in donation reports
-Added support for parsing out apt/suite numbers during address import
-Improved security if the donor protection feature is turned on
-Fixed problem allowing numbers as VID codes
-The Mass Action and SRC screens are widened
-Fixed possible crash if records are updated and then 'Omit' is used
-Added ability to integrate custom third-party record printing
-Improved ease of use in setting up reports linked to Access
-Fixed issue where mass removal of codes was broken for payment, note codes
-Fixed issue where mass update of SRC codes was broken, causing crash
-Improved handling at end-of-file when importing data
-many small fixes (including support for a job title field)

Though the upgrade process for ODB is quite simple, we are available to "hold your hand" during the process and also advise you on additional changes you may wish to make to your settings and configurations to customize ODB to your group's needs. The cost for a "1.1 Tuneup" is just $100, with discounts available for social justice groups.

Rich Cowan
for the ODB Project