New NEON Releases: An Overview

(1) New "Keep me signed in" Feature

Now with NEON, there is no need to keep signing in every time you want to log into your NEON system. A new feature will allow you to stay signed in for up to two weeks. This feature can be enabled by checking the box that says "Keep me signed in for 2 weeks unless I sign out" on the login page. This will allow you to close out your NEON window in your web browser but not have to log in again each time you navigate back to the page. However, keep in mind that using this feature is not recommended for those on shared or public computers.

(2) New NEON-Powered Support Portal

Once you sign in, you will notice that the Live Help image in the bottom right-hand side of your browser is gone - instead a new NEON-Powered Support image and link has replaced this image. (This new image is shown below.) We have done this to provide you with more support options when you have a question, need to look something up, or just need help. The new portal offers more options like access to the User and Administrator Guides, the NEON Knowledgebase, the Training Video Library with many videos covering all parts of NEON, and an email address to contact us, in addition to Live Help online chat support. To try it out, just click the image shown below.

NEON Customer Support Portal Image for Live Chat

(3) Custom Field Groupings

With custom field groupings, you can now facilitate data entry and how you browse your account custom fields. This custom field groupings allow you to specify in which order custom fields appear in groups in the back-end. For example, this may come in handy if you have a set of custom fields that are important to your organization, so when you open up an account, you want to see all of these fields together.

To create a custom field group, click on your System tab, and then click "Edit" next to the desired custom field, either Account, Individual, Organization, Donation or Event Custom Fields. Once you are redirected to the page showing all your custom fields, you will now see a heading above your custom fields "Non-Grouped." To create a new custom group, click "New Custom Group" as shown in Image 3.1 below. To edit an existing group, just click "Edit" next to that group. 

To create a new group, just name your custom group, add a description, and then drag fields from the right to the left (shown in Image 3.2). When you are done click "Save," and you're done! These will now appear as groups in your account details pages for your NEON accounts.

Account Custom Data List with Groups and Non-Grouped Items
Image 3.1: Account Custom Field screen showing grouped and non-grouped fields


Image 3.2: Editing or creating a new group 

(4) Support of ACH or E-Check Payments

Now NEON supports E-Check/ACH payments. These payments are just like when your constituents pay by check, but they don't have to write and mail a check and you don't have to process and deposit it. This is an option from the back end of NEON and the front end. From the back end, just select "E-Check/ACH" from the tender dropdown list, shown in Image 4.1, and enter the Amount, Routing Number, Account Number, Account Owner, and the other options, and click "Continue."

Users on the front end can also pay by E-Check and help links will show them how to access this information, most commonly by looking at their own checks, as shown in Image 4.2.

Paying with E-Check/ACH from the Back End
Image 4.1: Paying with E-Check/ACH from the Back End

Paying with E-Check/ACH from the Front End
Image 4.2: Paying with E-Check/ACH from the Front End

(5) Soft Credit Capability

When processing a donation, you can also add a soft credit for a solicitor account in NEON's back office. To do this when adding a donation, choose a name from the Solicitor dropdown. After processing the payment, you will see an "Add Soft Credit" button at the top of the donation details page (shown in Image 5.1). Then, a pop-up will appear prompting you for the amount or percentage, notes, and then the solicitor's name in a dropdown. Select OK when you are done entering information, and now you've added a soft credit. If desired, you can print soft credit reports from the Reports tab.

Adding a Soft Credit
Image 5.1: The Donation Summary Page with an "Add Soft Credit"

Soft Credit Donation Fundraising Screenshot for NEON Z2 Systems
Image 5.2: Adding the Soft Credit

(6) New Calendar Feature

With this new release of NEON, you can now add a calendar widget to your website. Just click on the System tab, and then scroll down to Events. You will now see an option called "Event Calendar." Click on "Edit" next to "Event Calendar" to get started editing your calendar.

Two calendars will appear, a small one at the top, and a large one at the bottom. Each has a "Configure" button associated with it. To configure each, just click on either the "Configure It" button for the small calendar, or the "Configure the Large One" for the large calendar. The image below shows the configuration screen for the small calendar, which is much like the screen for the large calendar.

To edit the colors, font size and alignment, and borders, just click on a radio button under CSS Class to edit that option. You have the option to edit the tables themselves (or the rows, for example, the Sun through Sat row), or how the text displays. Clicking on a radio button will make those features you are editing flash. To edit each, just enter your new options in the textboxes or in the dropdowns. Keep in mind that the colors displayed are typical web hexadecimal colors, and this is why the colors below are entered as #ffffff and #000000. When you are done editing your calendar, just copy the URL displayed at the bottom, and paste it to your website's HTML where you want the calendar to display on your organization's website.

Configuring the Small Event Calendar for display on the front end

(7) Payments Gateway for Credit Card Payments

 With NEON's new Payments Gateway feature, you can have multiple credit card gateways and you can even specify which gateway to use for individual event registrations, individual campaign donations, individual membership registrations, and individual products for store purchases. To access this feature, click on your System tab. Then, scroll down to the section titled "Gateway Settings." Click "Edit" to edit either your Campaign Gateway Setting, Event Gateway Setting, Store Gateway Setting, Membership Gateway Setting.

Once you click "Edit" you'll see a screen like that shown in Image 7.1. To edit a gateway for a campaign (or event, product, or membership), click "Edit" under the Operation field. In the next screen, you will be able to choose your gateway from the dropdown (shown in Image 7.2). When you are done making a selection, click "Save."

Edit your Gateway Settings for your Campaigns
Image 7.1: Gateway Settings for Campaigns

Choose a Gateway for Campaigns
Image 7.2: Choosing a Campaign Gateway Setting from the Dropdown

(8) New Feature to Avoid Duplicate Accounts

 When your constituents choose to donate or register for an event hosted by your organization, they are redirected to a registration screen. However, this is how many duplicate accounts are created - some constituents may forget they have an account or not know to log in so they enter their information again, and create a new account. A new NEON feature will prompt returning users to log in if the system detects an existing account by looking at the returning user's first name, last name, and email address, requiring less duplicate account checking on your organization's part.

(9) New Survey Spreadsheet Import Feature

  What happens if you create a survey in NEON, gather responses from constituents, but you already have a separate spreadsheet of existing answers? Now you can import your spreadsheet of existing survey answers into an existing survey in order to combine survey responses from a separate spreadsheet with your survey answers. To do this, just open up a survey, and click the "Import" button as shown in Image 9.1. Then, browse for your file in Excel (.xls), .csv, or another delimited file and choose the delimiter shown in Image 9.2.

After uploading your file, select how your spreadsheet corresponds to the existing survey by selecting fields from the dropdowns that best match your survey fields. To delete a field you may have imported by accident, check the checkbox on the right, and select "Delete." After you are done mapping your columns, you will next map values. Image 9.4 shows value mapping - this mapping matches answers in your spreadsheet to predefined values for questions like dropdowns or checkboxes. After mapping these, click "Next." Then, you can choose to save your mapping, and then you're finished!

Import a Spreadsheet into a Survey
Image 9.1: Importing a Spreadsheet into a Survey

Import Data Screenshot Image
Image 9.2: Choose a File to Import

Import Mapping for Z2 Systems NEON
Image 9.3: Column Mapping

Value Mapping for Z2 Systems NEON
Image 9.4: Value Mapping

(10) Copy a Survey Page

  With this new release of NEON features, you can now copy pages from existing NEON surveys to create a new survey. All you have to do is click "Copy Page" in the Survey Form section of your survey details page, select a page you want to copy from the next screen, and the page is copied. Just open it up to edit it, and you're done! You can then adjust the page orders by clicking "Adjust Page Order."

(11) No More Double Login for Team Captains

 Lastly with this new release, team captains can log into the front end portal and access their team fundraising page without logging in again, making team fundraising a little more easy for your constituents.