PDS Transition
Important information regarding your PDS Support Service
PDS Support Announcement
For more than 30 years, Diocesan has proudly been a Certified Dealer of PDS software. Our Software Department currently provides PDS support to over 1,000 parishes across the US and Canada.
This fall, ACSTechnologies, the parent company of Parish Data System software, has decided that they will discontinue the PDS Dealer Program in 2018. As a result, in the coming months, your PDS support will be transitioned from Diocesan to ACSTechnologies (ACST).
In an effort to address some of your questions, we have included some answers to common questions. Rest assured that our support staff will be here, alongside your parish, throughout the transition.
Q & A About Your PDS Support Service
How much longer can we call Diocesan for PDS Support?
Transition dates vary depending on the parish, but we don’t intend to move anyone prior to April 1. You will receive a separate notification, well in advance of the specific date your parish will transition to ACST for support next year. In the meantime, continue contacting us at 877-455-9300, as you always have.
Our parish uses Diocesan for other services – bulletin, myParish, websites, etc – how are those affected?
No other Diocesan products or services are impacted by this change. In fact, Diocesan is in the midst of unprecedented development as we continue to provide, and improve upon, effective products and services to help your parish communicate in an increasingly diverse world.
Is ACST experienced in this kind of support?
Yes. They have supported church management software for four decades, and have been providing support on PDS programs for nearly 15 years. They have a dedicated team that is specifically trained to help your staff on all the PDS programs.
Will Diocesan still provide local classes, and onsite PDS training at our parish?
Diocesan will continue to be available for onsite PDS training at your parish through all of 2018. Unfortunately, with the discontinuation of the PDS Dealer program, we will be unable to provide any support or training on PDS software beyond 2018. In addition to phone support, ACST also provides an online Knowledge Base, as well as webinars, video libraries, and other types of training services which they will offer you to fill that gap.
How will this affect our bill?
The change to your billing will depend on how you access PDS and the support option you currently use.
- If you use PDS software at your parish, on your local computer network, and are enrolled in Diocesan’s SBS support program:
Your quarterly billing will remain unchanged during your remaining months with Diocesan support. In the week before your move to ACST for support, you will receive your first monthly bill from them. Rest assured that our pricing structures are very similar, so you should not see a significant change in the cost of your support. - If you are an OnDemand client and already receive a bill from ACST:
If all of your PDS programs are on OnDemand, then your billing is already handled by ACST, and you will not see any changes in your monthly billing process. - If you use PDS on your local computer network, but are not currently enrolled in a support package (you pay for support only when needed, on a per-call basis):
ACST also has the option of “per-call” support. At the time of your transition, you will be enrolled in that option. In general, however, please know that we recommend enrollment in support subscriptions, as they also include program upgrades and additional support resources.
We use Diocesan’s FTP service to backup our PDS data off-site. How will this be impacted?
Diocesan’s FTP service will continue, uninterrupted, until December 31, 2018. So please continue using the integrated backup process within PDS software to safeguard your data from catastrophic loss from things like ransomware and viruses. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions whatsoever about this important process.
1-800-994-9817