PCI Compliance Solution Available for Allegiance Clients

Allegiance clients, along with every business and non-profit organization that processes credit card payments or stores credit card information electronically, has the federally mandated responsibility to meet Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security compliance standards.

The PCI security standard, upheld by Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover, is a mandatory global standard to ensure the protection of cardholder data. It requires merchants and processors to make their physical and virtual environments secure. Effective January 1, 2008, credit card companies and banks can levy stiff fines including the suspension or revocation of credit card processing privileges for any organization found non PCI compliant.

In essence, merchants, banks and credit card processors must be able to meet global standards to ensure the protection of cardholder data. Among a dozen other complex requirements, it means if you store credit card information it must be encrypted and stored behind a firewall.

Enter Sage Payment Solutions. Identified early in 2007 as a potential partner by Allegiance user Wisconsin Public Radio, Sage has worked closely with Allegiance programming staff to integrate their Vault™ Service, simplifying compliance and making the process straight-forward and seamless.

The vault assists merchants in being PCI compliant by providing a non-resident encrypted storage solution. The vault employs a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) also known as an alias, which is stored in the Allegiance system to represent the encrypted data securely stored behind the Sage firewall. The Allegiance user then processes transactions using the GUIDs, their Sage Merchant_ID and Sage M_Key.

In addition to the protection of the vault, Sage provides full merchant services including merchant accounts, online reporting and support (live people actually answer the phone when you call). One of the reasons the Allegiance/Sage relationship is so exciting is that the companies share the commitment to providing exceptional customer service.

Sage also offers credit card processing at very competitive rates. The added advantage of integrated gateway processing is that credit card and EFT payments can be processed from within the Allegiance database AND that full or partial refunds can be credited back to the donor without any manual manipulation. University licensees note that Allegiance and Sage meet the stringent IT requirements those institutions impose.

Wisconsin Public Radio, DEI and KCOS have installed Allegiance and utilize Sage Payment Solutions as part of their plan to ensure PCI compliance. What are YOU doing about PCI compliance? If you don't know, find out. If your database isn't PCI compliant, remedy that issue now, before your server is hacked or before you lose your credit card processing privileges in the middle of a pledge drive.

 

Allegiance & Public Broadcasting Celebrate 30 Years Together!

Even though it is hard to believe, it was thirty years ago when Lois O'Meara, then membership manager at Prairie Public Television, and Sonja Jensen, president of Dakota Computer Professionals (DCP), began working on the development of a fully-relational database management system that we know today as Allegiance. After nine months of development, the Fundraising System went "live" in October 1978. The software was so successful at Prairie Public that other stations wanted it. By 1991 DCP ceased work in other software development areas (healthcare, business, etc.) to concentrate solely on fundraising software. The continued collaborative software development between public radio and television stations nationwide and the Allegiance team led to the sophisticated, flexible, state-of-the-art system in use today to manage fundraising, membership, major gifts, underwriting, traffic, auction and volunteers.

During its thirty years of supporting and updating the software, Allegiance has grown from two full-time to twenty full-time staff to accommodate growth and a continued commitment to service. Currently Allegiance Software, Inc. boasts one hundred fifty three (153) users in public and Christian broadcasting with a total of two hundred thirty nine (239) Fundraising, Traffic, Volunteer and Auction systems installed nationwide.

Like the stations it serves, Allegiance has a vision and mission.

MISSION:
To be the leader in providing unmatched quality fundraising and traffic software. We will constantly strive to meet the changing needs of our customers. Our aim is to provide an atmosphere that encourages employee teamwork, integrity and excellence. It is our mission to exceed customer and employee expectations and maintain their loyalty for a lifetime

VISION:
To develop, support and continuously upgrade state-of-the-art fundraising and traffic software to meet the needs of public broadcasting stations and the nonprofit sector.

Happy 30th Anniversary Allegiance.
And here's to 30 more!

Sonja and Lois accidentally sacrifice a few trees during an install at KUT-FM, Austin, TX in 1996.




Mark strikes a “Successful Young Executive” pose in his office, circa 1983.




The Allegiance crew today.

Webinars, Video Tutorials, On-Line Tips, Oh My!

Allegiance launched this newly designed and upgraded website last month. On the public pages you’ll find detailed product information, watch mini demo and testimonial videos, find client lists for references, review the upcoming training opportunities and read testimonials from users and information on services and support. But, the real meat comes after you log in (any Allegiance user can request a username and password). That's where the fun begins - with 4 distinct tabs: Learning Center, Updates, Services and Email Support.

The new Learning Center is robust - complete with on-line documentation on all Allegiance products including specialized topics such as EDT importing instructions, Daylight Savings Time, exporting contracts and mail merging. The Traffic System pages include a host of manuals for Libraries, Tables, Billing and other functions. Separate documentation is available for each software version in use as well as documentation on new features. In the Fundraising System section you'll also find seven training videos on topics from "backing out a payment" and "mail coding" to "setting up the Email system."

Webinars have also joined the online offerings in live and on-demand forms. "Getting Started with the Major Gifts Module" was presented on January 31 to great reviews and requests for "more, more". Molly Park, the trainer and support specialist who created and presented the web training session and materials, said, "We are so happy to be able to bring this new training format to our users. Training is so important and the Webinars allow us to present new tools and information in an interactive, timely way and at no additional charge to our users." Webinars are scheduled quarterly. The upcoming session will cover creating letter and envelope templates in the Major Gifts Module. Watch for scheduling details. And if you didn't attend the live webinar, go to the Learning Center and download the Power Point or PDF!

For users who have ideas for new features, enhancements, or "fixes" there is an online form on the Updates tab where you can submit detailed information. That information goes directly to Lois O'Meara, the Client Services Manager, who works with programming staff to get the request prioritized and into the cue for development. The Services tab gives you information and pricing on data analysis, address standardization, data migration and training services. The Support tab can be used to email support questions.

Allegiance users, if you haven't visited the Learning Center and reviewed the online tools, tips, manuals and information, what are you waiting for? Go to the home page and login or request a password!