TACO Capabilities

Manage two independent camps

• TACO allows you to switch between two separate camps with a mouse click. All reports reflect data only from the selected camp

Define your own camp jobs.

• In the DB Setup Screen you enter the jobs you need at camp. These become available in the Counselor Information screen as you identify who is going to do what.

Camper Shirt Sizes.

• TACO allows input for Camper shirt sizes and produces a report showing you how many shirts of each type and size you need.

Fee-receipt record

• Log in fee payments as they are received. Make notes for each payment.

• Record date, amount and other, miscellaneous notes.

• Add an early-bird credit or scholarship amount.

• Balance due is automatically updated.

Identify MIT Campers

•  Generate a listing report of all MIT campers

•  Generate mail labels for MIT campers

Accommodate Scholarship amounts for Campers

• Scholarship amounts awarded to campers are kept track of separately from fee payment. A report will list all scholarship awards as well as the total scholarship funds awarded.

Medical Reports

• Provide your nurse with a camper medical summary based on camp and gender. Select the medical report you need for your camp: the whole camp or just one camp (6th grade, JV or Varsity) and either boys or girls.

Error Prevention and Error Checking

Have you ever accidentally assigned a Varsity Boy to a Varsity Girl’s cabin? It may or may not have been highly embarrassing – it all depends on when you catch the error!

TACO provides a screen dedicated to catching those errors – Print Reports / Camp Check - to catch the error long before the shrieks from the girl’s cabin clues you that there may be a problem.

• Current Camper Listing screen (accessed from the Main Menu – Current Campers) provides a field on the right that checks for compatibility between camp (6^th Grade, JV, Varsity) and gender. If you have a varsity camper in a 6^th grade cabin, TACO notifies you. If you put a girl in a boys cabin, TACO notifies you. It is your decision as to what to do about it.
• When assigning cabins in the various screens (i.e. JV Boys) all you will see on the list are JV boys and JV boy cabins. You cannot miss-assign a camper. You cannot make a mistake here!
• Cabin Check – a new screen available from the Main Menu. Cabin Check lets you look at your camp cabin by cabin. You see all the counselors and all the campers. You can see their gender, age, grade, church and color team. TACO counts the occupants and compares it to the total number of beds available in the cabin. If there are too many assigned, TACO lets you know.
• Check Counts screen (available in the new Cabin Check screen, provides a list of your cabins with current counts. This screen high lights over occupancy.
• The Assign w/Info screen now displays a red boarder around the Cabin Name field of current Campers. Non-current Clubbers have a red boarder around the Current field. When a cabin is assigned to a current camper the red boarder disappears.
• In the Assign w/Info screen, if you inadvertently assign a cabin to a non-current Clubber, a red boarder appears around the Cabin Name field as well as around the Current field.
• Color Team Checking to identify family members on the same team.
• The Counselors and Cabins screen allows you to quickly and easily ensure that you have the appropriate gender and camp counselor assigned to a cabin. TACO provides a field in the center of the screen for each Counselor and Cabin combination that highlights mismatches in gender or camp level. Non-current counselors are highlighted to ensure that they are not assigned to a cabin.
• Reports have counts, gender, and camp parameters that allow you to see quickly whether cabins are over booked or campers are incorrectly assigned.

New Camper Check Sheet 

• Fields are highlighted to ensure that something is not overlooked as you work to make sure that every Camper is fully processed in preparation for camp.

Camper Correspondence Screen 

• Quickly and easily see who has received what letters (Acceptance and Late Fee letters) and when. Deleting a date allows you to regenerate the letter and send it again. The screen lists fees paid so you can make sure those Late Fee letters get to the right people.

TACO Database is integrated with the TACO User’s Guide

• Clicking on the % symbol in any screen takes you directly to the appropriate section in this manual. Extensive help is only one click away.

Custom defined lists/reports

• Print reports of user-defined combinations of camper, addresses, church, color team, counselor, camp (6th grade, JV, Varsity), gender.

• Print either a listing or mailing labels based on selection criteria.

Update Counselor camp-years automatically

• With 1 click TACO adds 1 year to all active counselors.

Sponsor Pin report

• Includes Camper, Sponsor Name, Type of Pin (fold-back, clutch back)

Modify the Camp Job list to suit your camp

• Add jobs and delete jobs to make your camp work how you want it to.

Set the Camper Information data input sequence to match your Application form

• Move from data field to data field with the TAB key in the sequence to match your application form. Eliminates errors, speeds up the data input process.

Track Quizzing and Verse card progress

• Output a listing of all campers to Excel for keeping track of quizzing, verse cards, etc.

Easy data entry for camper applications.

• The Camper Information form is set up to tab from field to field as you read the data from the Awana Scholarship Camp Application;

Easily accommodate cabin-mate requests when assigning cabins.

• TACO’s Assign w/Info screen allows you to see only the groups of campers you want – i.e. all JV boys, all 6th grade girls, etc.

Error Checking for Cabin Assignments.

• Make sure that genders and grades are not accidentally mixed in the cabin assignment process.

A multitude of reports

• View your camp organization in many ways. Distribute the right information to the right people in the right format – counselors, nurses, team leaders, etc.

• Maintain a database of all clubbers from year to year.

• Convert a clubber to a camper with the click of a button then simply review the existing data for changes.

Assign campers to cabins fast and easy.

• See only campers without cabins and cabins with available beds when assigning cabins.

Make sure every camper has been fully processed.

• Quickly see that every camper has been fully processed – acceptance letter sent, bank label made, sponsor labels made, cabin assigned, color team assigned, etc.

Optimize your camp for efficient use of cabins and bed space.

• See how many beds you need vs. those available for each camper group so you can adjust your cabins to optimize bed usage.

Reset TACO for the next year with the click of a button.

• Remove all camp-year data and keep the data that does not change year to year. Prepare for the next camp year with only 1 click per item. Reset each item independently so you reset only the items you want to reset.

Identify and count each missionary campers.

• Keep track of each participating missionary's camp statistics. See numbers and charts reflecting the makeup of your camp.

TACO is closely integrated with MS Word

• Totally customizable letters: both Camper Acceptance Letters and Late Fee Letters. Now you write your letters in MS Word and various fields from TACO are merged into each letter. The operation is almost totally automatic – click a couple of buttons and you are looking at the TACO data in an MS Word document. You write the letter you want to send to your campers.

• Have questions about what a TACO feature is? Clicking on small symbols on TACO’s screens takes you directly to the appropriate section in this User’s Guide. You can easily move back and forth to TACO or to the User’s Guide using the buttons on the Windows Task Bar.

Camper Correspondence shows you which letters have been printed for whom.

• On one screen see which Campers have been mailed letters – Acceptance and Late Fee – and when. The screen also displays the Campers current fee status. Delete a letter-sent date and you can immediately print a new letter for the camper. The Camper Correspondence Screen is available from the Acceptance Letter screen, the Late Fee screen and the Print Reports screen.

Cabin counting now includes counselors.

• No longer do you have to think about how many counselors and how many campers will fit into a cabin. Now, just identify the total number of beds in the cabin, assign counselors, then assign campers. TACO keeps track of the total cabin occupancy – both Counselors and Campers.