Terms and Definitions in Vega

An ever-growing list of useful acronyms, terms, and definitions related to Vega and our processes:

 

API

Application Programming Interface. It can be helpful to think of the API as a way for different apps to talk to one another.

 

Attributes

These are a powerful tool in Vega, used to segment and define your contacts. They can be used in various ways, depending on your organisation's needs, to assist with reporting, show contact preferences or type, record interactions or help with personalised segmentation.

 

Batches

Payments processed by a widget or on a contact are automatically added to a batch, and this is required for imported payments. Processing in a batch makes it easier for bulk payments, as you can set default values for all payments.

 

Campaign Header / Campaign Action

There are various ways to engage with your contacts, these are made up of a Campaign Header and a Campaign Action. A Campaign header can have many actions underneath it; this is a way of grouping by type of campaign or cause, for example. Available campaign actions are: Send Email, Excel List, RSVP Event, Ticketed Event, Print PDF, Print Labels, External List, Raffle Channel, and Raffle Draw.

 

Contact

In Vega, your supporters or donors etc are referred to as contacts. A contact is any record in your system and each of these has a unique Vega ID.

 

CRM

Customer/Constituent Relationship Management system. Vega is an online fundraising and engagement CRM.

 

Documents / Templates

Any type of content used, in a widget, a campaign, or a receipt, is created as a document. These can be created or edited from within the Template Manager, and you will have some defaults created for you to start with. A Template is a specific type of document, which is indicated by the Type or Folder it is saved in. A Template 

 

GL Code

General Ledger Codes will be used in your financial systems, such as Xero and MYOB, to assign funds to different areas or projects. This is also assigned to payments in Vega so that they can be matched to your financial system.

 

GUID

Globally Unique Identifier refers to a database-level ID that is assigned to each contact in Vega. This GUID is used when creating personalised widget links to fill in the contact's details. Vega replaces the #GUID# with the contact's specific GUID and is able to then populate the widget form with their details.

 

In-Memoriam

A payment type for donations given in memory. This option can be included on a widget to automatically process the donation with this payment type. If the contact exists in Vega, they can be added to the payment. There are specific Vega preset queries to view details for these payment types.

 

Merge tag

When sending a document in Vega, you can use merge tags to add personalisation for things such as contact information, payment details etc. Merge tags need to be added in the exact format and capitalisation, otherwise they will not add the correct information.

 

MYOB

An accounting system that can be integrated with Vega. Once your MYOB account has been authorised under Admin you are able to import your GL Codes and Bank Accounts and import/ export transactions between the two systems for easy reconciliation. 

 

Payment Gateways

Merchant Services are provided by an eCommerce provider that authorises credit card and direct debit payments processing. Vega supports a number of secure/PCI (payment card industry) compliant gateways.

• Stripe
• Flo2Cash
• Windcave / Payment Express / DPS
• Paystation
• eWay

Query

There are Vega preset queries and a tool to create your own queries. These will find a set of contacts depending on the filters and criteria added, which can be based on attributes, campaigns, payments, etc. Queries can be used for reporting or creating specific lists of contacts to send a campaign to.

 

Raffle Channel

In Vega, a campaign header can have many raffle channel campaign actions to represent different streams within the same raffle campaign. For example, a raffle may consist of different raffle channel actions for telefundraising, recurring donors, direct mail etc. These will be created as individual raffle channel actions, but all tickets will be available to enter a draw under this campaign header.

 

Regular Giver

In Vega, a regular giver is a contact who has a recurring payment schedule of any frequency. These contacts are the only ones used in queries with type Contributors Regular.

 

Recurrence / Recurring

This refers to the type of payment used for regular givers. They are created with a frequency and can be automatically processed against a credit card or set up to create a payment in Vega only. Payments can be linked to a recurring payment after being processed by right-clicking the payment and selecting this option. Any payment linked to a recurrence will show with the frequency instead of Single Payment when viewing the payments on the contact.

 

Supporter-Led Fundraising

A payment type for peer-to-peer fundraising where the payment is added to the contact who paid the money but can be credited to the fundraiser and/or team doing the fundraising.

 

Tokens / Tokenised

Secure and unique masking of a credit card by a payment gateway (the PAN, or primary account number, is replaced with a surrogate value, or token. This keeps the credit card number secure). Vega uses these tokens to process payments in Vega using your preferred payment gateway.

 

Xero

An online/cloud-based accounting system that can be integrated with Vega. Once your Xero account has been authorised under Admin, you are able to import your GL Codes and Bank Accounts and import/ export transactions between the two systems for easy reconciliation. 

 

Widget

Or a web form, a widget is a stand-alone application that can be embedded into a webpage. Vega offers different types of widgets e.g. donation, registration, event, and membership. Widgets are set up and configured in your Admin section of Vega. Vega generates a code for your widget, which can be easily added to your website.

 

Workflows

Workflows in Vega allow you to automate some simple processes, which then run in the background. This is a powerful and efficient way to automatically send emails, and/or trigger attributes to be added or closed, saving you time! Read more on Attribute Rules or Payment Workflows.