[cardoon queen]

We are a big site with 85+ plotholders. We use a free hotmail/microsoft programm to organise files etc. The poor rent renwals guy is finding increasingly clunky to tie the excel spreadsheet to link into the lottie bank account. Now emqil addesses win't link at all... what do other lotties use who do online banking? We'll look for a less time consuming one even if we have to pay an annual fee....
After reading responses ......
sorry obviously  very unclear from the level of replies I've received - thanks for your support Aunty.  I omitted the software program that we currently use which is the free version of Python via the Microsoft hotmail  system.  We send out annual renewal emails and plot holders then use the link that takes them directly to our bank account link ....*72% now use it. Unlike most people replying, south London is so densely urbanised that 85+ people on 65 plots is big for around here - I know of one that is crammed in behind houses that has only 7 plots.  I'm happy that people still have time enough for bits of paper and note books but personally I spend enough time on allotment business than to spend hours sitting in the community kitchen being potentially infected.  In my area over 1,800 people a week are coming down with the disease.  so on all counts ICT is the way for us to go  so anyone with any real expertise that could give me a constructive non patronising response would be appreciated!  Hail the revolution when women take over the world.....

[Lardman]

85 transactions a year is a tiny throughput - what's the issue?  Sounds like your workflow needs looking at as bank reconciliation should be straightforward.

[Aunt Sally]

What should they do to improve the system, Lardy?

[Lardman]

Without knowing more about how the transactions are formed or the system being run it's impossible to say, could be something as simple as adding a guid to each payment request exporting bank transactions to csv and cross referencing them with a simple macro.  If there's something more complex going on like rolling renewals, monthly direct debits or pro rata payment plans it might need something a little more heavy duty on the accounting side.

I just have a mental picture of "Fred in the Shed" with a biscuit tin and an A5 reporters notepad 

[Yorkie]

I may have misunderstood what you're trying to achieve /what the problem is, but if it's a question of matching online rent payments with tenants, can you get them to put their plot number / invoice number / name on the reference when they pay online?

[Aunt Sally]

A couple of helpful replies there, CQ.

[Aunt Sally]

I just have a mental picture of "Fred in the Shed" with a biscuit tin and an A5 reporters notepad 

You been looking in my shed, Lardy 

[Lardman]

You been looking in my shed, Lardy 

I did - I saw your hardback double entry ledger book right next to the Rover biscuit tin 

[jezza]

Hello whats up with a pen and log book and the banks of Mr Jacob and Mr Crawford (biscuit tins) ,its not let me down for 30 years   you have as much interest as the banks and instant access   jezza

[Christine]

I may have misunderstood what you're trying to achieve /what the problem is, but if it's a question of matching online rent payments with tenants, can you get them to put their plot number / invoice number / name on the reference when they pay online?

We ask our plot holders to put name/plot number on their bank payments. So far they have all been good. This means that the treasurer just prints out a transaction statement once a month and crosses payments against the list provided by the person responsible for the lettings. It works for us despite having plot holders leaving and new ones coming on. Costs us nothing but emails which are free.

[Lardman]

We ask our plot holders to put name/plot number on their bank payments.

A potential problem with this is ever changing personal details, specifically email address which is what the OP mentions.  If using a CRM to manage membership and to send invoices out payment reference should be the invoice number allowing for very quick reconciliation as you suggest.  If there's no unique invoice to pay, tracking down plot number against an email address (I'm guessing paypal is also involved here) could be problematic especially if the a plot holders email has changed, is spelt wrongly, doesn't fit in the reference box or if the payment method isn't tied to the email recorded on the plot contact.

All manageable problems for a small number of members, but not a robust system design or scaleable to any degree.  Back in my previous life, period based recurring payment processing (like membership,rental and storage) was one of the most common applications and middleware projects I would get asked to write.

[grinling]

Emails to everyone should be under an address book tab called allotment which has everyone's email in it. Email sent to allotment, so that address's are BCC as GDPR asking to include plot no,name, email.
Download and cross refernce on to excel  spreadsheet.

[Yorkie]

Emails to everyone should be under an address book tab called allotment which has everyone's email in it. Email sent to allotment, so that address's are BCC as GDPR asking to include plot no,name, email.
Download and cross refernce on to excel  spreadsheet.

Really good GDPR point. I save my allotment email addresses in a distribution group that has BCC as the first part of its title, as an attempt to prevent any inadvertent data breaches by putting email addresses in the wrong part of the email!