There are two aspects of security associated with WebLink. The first is data security. Fellowship One and WebLink were designed using the latest security technology available.
Secondly, Fellowship One provides a check-and-balance process for account creation. Fellowship One does not automatically allow access to all of the information stored for a web user who has just created a new account. For example, giving records are not immediately available.
WebLink utilizes the most current encryption technology to maintain the security of your church's data. Every parameter passed in the WebLink hyperlinks is fully encrypted.
Additionally, the Login module handles passwords using what is known in technical terms as salted hash. In laymen's terms, this means it would take 50 computers (running constantly) continuously presenting password combinations four years to discover the password.
If a web user decides to create an account through the Login module, the information is treated specially by Fellowship One. In fact, Fellowship One creates a new record in the portal for each new account created-even if a matching record already exists. This practice prevents accounts from being duplicated and used without permission.
The fact that a second record is created in Fellowship One does create a little administrative work. However, the benefit is that church staff can verify the authenticity of new web users prior to releasing personal, private information such as giving records. Additionally, a duplicate finder tool is available. This tool allows you to match duplicate records in a few quick steps.
Because Fellowship One creates a new record for each account created via WebLink, no giving or household information is available for the web user. If he or she clicks a link to the Contribution Management or Event Registration module, neither previous giving records nor household member information will appear. However, the user is still able to create a giving schedule or a registration.
Staff members of your church can merge all new web user accounts with the corresponding primary record in Fellowship One. This process allows the church to provide an additional layer of security for its web users.
The creation of a new account will not keep a web user from utilizing the functionality of Fellowship One, he or she will simply not have access to any personal information until a merge has been completed. The web user can still take full advantage of every aspect of WebLink, however, he will simply need to provide all required information for the module being accessed. Once the merge has occurred, the next time the web user logs in, he or she will see all giving, personal, and household information.
A web user will eventually have access to his or her household information. He or she will not, however, be able to arbitrarily change all the information for the household. The only editable fields are communication values. A web user must still contact the church to communicate name, gender, birth date, or marital status changes.