3.01 How do I add people to my Churchteams database?

Populating your Churchteams database

If you have not already had the bulk of your people/data imported into Churchteams, please speak with a member of our Support staff before proceeding further.  We would like to import your current data for you - this is by far the easiest and most efficient way to get bulk entry of information into Churchteams.

There are several ways to add a person into your Churchteams database. 

CONNECTION CARD ENTRY

CHILDREN'S MINISTRY CHECK-IN 

ADD A MEMBER FROM THE MEMBER MENU

USING A DIGITAL REGISTRATION FORM

Connection Card Data Entry

We recommend Connection Card (or Information/Welcome/Guest Card, etc) data entry of new guests as the best practice for inputting guests or new members into your Churchteams database.  If you use a guest card to gather information, this is what you will use for this data entry process.  

1. Set up a Check-In View called “Connection Card Entry” (or whatever you call your guest information cards) by going to Check-In > Views/Setup.  Details for setting up the Check-In View for Connection Card entry can be found here.
2. Gather your guest information cards and go to Check-In > Start Check-in.
3. In the pop-up window, select Connection Card Entry (created in Step 1) from the dropdown window.
4. Change the date to the date the guests attended.  Remember this will be recorded on their Member Information page in the 1st Visit attribute.
5. Check the option for “No label printing.”
6. Click OK.
7. Always use the Search box to search the last names of each of the families on your cards first.  This will help to ensure that you do not enter a duplicate into Churchteams.
8. If the family is not found via the Search, click the Add New Family button.
9. Enter a family’s information in the appropriate fields, and click Save when done.
10. Once a family’s information has been entered, you will see their names on the next screen and have a chance to add them to other groups, such as a youth group or a children’s class. Click Done when any changes or additions are complete.
11. Enter the next family.
12. Once you have entered all guest cards, you can click your browser’s back button to Leave the Check-in area and return to your regular Churchteams screens.

*This is the best practice for consistently entering people into your Churchteams database and ensuring that you are collecting the needed information.  Based on the setup of the Connection Card Entry check-in view, you will also have a little bit of automation in place such as recording the date of the first visit, putting the guest into a guest tracking group and properly labeling the Church Member Type.

Children’s Check-in Stations

We recommend that you set up your check-in stations so that new families must check in along with a volunteer who can assist them with registration. 

You can set up a check-in station in which volunteers can access a check-in view similar to the Connection Card entry and use that to enter new family information.  To do this:

1. Go to Check-in > Views/Setup
2. Click the “Copy” link just to the right of the Connection Card Entry (created in Step 1 above).  This will create a duplicate check-in view.  
3. Click on the Copy name.  Rename the check-in View to something such as Sunday Morning Guest Check-in.  (This will let you know this is the view to use for your volunteers to enter guest information)
4. While on the Settings page for this View, make a few edits listed below, which are appropriate for not just data entry, but also label printing for check-in. Enable or check the box for the following settings:

• A1 - Include class/group name on child label.
• A3.1 - Include parent name(s) on child label.
• A3.2 - Include the parent's mobile phone on the child label. (Security Code Length: 5)
• B4 - Include the current date/time on the parent label.
• B5.7 - Print parent labels AND text security code
• C1 - Enable Family Security Labels (allows printing all child labels at once)
• C4 - Allow adding of people to groups/classes
• C5 - Allow transfer of people between groups/classes
• C6 - Allow removal of people from groups
• C8 - Display the currently checked-in count and maximum allowed for each group during check-in
• C9 - Enable viewing/editing of existing member information (check the option for “Member button will allow viewing/editing of the member profile page")
• C10 - Enable texting feature to page parents via mobile phone
• C11 - Enable name tag feature (Include class/group name on name tag labels)
• C12 - Enable the "Add Family Members" option.

*Read through the options in Sections A and B for the Child and Parent label, as well as Section C for the Family Check-In Screen options, and enable the options that best suit your needs. The above recommendations are just some basics to get you started.

Manually adding a person/family into Churchteams (There is no duplicate checking during this process)

To add a family (person) into your Churchteams database:

1. Go to Members > Family > Add   (Choose Member rather than Family to only add one person.  If they are a member of an existing family, first go to that family’s page then add the member by clicking the blue Add Member button on the right side of the page.)
2. Enter the appropriate information in the attribute fields, remembering that the more information you enter, the more complete your database and better your reports will be.

3. Click Save to begin adding the individual members of the family.  Click Save as you add each member.

Using a Registration Link or Keyword to allow Guests and Members to enter their own information.

As you become more familiar with Churchteams or attend webinars, we recommend that you create Registrations so that new families can use a link or text a Keyword to fill out a form, thus entering their own information into Churchteams.  If you use Churchteams to track Contributions, a new person can be entered during the Contributions batch entry as well.

Detailed instructions for creating a Digital Connection Card can be found here.