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      How do I delete people from the database?

      Best practices for examining member records for possible Archive/Delete.

      These steps will take you through a process to help you examine your membership by looking at certain member attributes.  This will help you determine more about the member and whether they are still active, then archiving those that you believe to no longer be active, and finally removing them from your Churchteams database.

       

      THE PREP BEFORE REMOVING A MEMBER - DETERMINING IF A MEMBER IS INACTIVE AND SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE DATABASE

      1. Create a group called Archive & Delete or check to see if you already have that group set up.  This group should be set to be browseable at a Staff level or higher so that a small group leader would not accidentally add someone here.  This will be a holding place for people you believe to be no longer active, until you are ready to remove them from your Churchteams database.
      2. Customize the Group View so that the report itself will be your dashboard for people to remove. Include Last Activity Date,  Church Member Type, 1st Visit, Date joined the church, Current Group Involvement, Previous Group Involvement, Related Family Members, Email, Phone, Notes, and any other information that will be helpful for you to determine who to archive.
        ArchiveGroupView2
      3. Run an Add Member To Group Report (Go to Reports >Members > Add People To Group).  Pick the Join Date and then the Archive/Delete Group.

          Add to Archive 
      4. Filter by Last Activity Date. (Filters > Members > Fixed Attributes > Last activity date range).  Last activity date is the last date the person (or family) contributed or had attendance taken for them in anything.  Select the date range from your initial import of Churchteams to say 2 or 3 years ago.  If you want to include Registration / Group Join Dates and Notes, select those options. 

        ArchiveFilters
      5. Run the Report. Then add all the members to the group.  
      6. Review the Archive / Delete group.  REMOVE anyone from the group that you do NOT want to remove from the database.  The result is a group full of people you've reviewed and are ready to Archive

         

        REMOVING MEMBERS FROM THE DATABASE

        deletepeople

        1. Go to Reports > Members, choose Delete People from the Database.
        2. Enter an email address that the exported file of those members can be sent to.
        3. Check the box to "allow deletion of people even if they have contribution history."  Please note that we do not allow for the removal of people with contribution history during the current and the prior calendar year in order to allow you to access statements for those contributors.
        4. In the Filters column, choose Groups > Group Involvement and select People in a Group.  Scroll slightly to choose the Archive & Delete Group from the Groups drop-down menu.
        5. Run Report.

        Multiple emails (depending on the size of your database and what you are exporting) will be sent to you containing the CSV/Excel export files for those members you moved into the Archive & Delete group. 

        It is important that you keep this archive record file.  Should you mistakenly remove someone, this file will contain the information you will need to manually add them back into the system. 

        Our recommendation would be to store the file in at least two places rather than on just one computer.