Getting Started - Overview

SimpleChurchCRM is divided into niine main areas:

• Members
• Groups
• Interactions
• Attendance
• Reports
• Utilities
• Search
• Settings
• Permissions

Members are individuals in your organization, and they can be placed into one or many groups. They also can also be put into families with other members.

Groups are comprised of members, and they are a way to simply organize those members into sections which can then be mass-emailed or put into a 'meeting' to collect attendance.

Interactions are the contacts and communications your organization has had with a member. Some examples are: email, phone call, house call. You can define your own types. You can assign interactions to a member. For instance, after the visitor cards are collected on a Sunday, you can assign interactions to staff, Sunday School teachers, etc. to  complete. They will receive an email with the action to complete, the person's name, and a summary of what is to take place. The interaction will be marked as outstanding until the assignee marks it as completed and adds a summary of the encounter. On a member's page,  a list of all interactions to date is show. This helps you to see the type and quantity of contacts you've had with the member - people won't get harassed or forgotten.

Attendance can be entered manually or easily by the use of RFID cards. Member can be given an inexpensive RFID card (which is credit card sized) which he/she can keep in their wallet or music folder. The member just has to wave the card (still in the wallet or folder even) over a reader which is connected to any computer running Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X, or Linux running the Reader application. The reader application will then log that person as present and display his/her name as a visual confirmation of their presence. The collected attendance data shows up online in the reports section. Members can be marked as present, excused, or unexcused. Excused absences can have a reason attached like: Sick, Work, etc. You can define your own reasons too. For meetings which just require a total number present (like a main church service), those can easily be entered without the RFID cards.

Reports are the organization of attendance data that has been collected. There are reports by each of the aforementioned areas. You can see trends in meetings, individual groups, and individual members. You can also view members who have been absent more then twice for a meeting in a month. Reports are printable with easy to read graphs.

Utilities offer little bits of helpful functionality like: manually entering meeting attendance; emailing members by groups, meeting, and number of absences; importing members' personal information from Excel (CSV), and exporting members' personal information from Excel (CSV).

Search allows you to find and filter all member information (name, address, phone number, etc.) and interaction information (name, date, summary). The search results update in real time as your type so you can see how your input is refining the results.

Settings:

• You can define the terms your organization uses for: members, groups, and meetings. For example: students, gatherings, and classes.
• Add your organization's logo and name to the application and reports.
• Change how data is graphed: should reports show percents or absolute values?
• Add options for excused absences. The default included: Out, Out of Town, Sick, Work, and School.

Permissions:

• You can allow certain people access to certain parts of the application. This is accomplished using Roles. Roles are groupings of permissions - allowances to do or view certain actions of parts of the application. These roles are assigned to members. For instance, it is possible to only let someone view members' data, not edit it, and enter attendance.
• This allows more people to be involved in the managing of the church's information BUT only within the areas assigned to them.

Getting Started - Part 1: Groups

The first step to getting SimpleChurchCRM setup for your organization is to create your groups.

1. Navigate to the Groups page - This page will list your existing groups.
2. Click the "Add Group" tab at the top.
3. Give the group a name and click "Submit".
4. Repeat the above for all of your groups or organizational units.

Getting Started - Part 2: Members

Add Members Without RFID Cards:

1. Go to the Members page; click "Add Member".
2. Fill in all of the information you have on the person: address, phone, etc.
3. Check the boxes next to the groups into which the member should be placed
4. Click "Save".

Add Members With RFID Cards:

1. Make sure you have installed the reader software.
2. On the right sidebar menu, click the "Launch Attendance Reader" button. This will download the client application that connects to the RFID reader.
3. Connect the RFID Reader to your computer. The client application should now say "Reader Connected".
4. Go to the "Members" section in the SimpleChurchCRM web application. Click "Add Member".
5. Add the member's first and last name.
6. Place the RFID card you want to assign to this member on the reader.
7. The client application will display the card's tag in the "Tag Id..." box. Highlight the tag, and copy it to your clipboard (right click and "Copy" or CTRL + c on Windows; Command + C on Mac).
8. In the "RFID Tag" text box on the Web application, paste the tag from your clipboard (right click and "Paste" or CTRL + v on Windows; Command + v on Mac).
9. Check the boxes next to the groups into which you wish to place this member.
10. Change the "Join Date" if needed. This is the date that this member's attendance will start in the system.
11. Double check the information you have entered, and click "Save".

 

Getting Started - Part 3: Interactions

Interactions give you a way to assign and track contact(s) with members. Interactions can be: Emails, phone calls, letters, etc. You can create you own types. They can then be assigned to another member in the system to complete. That member will then receive an email with the details of the interaction and a link to click when it has been completed. He/she will then enter a summary of the encounter with the member.

Create Interaction Type:

1. Go to the "Interactions" area.
2. Click "Add Type" from the sub menu.
3. Give it a name, and click "Save".
4. Repeat this for all of the types you need.

Assign an Interaction:

1. Go to the "Interactions" area.
2. Click "Assign" from the sub menu.
3. Choose the "Action", who it is to be "Assigned to", and the "Member" to be interacted with. Also, a summary can be entered with instructions to the assignee.
4. Click Save.

Log an Interaction:

1. Use the "Members" area or "Search" to find the member about whom you wish to log the interaction.
2. Click the name; then choose "Interactions" from the sub menu.
3. Choose the 'Action', who it was "Assigned to", a 'Summary' of the interaction, and the "Date" of completion.
4. Click 'Save'.

Edit an Interaction:

Once in the system, interactions can be edited. Outstanding interactions are shown on the "Interactions" area. Individual members' pages show all of the interactions the organization has had with them. You can edit these by click the type of summary.

Getting Started - Part 4: Attendance

Attendance can be logged individually or by number present. An example of individual attendance is: Bod and Sally were here but Jane was not. An example of attendance by number present is: four people were here and 1 was not. You choose how attendance will be collect by meeting.

You can collect attendance two different ways.

Using the RFID Card Reader and Application

1. Make sure you have installed the reader software & drivers.
2. On the right sidebar menu, click the "Launch Attendance Reader" button. This will download and launch the client application that connects to the RFID reader.
3. Connect the RFID Reader to your computer. The client application should now say "Reader Connected".
4. Choose the meeting for which you wish to collect attendance from the drop down (Screenshot). Click the "Set Meeting" button. You can take attendance for multiple meetings at once. Repeat this step for all meeting you wish to collect attendance for.
5. If you make a mistake, You can click the "Clear Meetings" button and reenter your meetings.
6. Once you have set you meeting(s), choose "Lock in Session" from the "File" menu; this will prevent someone from accidentally clearing or adding meetings. This can also be accomplished by the key combination CTRL + l.
7. You can unlock the session by choosing "Unlock Session" from the "File" menu, or by pressing CTRL + u.
8. You are ready to take attendance! Member only have to wave their cards over the reader in order to be logged as present. Their name will be displayed as a confirmation. On the Macintosh operating system, the name will also be spoken; this can be disabled from the "File" menu.

Manuel Entry Online

1. Navigate to the "Utilities" section of the online SimpleChurchCRM application.
2. Choose "Add Session".
3. Choose the meeting for which you are entering attendance - you should see a table of members belonging to that session appear, if the meeting type is "individual"; otherwise a box labeled "Number Present" will appear.
4. Choose the date for the session by clicking in the date box and selecting the day from the popup calendar.
5. Enter the number present, or go through the list of people in the meeting; check the radio button in the column corresponding to each person's presence or absence. If a person is absent but accounted for - you know where they are, they aren't "missing" - choose the radio button in the unexcused column, and choose the reason for the absence from the drop down.
6. Click "Save".

Handling Visitors

• There are 2 types of visitors that can be added to a session: 1. Those that are already stored in SimpleChurchCRM as and 2. those that are not. Anyone stored in SimpleChurchCRM can be added to any session as a visitor. If someone is not stored as an individual in SimpleChurchCRM, he/she can be added as a visitor and later converted to a regular individual.
• To add a visitor to a session, Click "Add Visitor".
  
• Then, search for the visitor by using part/all of their first and/or last name(s). If there is no match, click "Add an individual not in the list".
• Enter their first and last names into the popup and click, "Save". The visitor has been added to the session, and he/she will now be able to be chosen in future sessions. Their name with have "(Visitor)" next to it wherever it appears.
  
• You can now add additional visitors. Individuals that have been added to the system who are not visitors will not have "(Visitor)" next to their names.
  Note the presence of regular individuals and a visitor.

 

Getting Started - Part 5: Reports

Reports are the helpful organization of your attendance, membership, and giving data.

Absences

This report shows the members who have been absent two or more times in the last month for a meeting. This can be adjusted to any date range. You can also filter by the number of absences. This is called the threshold.

Meetings

This report displays graphs of each meeting's attendance over time. This can also be filtered by date range.  Clicking, "Print", will produce a printable PDF of the report.

Sessions

This report lists all of the sessions and their date, number present, number absent, number excused, and percentage accounted for. The "percentage accounted for" is the percentage of members who were present or excused, out of the total.  Click on a session name or date to see the actual attendance for that session.

Session

This displays the total number present for meetings with non-individual attendance. For meetings with individual attendance, this will display each member's name and their presence, absence, or excused reason. Options include:

• Edit: This will turn the report into a form. You can mark people as being present, absent, or choose an excused reason. Once you are done, click, "Save", at the bottom.
• Delete: This will remove the session and all of its attendance from the system.
• Print: This will produce a printable PDF that contains the attendance report with your logo at the top.
• Email: This allows you to send an email to people who were present, absent, unexcused, or any combination therein. The email will be addressed to the individual, and the body of the email can be personalized with the member's first name by using the place holder: @NAME. For instance: "Hello @NAME, I was sorry to miss you this last Wednesday; I hope to see you next week."

Member

You can view the attendance for any member by clicking his/her name in the absent report or by going to their member page and choosing, "Attendance", from the quick links. This can be be filtered by date range and/or by the meetings for which you wish to view the attendance. To edit this report, click the image/text in the, "Present", column. This will display a drop down from which you can choose their new attendance state. After choosing, you should see the text, "Saved!", next to it to indicate that the change was successful.

 Giving

This report displays: a graph of giving amout by category over time, the totals by category for that time, this week's giving, and last week's giving. This can be filtered by setting start and end dates. This report is also printable.

Getting Started - Part 6: Utilities

The utilities section contains tools for inputting/exporting large amounts of information.

Utilities include:

Add Session: This allows you to log a meeting's attendance for a date. For meetings with individual attendance, simply choose the meeting, choose a date, and click the button for each member corresponding to present, excused, or unexcused.  For non-individual attendance meetings, choose the meeting, enter a date, and enter the number present.

Mass Contact: From here you can send email, text messages (SMS), or Voice messages to everyone in one of multiple groups. Email will be personalized and addressed to each individual - not just a big list.

1. Choose the group(s) you wish to contact.
   
2. Choose to include active and/or inactive people.
   
3. Choose the communication method: either Email, SMS, or Voice. (Note: SMS/Voice only exist after having enable integration with Twilio on the Setting page.)
   
4. For voice messages, choose the voice recording from the list. You can preview/listen to it by using the "Preview" link.
   
   You can record a new message by using the voice record. Click the, "Launch Voice Recorder" link. Use the record button to record the message, the stop button to stp recording, and the play button to preview it. Click record again to record a new message. When you satisfied with your recording, click "Upload". The list of voice messages will update to reflect your newly recorded message.
   
5. You will be shown all of the emails or phone numbers (depending on the selected method) for the selected method, and how many people do not have vaild contact details. You can also add emails in the format of: "Firstname Lastname <email@domain.com>" and phone numbers in the format of: "Firstname Lastname <123-456-7890>".
   
6. Enter a subject.
7. Choose the "From Phone Number". This list contains the numbers authorized on the Settings > Services in the Twilio section.
8. Enter the body of the message. For emails, you will have an editor that will let you format your message (add bold, headings, lists, etc.). For SMS messages there is a counter above the top right of the body box that shows how many character are remaining. The body of email/SMS messages can be personalized with the first name of the recipient by using the place holder @NAME to represent their first name. For instance: "Hello @NAME, I was sorry to miss you this last Wednesday; I hope to see you next week."
   
9. For emails, you can also optionally upload files to be attached to the email.

Import Member Data:  This allows for the importing of members into the system. You can also update member information this way. If you are importing a member and the first and last names match a member in the system, that person will be updated with the new information. The type of file needed for the import is a Comma Separated Value file (CSV). Many spreadsheet and contact manger applications will export/Save-As to this format. For instance, in Microsoft Excel, Go to "Save As", and choose "Comma Separated Value (.csv)". You can import as much or as little information as you have on someone.

1. Select the file by clicking, "Browse".
2. Enter the Column header names from your spreadsheet. If you do not have a column that is asked for, or, if you wish not to import that information, leave it blank.
3. If you wish to place the soon-to-be-imported members into any groups, select those too. To select multiples, hold the CTRL key (WIndows) or Command key (OS X) and click the group names.
4. Click, "Submit", at the bottom.
5. You will now be shown a screen to confirm your import/update. If the member already exists, he/she will have a green check mark, and any changes to their information will be shown in bold. Example: "Address: 123 High Drive -> 456 Low Road". This shows the old information on the left, and the new on the right.
6. If you are satisfied with the purposed changes, click, "Yes", at the top.  If not, revise the data in your original spreadsheet/contact manager and re-import.

 

Export Data: From here you can export a CSV file of the membership information for all of the people in the system. This can easily be opened in Excel or other spreadsheet/database programs.

Input Giving:  This allows for the batch inputting of giving information.

1. Enter the expected total in the "Batch Total" box. This will be used to check your inputting of individual records below.
2. In the member box, start typing a name, and then choose from the suggestions.
3. Hit the "Tab" key. Select the giving, "Category".
4. Hit the "Tab" key. Enter an amount without a dollar sign.
5. Once you run out of fields, you can hit the tab key to select "Add five more lines". Then hit, "Enter".
6. Repeat until you are done; then, click, "Save".

 

Getting Started - Part 7: Search

Search is your gateway and interface to all of your data. It allows you to quickly find the information you need when you need it. Knowing the options you have while searching will greatly increase the power and efficiency of your searches.

Searching for People

All words put in the search box can be partial words. For instance, typing "jo" will match words containing "jo". Like: Joe, John, etc. You can type multiple words and your results will include people who match any of those words. Your search terms are searching across all membership information: Name, Address, City, State, Zipcode Phone Numbers, Emails, and Rfid Tag. The results you get back will include a column showing which pieces of information were matched. Suppose you a member with name: Jane Sway; address 32 Milky way dr.; zipcode: 54321.  Searching for "way 32" would return her name.

Search by Groups

You can use g: and then a group name to narrow your search by people in that group. So, "g:coe" will display a drop down of all the groups that match "coe". Choose the once you want. You could then type
"stewart" to match a person's name. So, my search now looks like: g:11:00-Coed-60--UP-B stewart. I chose the '11:00-Coed-60--UP-B' group from the suggestion box, and then typed "stewart".

Search by Age

You can filter by age using "age:". "age:25" will retrun all the 25 year-olds. "age:25 bri" will return People who are 25 that also match the search "bri".
Samples:
age:>50 - people greater than 50
age:<50 - people less than 50

Search by Address

• address:main - would match 123 Main st.
• state:fl - would match people in Florida.
• zipcode:32168 - would match people in the 32168 zip code.

Search by Gender

"gender:m" will return all of the males. "gender:f" will return all of the females.

Searching for Interactions

Any terms entered when searching for interactions will match (partially) the summary, and first and last name of the person who was interacted with.

You can use g: and then a group name to narrow your search by people in that group. So, "g:coe" will display a drop down of all the groups that match "coe". Choose the once you want. You could then type
"stewart" to match a person's name. So, my search now looks like: g:11:00-Coed-60--UP-B stewart. I chose the '11:00-Coed-60--UP-B' group from the suggestion box, and then typed "stewart".

Searching for Sessions

As you start typing, a suggestion box will appear with meetings that match what you've typed. Clicking one will insert it into the search box. You do not have to insert a suggested meeting name. Then, what you have typed will partially match all meeting names and display all sessions for those meetings. For instance, assume you have a meetings named: Sunday school, Sunday service, and Wednesday service.  You could type "sunday". The results of this search would include all the sessions for the meetings: Sunday school and Sunday service. The date and meeting name of the session will be displayed. Searching for "service" will return all sessions of: Wednesday service and Sunday service.

You can also filter sessions by date by typing "d: DATE", where DATE is a date in the format of one of: mm/dd/yyyy, m/d/yy (single digit months and days are acceptable as are double digit years), mmddyyyy, and mmddyy. An example search would be: service d:11/01/2009.  This would return any meeting matching "service" on the 1st of Novenmber in 2009.

You can use a date range too like d:DATE1-DATE2. Example search: service 10/01/2009-110109. You can mix date formats.

Filtering by Group

When searching for people or interactions, you can filter the results to people only in a certain group by adding "g:GROUP" Where GROUP is a group name. This group name will also be partially matched.

Browser Compatibility

Supported and tested browsers include:

• Mozilla Firefox - Version > 3.0
• Apple's Safari - Version  > 4.0
• Google Chrome
• Microsoft's Internet Explorer >= 8

We recommend Safari or Firefox.

Child Check-in

Summary:

SimpleChurch has the ability to securely manage the checking in and out of children at your church. When a child is checked in, the parent is given an inexpensive RFID card that is linked to the child's name in SimpleChurch. The only way that child can be checked-out later is for that card to be read. At that time, the child care worker is shown all of the children checked-in with that card. He/she can choose which/all of the children to check out at that point. The system stores the check-in and check-out times, along with who checked the children in, so you can review that whenever necessary. Multiple check-in stations can be run simultaneously.

Setup:

1. In SimpleChurch, navigate to: Settings > Child Check-in.
2. Add the check-in stations you'll be using. You'll need one station per RFID reader that you plan on using. Even if you will just be using one reader, but in different places at different times, setup a station for each of those places. This way, the record will accurately reflect where the child was checked-in.
3. Go to the Groups page. For each of the groups you wish to use with Child Check-in, click "Edit", and check the "Use For Child Checkin?" box. Then Save.
4. Ensure that you have Java installed on all computers that wll have RFID readers plugged into them.
5. Install the RFID Drivers on these same computers. Links to the drivers can be found here.
6. Under "Permissions", assign the 'run child checkin' permission to the roles that will need to access Child Check-in.
7. If you wish to be able to SMS parents, ensure that you have added your Twilio account details to the SimpleChurch Settings > Services area.

Usage:

1. In SimpleChurch, navigate to: Utilities > Child Check-in.
2. Choose the "Check-in Station" you're wanting to use.
3. Launch the Card Reader application. Click "Next".
4. Once the Reader Application launches, choose the same check-in station you set above, and click "Set Station".
5. In SimpleChurch, You can now choose from 3 "Modes": Check-in, Check-out, and search.

To check a child in:

1. Set the Mode to "Check-in".
2. Search for the person who is checking in the child using a partial first / last name. The list of suggested names will filter as your type. Hit "Tab" or click the name to select it.
3. Next, wave the card over the reader that you'll being giving to the parent, or a card that they already have.
4. You will now be shown the names of this person's children.
5. For each child being checked in, check the box next to their name, then choose the group he/she is being checked into.
6. Once done, click "Submit".

To check a child out:

1. Set the Mode to "Check-out".
2. Wave the parent's card over the reader.
3. Check the box next to the names of the children that are being checked out.
4. Click "Submit".

To Searched for a Checked in Child:

1. Set the Mode to "Search".
2. Search using a partial first / last name for the child. The list of suggested names will filter as your type. Hit "Tab" or click the name to select it.
3. You will be shown: the group the child was checked into; the time of the check-in; and who checked the child in.
4. If the parent has a Cell Phone number on file and you've added your Twilio account details above, you can optionally SMS the parent using the "SMS" link.

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The Child Check-in data layers on top of normal attendance data. If you go to a session (Reports > Attendance) that you used Child Check-in for, you will see one of two different colored dots next to the children's names who are present. A Green dot shows that the child has been checked-in, but not yet checked out. A gray dot shows that the child has been checked out. Mousing over the dot will show who check the child in, where, and when, and when he/she was checked out.

 

Drivers

While SimpleChurchCRM is web-based, the attendance reader requires a piece of software to be installed on your local computer. Below, please select the driver download for the operating system you have:

• Windows
• OS X
• Linux Read the INSTALL file in the archive.

Getting Started - Visitors

Visitors are people who either haven't come before, or have come, but haven't been added to the database of individuals. Visitors do not count towards the number of people stored by SimpleChurchCRM - which determines your price bracket.

Visitors are added when inputting attendance.

To convert a visitor to a regular member:

• Go to "Individuals" > "Visitors". This page lists all of the visitors, what session, and when they last attended.
  
•  If you click on the meeting or the date, you'll be taken to the session attendance page.
• Clicking on the visitor's name displays the dialog shown below.
  
• Click "OK" to convert the Visitor to a regularly stored individual. The visitor's attendance will be associated with the new individual.

Integrations: MailChimp

This guide will walk you through setting up SimpleChurchCRM to sync people to MailChimp.

1.  Login to MailChimp.
2. If you don't already have a list created, create one now.
3. Go to Account > API Keys &amp; Authorized Apps.
4. Copy your "API Key".
5. In SimpleChurchCRM, go to Settings > Services.
6. Click the, "Enabled", radio button in the MailChimp Section.
7. Paste in your API Key.
8. Click, "Save", at the bottom.
9. Add the groups you wish to sync by searching for them and choose them. They will then appear below under "Sync Groups". When you update the people in these groups, the changes will be reflected in MailChimp.
10. Now, under "Sync with the following list", choose the MailChimp list you want to sync with.
11. Click, "Save".
12. If you wish to sync everyone right now who is currently in the groups you chose, with the list you chose, click the "Sync Individuals with MailChimp" link.

 

Integrations: Planning Center Online

This guide will cover setting up SimpleChurchCRM to sync with Planning Center Online.

1. Login into Planning Center Online.
   
2. In SimpleChurchCRM, navigate to Settings > Services, and scroll to the bottom.
3. Click the, "Enabled", radio button in the PlanningCenter Section.
4. Then, click, "Authorize Access with Planning Center". You will be taken to Planning Center's website.
   
5. Check the "authorize access" checkbox and hit, "Save Changes". You will now be taken back to SimpleChurchCRM.
   
6. Scroll back down to the Planning Center Section.
7. Now, you need to choose the groups that will get synced with Planning Center - When You update anyone in these groups, they will get updated in Planning Center.
   
8. Use the search box to locate groups, and select you choices. They will then appear below in the "Sync Groups" section.
9. Lastly, click, "Save".