Transitioning with a CSV file
If you're switching from a church management software like FellowshipOne, CCB, Elexio, or The City, follow the link to your specific transition guide.
If you're transitioning from a different church management software than those listed above, this article is for you! Let's get started by walking you through creating an account and adding people.
1. Sign up for an account and get started with People
Like other church management software (ChMS), Planning Center's pricing is set by the number of people; however, unlike other ChMS, there's no need to pay for features you won't use.
When you sign up to create a Planning Center account, each product will be selected at the free plan. It is recommended to leave each product at the free plan (you'll upgrade the products you need later) and simply get started with the People product.
People is the central hub for Planning Center products and the place to add and access information for your entire congregation. Plus, it's always free!
Simply leave the entire pricing page as is and select Sign up!
Tip
The email address and password you enter on this page is for you. Each person you give access to your organization will receive their own login information.
2. Set up your account
You should have received an email welcoming you to Planning Center right after you signed up. If you set up your account at that time, great! If you didn’t finish the account setup or haven’t started, this is the time to do it.
Account settings is the place for you to set up your account information. You will also go here to manage your Planning Center billing and subscriptions and add organization administrators.
The Set up a new account article will help you through the setup process, which includes:
Adding your organization information
Setting up billing information
Adding organization administrators and billing managers
Here's a five-minute video of what that setup process looks like:
After you’ve finished setting up your account, it’s time to create some profiles!
3. Import people data
Planning Center People allows you to import your list of people without paying any setup fee. If you need help migrating your data, check out these services.
If you're ready to import your data, you can follow these three steps.
Many systems will generate CSV files with some unnecessary data in them, so make sure everything is entered correctly before starting your import.
Verify the fields.
Look over Planning Center's default fields and create custom fields, such as schools and membership statuses, based on the information you want to import.
Use the data importer to import the file into Planning Center.
Important
If you want to add other data to your Planning Center account, you can use the following options:
For giving history, use the import tool in Giving.
For attendance history, add previous sessions and enter attendance manually.
4. Upgrade subscriptions and use additional products
After you've added people to your database, you can start working with additional products.
Go to the Rolling out Planning Center products article to see the order in which it is recommended that you get started with other products and view the initial setup tasks to get you started. Also, check out the Prepare to use Planning Center with your staff guide as you introduce the system to your team.
Need help?
You have plenty of support available to assist you along the way.
Access the help center from the ? question mark icon in the toolbar of any product for step-by-step instructions on setting up and using each product.
Once you've started diving into a product and want more in-depth training, check out Planning Center University, which has videos on best practices for each product.
If you have any questions that can’t be answered in our articles or videos, feel free to contact Planning Center Support , who are happy to help!