Rolling out Planning Center products
This article lists the Planning Center products in the recommended order for getting started with your church management system. It also includes the first steps needed to get up and running with each product.
Tip
If you haven't already subscribed to your first product, first review this guide to determine where to start.
To sign up for new products and manage your product subscriptions when you are logged in to Planning Center:
Select the product name in the top left and choose Account settings from the dropdown.
Select Subscriptions in the top navigation.
Select Products on the left.
Select Change plans and adjust your subscription for each product.
Review your choices and select Save changes.
If you were the first person to sign up for your organization's account, you are automatically an organization administrator, which means you have permission to subscribe to additional products. To allow other people to manage your product subscriptions, you must assign them as additional organization administrators from the People page in Account settings.
The content in each of the sections below is for organization administrators, but many of the tasks listed can also be performed by other product administrators.
For tips on how to gather a team to help roll out these products, check out Preparing to use Planning Center with your staff.
People is the hub of your Planning Center database. Any information you need on an individual is in their profile, and People holds all the profiles.
What should I do in People?
You first need to add your congregants' information to the Planning Center database. You or another organization administrator might have already completed this task. If not, here are some tips on how to set this up:
Planning Center uses specific default fields on all profiles. If you want to store more information, create custom fields.
Create a form to gather information on people.
Tip
If you already have people's information, you can import it or add it manually.
Once you've added your congregant information, you can add other administrators, who will receive a guide based on their permissions.
Features you'll regularly use
Follow up with people using workflows.
Create a list of people in order to text, email, or create a report.
Add notes to profiles in order to keep track of information.
Keep track of background checks.
Church Center integrates with Planning Center products to enable your church members to manage their profile information, donations, events they've registered for, and groups they attend or lead. They can also view a church calendar or directory and fill out forms.
Church Center is not a separate product. You might have already set it up in Account settings, but if not, you will enable Church Center when you set up Giving.
For more information on Church Center, check out the Publishing help center articles.
Giving holds all donation information, from cash and check to online donations. Anything that has to do with donations is tracked in Giving.
By default, only the organization administrator who signed up for Giving has access. Any additional administrators must be added manually.
What should I do in Giving?
When you first subscribe to Giving, you'll be walked through steps to set it up. Additional steps to set up Giving include:
Add other administrators, who will receive a guide based on their permission.
Create funds for people to designate their donations.
Share Church Center with your congregation, so people can begin giving online.
Tip
Encouraging your church members to use a new giving platform can be daunting. Here are some tips to make that process a bit smoother:
Give advance notice in multiple forms: email, text, social media, and live announcements.
Make the transition process easy to understand.
Make yourself available to answer any questions and give assistance.
Many of your congregants will be checking in to attend a service. The best way to populate your database is to ask them to check themselves in, which allows you to track specific and general attendance.
What should I do in Check-Ins?
When you first subscribe to Check-Ins, you'll be walked through adding your first event. Additional steps to set up Check-Ins include:
Create stations where people check in.
If you use printers, start setting those up.
Train volunteers on how to check people in.
Add other administrators, who will receive a guide based on their permission.
Tip
If you already use a check-in system, a slow rollout for your church is recommended. Choose one month to run both systems simultaneously, and ask people to check into both systems only on the week that corresponds with their last name. Here's a format that works well:
Week 1: A-F
Week 2: G-M
Week 3: N-R
Week 4: S-Z
Try to split the families as close to even as possible, and by the end of the month, you're ready to use Check-Ins on its own!
This system works well for most church sizes, but if you need help thinking through the rollout, reach out to Planning Center Support!
Services helps you schedule people and maintain the order of any service.
Important
What if someone has already set up Services in our account?
Services is the oldest Planning Center product, the one that started it all! Many churches have used Services for their worship teams long before the church knew Planning Center was a Church Management Software.
If your church has been using Services, talk to the current administrator to get familiar with how things are set up, and then follow the steps below.
What should I do in Services?
Create a service type for your main service, and add your first plan.
If the service type already exists, you can manage new teams from the service type settings.
Create teams and positions.
If the teams and positions already exist, talk to the team leader before making too many changes in order to keep any appropriate history.
Add team members to the account, and they will receive a guide based on their permissions.
You can use Publishing to manage and customize Church Center, where your congregants can access their contact information, donations, events, and much more.
What should I do in Publishing?
Create a home page.
Customize the navigation, so congregants can access specific information.
Add other administrators, who will receive an Introduction for administrators guide.
Calendar helps you manage events taking place at your church and organize the rooms and resources needed for each one. After the events are scheduled, your congregation can view them on Church Center.
What should I do in Calendar?
Add approval groups. These people manage requests for rooms and resources at your facility.
Create events that use your facility.
Add other administrators, who will receive a guide based on their permission.
Because classes and groups are connected through community, make sure your congregation is familiar with Church Center before you enable Groups.
Groups creates a place for people to gather, virtually or physically, and connect with each other.
What should I do in Groups?
Create group types to create default settings for similar groups.
Create life groups, classes, or private groups, like and Elder Board.
Share Church Center with your congregation, so people can access your groups.
Add other administrators, who will receive a guide based on their permission.
As you need people to register for events, you can use Registrations, which helps you gather information about people attending the events your church hosts.
What should I do in Registrations?
Create a signup for people to access in Church Center.
Assign a specific person as the manager of the signup.
Publish the signup page and share it with your congregation on Church Center.
Add other administrators, who will receive a guide based on their permission.