Switching to Planning Center from another ChMS guide
Important
This article is intended for customers who are switching to Planning Center from another church management software (ChMS). If you are brand new to church management software, check out the Brand new to Planning Center and ChMS guide.
Welcome to Planning Center! This guide walks you through the following steps to help you successfully make the switch to Planning Center from another ChMS:
If you have questions along the way, Planning Center support is always here to help. Use the ? help icon in the toolbar on any page in your account to email them.
In addition to emailing support, the following tools are great ways to learn about each product and get answers to your questions:
Ask AI: Use the ? help icon in the toolbar to ask AI how to use Planning Center.
How-to articles: Articles with step-by-step instructions are available to show you how to use every feature in Planning Center. Each article is regularly updated to include all new features, improvements, and design changes.
Video library: Detailed video tutorials are available on every product in the system. Videos are updated regularly to include all new features, improvements, and design changes.
Planning Center community: Join an online community where churches can share creative ideas and ask each other for advice on using Planning Center in ministry.
Tip
Want to work through this guide using a checklist in your account? Follow these steps to load a task list template made for switching to Planning Center:
In your Planning Center account, select the Home product from the product dropdown in the top left.
Select the Tasks page in the top navigation.
In the Lists section of the left sidebar, select the dropdown button next to the ➕ plus icon.
Choose Switch to Planning Center from the dropdown.
Follow along with the task list and this guide to make sure everything gets crossed off during setup!
Gather a team
Transitioning to Planning Center is best done as a team effort. One person working alone tends to create blind spots, so identify people across your church who can help determine what you need and lead the launch when you're ready. Gather a group of staff and volunteers with these traits in mind:
Who needs to sign off on this change? These people often guide and approve changes (usually pastors, financial teams, or church boards). Make sure everyone is aligned before you start, as surprises in the middle of the transition slow things down.
Who will be most affected? Look for people who lead others, use your current system, or do administrative tasks (typically ministry leaders, administrative teams, or facility managers). Make sure each department is represented to cover all the bases.
Who are your problem solvers? These are people who typically take the lead, are interested in organization and technology, and equip and champion others, even if they don't have a title. Think about the people everyone goes to when something isn't working.
After you've identified who should be on your team, here are a few things you can do to set them up for success:
Appoint a rollout leader who can keep the process moving, hold the team accountable to deadlines, and communicate progress to leadership.
Set up regular implementation meetings for everyone to attend. Team members should bring their questions and feedback, along with an update on the tasks they've been working on. Frequent check-ins will encourage your team and help keep the momentum going!
Introduce the team to Planning Center's support team, which is available to everyone. Teach them how to use the ? help icon to contact support and how to find the help center and video library.
Sign up and set up your account
After you've gathered your team, it's time to sign up for an account! When you sign up for a Planning Center account, each product will be selected at the free plan.
Go to the sign up page on the Planning Center website.
Leave each product on the free plan. You can upgrade the products you need later.
Select Sign up.
Enter and confirm your email address.
Select Create email.
Enter your organization's details, choose a password, and accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy on the Set up your account page.
Tip
The email address and password you enter on this page are for you. You are the first organization administrator. Each person you give access to your organization will receive their own login information. Don't forget to set up two-step verification!
Select Start my 30-day free trial.
You'll receive an email welcoming you to Planning Center, and you'll be dropped into your new account. Select I'm up for a tour! in the popup to spend some time learning how to get around and all that your account can do.
Set up your account details
After you've gotten acquainted with your account, it's time to finish setting everything up! Account settings is where you can add organization details, manage your Planning Center billing and subscriptions, and add additional organization administrators.
First, fill out your organization's details on the Organization page. Check out the following articles for instructions:
Next, adjust your account's billing and subscription details from the Subscriptions page. Check out the following articles for instructions:
(Optional) Change your subscription: You're already subscribed to the free plan for each product. While you can upgrade to paid plans for the products you know you will use, it is recommended to leave them at the free plan while you get things set up.
(Optional) Set up text messaging: Text messaging is available in the United States through the People and Giving products. These features can also be set up later.
(Optional) Accept online donations and event payments with Planning Center Payments: If you plan to collect online donations through Giving or event payments through Registrations, set up Planning Center Payments. This can also be done at a later time.
Warning
Before setting up Payments, make sure you are the right person to manage information such as the bank account that will receive deposits. If you are not this person, do not complete the setup!
Finally, add at least one additional organization administrator (the highest level of access) and billing managers (permissions level with access to billing information) to complete setup. It's important to have at least two organization administrators. Check out Permissions in account settings for instructions.
After you add more people, review the following articles for tips on keeping your account secure and helping people log in.
Clean up and export existing data
Once your account is created and you've added all the account information, it's time to decide what data from your current system you want to migrate and spend time cleaning it up. After you've decided what to import and made sure the data is in good shape, you'll export it from your old system.
Decide what to migrate
When migrating, bringing everything over to Planning Center isn't always the right call. Take time to think about all the data you have in your current system. Do you have historical information that you need to retain? What might be easier to have as a blank slate?
The table below outlines the types of information to consider migrating and which can and cannot be imported into Planning Center:
Information type | Should you bring this over? | How? |
|---|---|---|
People records (including custom fields) | Yes ✓ |
|
Donation history | Yes ✓ | Use the donation import tool in Giving to import a CSV of donation data from your old system. |
Calendar events | Maybe * | iCal imports are available; however, many churches opt to create events from scratch. |
Attendance history | Maybe * | It isn't possible to import attendance history on your own. Reach out to the Planning Center support team for help with adding previous sessions. |
Group rosters | No ✗ | No import options are available for Groups data. Groups must be set up manually. |
Past signups | No ✗ | No import options are available for signups. Signups must be created manually in Registrations. |
Clean up your people records
The best thing you can do before exporting anything from your old system is spend time cleaning up the data. Because you already know this system well, it will be easier to tidy the data here before importing it into Planning Center.
Before exporting a CSV, take some time to do the following:
Remove or archive inactive people: Think about former members, old contacts, or people who've moved on.
Merge duplicates: Look for the same person listed twice with slightly different names or emails and then merge their profiles.
Verify contact info: Bad emails and phone numbers carry the problem to your new system. Ask your congregation to verify and update their information before migrating data.
Standardize naming: Consistent name formats make imports smooth. Think about nicknames, prefixes, and household names.
Export your data
After you've decided what information to migrate and cleaned up your data, export the following files from your old system:
A CSV of people records.
If you're transitioning to Giving, a CSV of donation history. Check out the Prepare for rollout guide for recommendations on helping your donors transition.
If you want to import events into Calendar, an iCal file of calendar events.
If you plan to add attendance history, a CSV of attendance data.
Keep the files nearby as you work through the rest of this guide. You'll import them in the Add additional products section.
Get started with People
After completing your account setup and deciding what information to migrate, the next step is to add data to the People product. People is the central hub of Planning Center because every product connects to it. It's where your people database lives and where you can add and access information for your entire congregation. It's always free!
Before you add any profiles to People, complete the steps below to make sure fields exist for all the information you plan to track:
Decide on the information you want to keep in a person's profile.
Go to your profile to see what information is already available in the default fields.
Create custom fields for information that is not already a default field or those that won't be created automatically by the import tool.
Once that's done, you can import data into People using a CSV export from your previous system. You can also collect profile information directly from people using an online form or add profiles manually.
Before moving on, be sure to spend some time working through the Set up People guide to finish setting everything up.
Meet Church Center
Planning Center is where your staff will spend most of their time managing the behind-the-scenes details. Church Center is for everyone else in your church. Think of it as your church's digital front door. It's where people interact with everything going on, connect with one another, and keep their information up to date.
Church Center integrates with all Planning Center products and lets the people in your church manage their profile information, donate, register for events, and interact with groups they attend or lead. They can also view your church calendar or directory, fill out forms, listen to sermons, and chat with one another.
Church Center is included with every account. Check out the Set up Church Center and Publishing guide to get started!
Tip
Not sure whether to use Church Center as your website? The Should you use Church Center as your church's website? article can help you decide.
Add additional products
Now that People is set up and you're familiar with Church Center, it's time to add in other products. This is the point where your account becomes exactly what your church needs. There isn't a set order for adding products, but most churches start small and build over time, so go at your own pace! Consider choosing one or two products to start with. Get them set up, spend some time learning how they work, and then add additional products.
Now, which products should you start with? Read through the sections below while thinking about what matters most to you, then start with those products.
Start with this product: | If… | Setup guide |
Calendar |
| |
Check-Ins |
| |
Giving |
| |
Groups |
| |
Home |
| |
Registrations |
| |
Services |
|
Train your staff and volunteers
After the majority of your account is set up, take some time to train your staff and volunteers before you roll everything out to your church. When everyone feels confident in their roles and responsibilities, do a soft launch to test things out and catch any issues.
The best thing you can do to ensure a successful Planning Center launch is to train the people who will be using it. Start by identifying the product owner for each product you use—someone responsible for knowing their assigned product well. They don't need to be an expert; they just need to be prepared to answer questions about their area.
Here are some ways to get your product owners started:
Walk each person through their product live: By showing product owners their products in real time, and not a video, you create an opportunity for them to ask questions and participate in hands-on learning.
Practice real workflows: Set up real-life systems in each product to help everyone learn. This can include scheduling volunteers, checking in a child, entering donations, creating a list, setting up automations, and more!
Create test profiles: Set up a household of test profiles and put them through the systems and workflows you created. This is a great practice to get into when starting out with anything new in Planning Center.
Make sure everyone knows how to get support: Teach everyone how to use the ? help icon to contact Planning Center's support team and how to find the help center and video library.
Once everyone is trained, have them test the system for a few weeks. Catch any issues that come up, make adjustments, and fine-tune things before rolling it out more broadly. Ask everyone to:
Download the free Church Center app on their phone from the Apple App Store or Google Play. This is a great chance to practice using your setup link!
Log in and make sure their own profile information is correct.
Explore each page and interact with all features. Ask them to give a donation, join a group, view their schedule, register for an event, and do anything else they can.
Tip
Church Center doesn't require a smartphone. Anyone can access it from a regular web browser at your organization's Church Center link. Make sure your team knows this so they can reassure people who prefer not to use smartphones.
Launch to your congregation
Now that your account is set up and your team is trained, it's time to launch Planning Center and Church Center to your congregation. Think of this part as opening the doors—the hard work has already happened.
The most important parts of a successful launch are your communication plan and a specific call to action.
Plan your communication
When you're ready to launch everything to your church, make a plan for how you will communicate with everyone. Allow two to three weeks for announcements, both during the service and via email and social media, and set a hard cutoff date for your old system. Create resources, such as graphics or videos, to help prepare and teach everyone what Church Center is and why it matters to them.
Download promotional materials (including your custom app setup QR code) and use them in a slide, flyer, or bulletin. When someone scans your QR code and installs the app, your church will already be selected, with no extra steps required.
If you want to give your congregation an overview of the app, you can also generate a custom promotional video with your church's logo and selected app features.
Create a call to action
One of the most powerful things you can do for a successful launch is to create a clear call to action: one specific thing you invite everyone to do in Church Center. During a service, create a shared moment where everyone downloads the app and takes that action together.
Simple, meaningful actions—like updating a household profile, reading the weekly announcements, or donating to a campaign—help people quickly understand why the app matters.
Before launch, make sure Church Center is set up to support your chosen call to action. This doesn’t need to be a complete or perfectly polished setup. You just need enough that people can take the first step you’re inviting them to take.
For example:
If your call to action is updating a profile, confirm your People settings and profile fields.
If it’s reading the announcements, publish a basic announcement page.
If it’s giving, make sure your fund and payment options are ready.
And no matter what your action is, make it easy to find by adding it to your navigation or Church Center home page.
Meet people where they are
Not everyone will embrace Church Center right away, and that's okay. Some people in your organization may prefer paper, phone calls, or in-person help. Planning Center is designed to help you help those people, too. You can use the information and tools in Planning Center to serve those people well, even if they never download Church Center, with mailing labels, manual event registration, and physical donation entry.
What's next? Keep exploring and learning!
You made it! Migration is behind you, your team is trained, and your organization is ready to go. The next phase is meant for getting comfortable, making refinements, and learning more as you dive deeper into each product.
The help center, video library, and Planning Center community are helpful at every stage, and Planning Center Support is always ready to help!