Welcome to Check-Ins! This article will introduce you to features in Check-Ins. If you haven't already, check out our Product Website, which shows you how Check-Ins works for your church.
Tip
If you cannot log in, follow the steps in this article.
If you're moving from a different check-in system, we recommend a slow rollout for your church. Choose one month to run both systems simultaneously, and ask people to check into both systems on the week that corresponds with their last name. Here's a format we've seen that works:
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 our Support Team!
In Check-Ins, you’ll need to be familiar with the following concepts:
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Events are the services or gatherings where you want to track attendance.
Event Sessions are the specific dates of when you track attendance.
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Locations are the places people can check into, such as Sanctuary or Nursery.
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Stations are set up on a device, like a computer or tablet, where people can check in on their own or with the help of a volunteer.
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Labels can be assigned to any location and print when someone checks in to that location.
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Headcounts helps you gather attendance totals instead of checking in specific people.
Events are the main feature in Check-Ins. They help you gather attendance data and information on people who are checking in. They require times and locations in order for people to check in. Once you create an event, make sure you do the following:
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Choose the date and time your event starts, as well as when you'd like stations to show the event.
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Choose whether you have one or multiple locations, name those locations, and then view the different location settings. You can choose filters, add labels and options for more labels, or require background checks for volunteers. If any of those locations aren't open during one of the times you created, exclude them from the time.
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Multiple Campuses
If you have multiple campuses, here are some tips about setting those up:
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Create separate events for each campus (Campus A Sunday Services, Campus B Sunday Services).
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Church Center does not filter Check-Ins events by campus. All events set to show in Church Center with an active session will display on the day of their session.
If you want nametags or security tags to print when a person checks in, you need labels. Two labels are added to your account automatically, but you can customize your own on the Labels tab.
Once you create labels of your own, you can add them to locations.
Stations live in the Check-Ins app, which is available on iOS, Android, and as a desktop app. Download the app on any device to create a station on that device.
Once the app is downloaded, select More options to log in and create your first station. Name your station based on the location or owner of the device.
Your device will become one of these types of stations:
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A Manned Station is created for volunteers to check people in. From this station, a person can override any filters, add new people, edit people, and search by name.
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A Self Station is created for people to check in themselves or members of their household by searching by phone number, barcode, mobile pass, or Church Center app.
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A Roster Station creates a list of people who have checked in to that specific location before. A person can search by name, phone number, or barcode, as well as add and edit people. A roster must be locked to a location.
Once your events and stations are ready, you're ready to check people in.
When you check people in to your event, they'll be added to Check-Ins, but you can also add them individually or in bulk before you start checking them in. If you want to make sure you have the right information on the people you're checking in, look at our CSV file tips.
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You can try out Check-Ins before your event by following these three steps.
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Adjust your event time to the current date and time, and open any station.
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Try checking people in, setting up your printers, and printing labels.
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Test out the filters in the locations by checking in people who would attend that location.
Once you're finished trying it out, create a new session and make sure the time reflects the time and date you want to check people into your event.
Notifications
Administrators can see any notifications related to them in the Admin Notifications Inbox. You can find this inbox at the top right corner of any page by selecting the bell icon.
If you have login permissions to Planning Center, you will be able to see both read and unread notifications and customize your notification settings.
Our Support Team is always here to help! Use the ? at the top right of every page to find articles or open a ticket with Support.
When you select that, you'll see this helpful dialog box.
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Type in what you're looking for. This will search our online manual and return articles on that topic.
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Suggested articles are based on the page you're on when you select the question mark.
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View introduction articles, watch video tutorials, or browse documentation to be taken directly to our online manual.
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Send an email to our Support Team. For the most efficient support, be sure to include specifics about what you're working with. When you submit your questions from here, we receive lots of information about your account, including the page you're viewing, which allows for fast and accurate support for your request.
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Planning Center Support is dedicated to getting you an email response within an hour by investigating the issue in detail, asking for help from other seasoned team members, or even consulting a developer, if necessary. This type of direct assistance and shared knowledge is unavailable on the phone.
These requests to Support can only be made by organization administrators:
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Data removal or corrections you can't make yourself (undo old CSV imports, iCal imports, etc)
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Request promotional pricing (legacy plans, church plants, Giving contract promotion)
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Gain access to anything that was created and managed by someone else in the account
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Restore or fully delete a canceled account
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Disconnect a Stripe account
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Request access to Giving (if there are no current Giving administrators in the account)