To help your church transition to Planning Center Check-Ins, we have tips on some best practices for two areas: locations and stations.
The first thing you need to do when you transition to Planning Center Check-Ins is to import people data, including names, households, and mobile phone numbers. Although you cannot import attendance data, you can manually add previous event attendance.
Even if you haven't imported people data or added previous attendance, you can use these two features.
The main question we get from people coming from another platform is regarding when to create a new event, and when to open a new location.
Here's how you know:
An event is the top tier and encompasses all the check-ins. Here are examples of events:
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Sunday Morning Service
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Daycare
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Midweek Kids Classes
Tip
Multi-campus? We recommend separate events for different campuses.
A location is an actual place people attend. It can be named based on the location, or it can be named based on the people who check into that location. A location exists within an event.
Here are examples of locations within the events above:
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Sunday Morning Service
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Main Auditorium
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Small Auditorium
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Nursery
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Student Center
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Daycare
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0-1 year olds
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2-3 year olds
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4-5 year olds
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Midweek Kids Classes
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Green Room
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Blue Room
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Red Room
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Gym
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When you create an event, you'll be prompted to make the locations.
Although people are not assigned to a location, Check-Ins remembers the previous check-in location for each event and will suggest that location when they check in. In order to make sure people are checked into the right place, use filters!
Caution
An event can have multiple times! Do not create a new event with every time; simply create a new time in the event!
Stations are where attendance is logged. They are physical devices, like computers, tablets, or phones, and they require a connection to the internet to record attendance.
Here are some examples of where we see stations used:
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The Kids Wing, manned by a volunteer, who is checking in first-time guests.
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Set up next to a doorway, so people can scan to check-in.
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In a classroom, as a roster, teachers can see who is checked in.
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In the Main Lobby, next to a sign about first-time guests.
You can use stations wherever people check in!
Tip
As you encounter issues, check out our Check-Ins help articles or email us with specifics.