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PLANNING CENTER ONLINE

A How To Guide

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Contents

Creating a Template

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1. Click “Plans” tab.

2. If you are NOT in your team folder: click Hosting Groups folder, then Alabaster folder, then Host Teams folder, and then your team folder (Ex: Greeter folder).

3. Under the desired Service Type (Ex: Sunday Morning, Special Services, etc.) click the “Templates” button at the bottom of the service type box.

a. It will open a window that shows the existing templates for that service type.

4. Click the “Create a new Template” button at the bottom of the window.

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a. It will pop up a window with a space to name your new template. Enter the name you want. You can revise it later if you would like. Click Accept.

5. A blank plan template will open. You must add the headers and items you would like for the flow of the serve.

b. To add 1st item: click the “add item” button at the bottom of theservice flow box.

i. To add additional items: either repeat above or hover over any items and click the green plus sign that appears on the left side of the box.

c. When adding an item, you can add a title, description, length of activity, and include details or an attachment.

i. The title of the item goes in the top box of the window.

ii. The time duration of the activity goes into the minutes and seconds box below the title.

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1. There is a dropdown menu that allows you to state whether the item is during the serve (service), before the serve, or after it. This is not vital, but merely for preference.

iii. In the item description box please put a short description of the activity so that new team members can understand the item. If a longer list is needed (such as a list of items needed) please click the edit button with the pencil to add information into the details box. Click Accept.

6. To add serve team positions, hover over the “Add people” button andclick the “needed positions” option.

d. To edit service times: click the box with the black triangle and your team name (Ex: [ABR] Worship Guides) under the Teams box on the left side of the window. This will expand the selection to display all current service times for the service type.

i. PLEASE NOTE: If you change service times for this template it will change the service times for ALL TEMPLATES in the same service type.

e. To add needed positions (# of people you want to schedule): click on the service times (see above) and click each service time and enter the number of people you would like for the appropriate team under the main part of the window. DO NOT

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CLICK ACCEPT UNTIL YOU HAVE ENTERED NUMBERS FOR ALL SERVICE TIMES.

f. Click Accept.

g. To see what needed positions you have entered, click the team name and then the service time under the team name (Ex: [ABR] Worship Guides, Sunday @ 6:00a).

i. This will display the orange box you click to schedule people. DO NOT SCHEDULE PEOPLE IN THE TEMPLATE. It will automatically schedule them in every plan you add using that template.

h. Once you are done, click the folder with the green arrow pointing up next to the Service Type name. This will take you back to your folder. Your template is automatically saved.

Editing a Template

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1. Click “Plans” tab.

2. If you are NOT in your team folder: click Hosting Groups folder, then Alabaster folder, then Host Teams folder, and then your team folder (Ex: Greeter folder).

3. Under the desired Service Type (Ex: Sunday Morning, Special Services, etc.) click the “Templates” button at the bottom of the service type box.

a. It will open a window that shows the existing templates for that service type.

4. Hover over the name of the template you want to edit. A pencil and red circle will appear at the right side of the box. Click the pencil to edit the template.

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i. WARNING: If you click the red circle it will DELETE the template. Should you click it on accident, it will pop up a window that asks you if you really want to delete it.

5. Once the template opens, it will look just like a normal plan except it will not have a service date.

j. To revise an item: hover over the desired item and click the pencil.

k. To remove an item: hover over the desired item and click the red circle.

l. NOTE: The goal of the service flow box is to help team members (especially those who are new) get a better feel for the flow of the serve before they arrive.

Adding a Plan

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1. Click “Plans” tab.

2. If NOT in team folder: click Hosting Groups folder, then Alabaster folder, then Host Teams folder, and then your team folder (Ex: Greeter folder).

3. Under the desired Service Type (Ex: Sunday Morning, Special Services, etc.) click the “Add a Plan” button at the bottom of the service tyce box. YOU MUST HAVE EDITOR PERMISSIONS TO VIEW THIS BUTTON.

4. It will open a window that shows a dropdown menu of the existing templates for that service type and a quantity dropdown menu.

a. Select the template you wish to use and the quantity of plans you wish to create. (Ex: If you want to create all of the Sunday serve plans for a 4-week month, choose a quantity of 4).

i. If this is the first plan you have added or if you have missed a week or more since adding a plan, click the “Change the dates for this new plan” and click the small calendar under “Plan Date” to select the appropriate first plan date.

5. Click Accept.

a. This will automatically take you to the first plan of the plans you just added. From here you can schedule people (via the plan or the matrix) and edit the plan.

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Adding a Service Type

1. Click “Plans” tab.

2. If NOT in team folder: click Hosting Groups folder, then Alabaster folder, then Host Teams folder, and then your team folder (Ex: Greeter folder).

3. Click the “+ Service Type” button in the top right of the screen.

4. This will open a window for you to enter information about your new service type.

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a. Enter the desired name in the name bar. This will be the name at the top of the Service Type window (for example: Sunday Services, Communion, Saturday Morning Prayer, etc.)

b. Unclick all default teams. You will go in and add your team later.

c. Click Accept.

5. This will open a window for you to create your first service time for this service type. All plans within a service type will use the service time you create.

a. Enter the date that you desire for it to begin on by selecting the calendar button and clicking on the day.

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b. Enter your serve time. Remember to set it at the time you want your people to ARRIVE, not the time of the corresponding service.

c. If you want to name the service time (you don’t have to), thetype it into the bar under Name.

d. Click Accept.

6. This will open the first plan. There is not a template yet, because it has not been created. You can create it now or you can build a plan (ONLY schedule needed positions) and export it as a template.

a. If you want to edit the service time you created, click the time you wish to edit. **THERE WILL NOT BE A PENCIL TO CLICK**

b. If you want to add an addition service time, click the “add a time” button at the top left corner of the screen.

c. To export as a template, build the plan to your preference and then click the “Export” button at the upper right corner of the service flow.

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d. This will open a window to allow you to select what service type you want to export to. Select the service type you just created and everything else should automatically populate (make sure it looks like the picture above). Click Accept.

7. If this service type is NOT a weekly serve, then go back to your home/team page so that you can see all your service types. Hover over your new service type and click the pencil to edit it.

a. This will open a window with different tabs to edit information. Under the initial tab (top tab - Setup) you will select how often the service type occurs under the “Frequency” section.

Scheduling the Team

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1. Click “Plans” tab.

2. If NOT in team folder: click Hosting Groups folder, then Alabaster folder, then Host Teams folder, and then your team folder (Ex: Greeter folder).

3. Click “Matrix” button in the top right area of the screen.

4. Look at service dates at the top of the section to determine if the dates you want to schedule are loaded.

a. If you need to load a plan: click the “+ Load a Plan” button in thetop right corner.

i. In the window that opens on the right-hand side, click service type (Ex: Sunday Morning, Special Event, etc) and then the plan for the dates you wish to see in the matrix.

ii. Click “X” at the top of the “choose plans” window.

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5. Click the gray bar with each serve time listed on the plans (Ex: [ABR]Greeters Sun 7:15am) to see the orange “Needed Positions” line.

6. Click the “Needed Positions” line to open the scheduling window forthe time you want to schedule.

i. This will open the scheduling window that displays all team members with the relevant tag.

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b. Click the names of the team members you wish to schedule for that serve time.

i. If they have a conflict (dates blocked out, scheduled for a different serve during that time, scheduled for the same team but at a different time) they will have a box next to their name that is either red or yellow. It will also tell you if it is not their preferred serve time.

ii. To remove people with conflicts from your view, click the “hide # people with conflicts” box at the bottom left of the window.

7. Click accept to close window and submit scheduled people.

8. To notify people that they were scheduled:

a. Click “email these people” at the top right of the matrix (near the“+ Load a Plan” button) to open email window.

b. Ensure that the “Prepared Notifications” tab is highlighted green (if it is not, then click it) then click the dates, status, and teams you want to email (Ex: all dates, confirmed and unconfirmed, and your team). This should automatically populate correctly, but it doesn’t hurt to check. Click Accept.

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c. It will automatically load the general scheduling template and all the unique individuals scheduled. If you want to personalize it, just type out what you want to say in the window then click the green “Send” button.

i. NOTE: Planning Center includes coding in the templates to insert the recipient’s name and individualize the email they receive. So if you decide to personalize the email, don’t remove the “{{to.first_name}}” section. I would recommend not changing any part of the initial greeting just to ensurethat this doesn’t get messed up.

Scheduling Automatic Reminder Emails

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1. Go to “Plans” tab.

2. Click into the next plan for the service type you want to schedule the reminder for.

3. Click the first service time. This will open a window to revise it.

4. There is an “Assigned Teams” box with the team scheduled for that service and a box that states “No Reminder”. Click the box and select when you would like the reminder email to go out.

5. Click the Orange highlighted box “Update This Time In FuturePlans” and then click Accept.

6. Do this for all serve times. If you have more than one serve type, do it for each serve type.

Sending out Sign-up Sheets

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1. Click “Plans” tab. If NOT in team folder: click Hosting Groups folder,then Alabaster folder, then Host Teams folder, and then your team folder (Ex: Greeter folder).

2. Click “Matrix” button in the top right area of the screen.

3. Look at service dates at the top of the section to determine if the dates you want to schedule are loaded.

a. If you need to load a plan: click the “+ Load a Plan” button in thetop right corner.

i. In window that opens on the right-hand side, click service type (Ex: Sunday Morning, Special Event, etc) and then the plan for the dates you wish to see in the matrix.

ii. Click “X” at the top of the “choose plans” window.

b. Click the gray bar with each serve time listed on the plans (Ex: [ABR] Greeters Sun 7:15am).

i. Do this for all serve times to see positions needed to determine that you have the desired positions open for signup.

ii. If you need to add or remove needed positions, click the green plus sign to add positions or the red circle to remove

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positions. These will only appear when you hover over the

orange bar.

4. Once you have your plan and needed positions set, then you need to click the email button to send out the sign-up request email to your team. This will go to all team members with the appropriate tag. The email button is in the top right of the matrix.

5. This will open the Email preparation window where you choose the dates and the team (yours should automatically populate) that you are wanting to send out signups for.

6. Ensure that the “Needed Positions” tab is highlighted green (if not, then click it). If the screen below appears, then you need to enable signups on the plans you have created.

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IF YOU DO NOT HAVE SIGNUPS ENABLED:

1. Return to your team home page (the page where you can see all your plans in their service type).

2. Click on the service date you want to edit.

3. In the left column is the team bar with the teams and serve times. Hover over the question mark near your team name (it will turn yellow) and you will see a window appear with a checkbox next to the word enabled. Click the box and now your team can signup for their serve!

4. Once you have selected this in all the plans that you want your team to sign up for, you can go back and send out the emails alerting your team to their newest serve opportunity!

Adding Tags to Team Members

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1. Select “People” tab.

2. Search for person by name in “Name:” search field at top left of page.

3. Click the person’s NAME (not email!).

4. Click “Details” tab under general profile information at top of thepage.

5. Go to Tag section and click “add” button.

6. In search bar type “[abr]”, press the space bar, and then your team name.

7. Click the tag name (Ex: [abr] Greeters: 1st Wednesday) that you want to assign to the person.

8. Repeat as necessary.

Adding Serve Preferences to Team Member

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There are multiple ways to add your team member’s serve preferences sothat Planning Center will remember it and make your scheduling process simpler.

The first way is during scheduling. The second way is through the individual’s profile. I highly recommend the first way because you can do it with fewer clicks, however team members can do it themselves the second way should they desire to.

To add while scheduling:

1. Open up the window in your plan where you select your team members for “needed positions” (If you don’t remember, see “Scheduling the Team” steps 1-6).

2. To add the preferences for a person, hover over their name and you will see a box pop up to the right of their name. At the top of this box it says “Preferences”. Click the “Edit Preferences” button.

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3. This brings up a window with time and scheduling preferences. This allows you to select which service they prefer to serve at (Time Preferences) and what Sundays they prefer to serve (Scheduling Preferences).

a. To select the weeks a team member prefers to serve, click the option “Choose Weeks” and select their week preferences. Click Accept.

b. Do this for each team member. When you go to schedule, Planning Center will notify you if it is not their preferred week to serve or if they have blocked out a date due to travel or other issues.

To add from individual profile:

1. Select “People” tab.

2. Search for person by name in “Name:” search field at top left of page.

3. Click the person’s NAME (not email!).

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4. The Scheduling tab should be the tab you see initially. You will see the Schedule, Preference, and Teams sections. To edit their serve preferences click on the serve preferences on the right side of the team section that shows them on your team. If they currently don’t have a preference entered, it will show “No Preferred Times, As often as needed”.

5. This will open the menu to allow you to select specific times and weeks for their preference. *Remember to select “choose weeks” when selecting serve week preferences. Once you are done, click the green check.

Editing/Adding Tags to Team

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Old View:

1. Select “People” tab.

2. Scroll down to “Tags” section (on the left side of page) and click “Edit tags” at the bottom of the page.

3. Scroll to campus and team section.

a. To add a new tag: Each team section will have a blank box with a“add new” button next to it. Type in the name of the tag youwish to create and click “add new.”

b. To revise an existing tag: Hover over the tag you wish to revise and click the pencil. This will open a window with the name of the tag and a list of the people who currently have that tag. Revise as desired. Click Accept when finished.

New View:

1. Select “People” tab.

2. Click the grey “Filter” button directly below the grey People tab.

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3. Click “Tags” from the list of options that appear. Choose the folder that holds the team folders. This will allow you to view the tags for your team.

4. Make sure you see your team’s tags. Scroll down until you see the “Edit Tags” button and click it.

5. This will open the tags section which allows you to edit existing tags or create new ones. Click “Filter by Folder” and click your campus folder (the one that holds your team folders).

6. If you want to edit your current tags:

a. To remove a tag, hover over it and click the red trashcan.

b. To edit a tag, click the name and change it.

c. To add a tag, type the tag name you want in the “add tag” box at the bottom of your team tag section and then click the green circle.

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d. NOTE: You can edit who has your tags from this area as well. Hover over the tag you want to edit the people for and click the green people button.

i. This will bring up a screen that shows every person with that tag.

1. To add new people: type their name in the search bar and click them.

2. To remove the tag from a person: hover over their name and click the red trashcan.

3. Click Save.