eSign Church Membership Transfer Letter Made Easy

Esign church membership transfer letter

hi everyone this is Kelly Anne with church windows we're gonna go ahead and get started with today's webinar on membership database design if you've been to a webinar before normally we have two people in the room the presenter and another tech helping answer questions however we have a really high call volume right now so we want all of our available text on the phone to help answer your questions as people are calling in so today it's just me in the room I don't have a question answer so if you have a question I won't be on muting people but on your GoToWebinar toolbar if you open the question panel by just clicking the plus sign you can type your questions in the question panel and then I will just read them out loud and answer them for everyone's benefit with that in mind please try to keep your questions on today's topic of database design we're gonna look at adding fields in the membership module and then also how to control your list fields if it's your first time using the GoToWebinar toolbar just click the plus sign by questions to open that up and you can type things there I'm feeling a little under the weather today so pardon me if I forget something let's go ahead and get started make sure my mute button is not on and everyone can hear me again we're gonna look at membership so I'm gonna go ahead and click on membership on the opening screen oh I did want to point out one thing today we're looking at version 1815 to sr3 did just come out yesterday which is part of the reason we're experiencing such high call volume but what you're seeing on screen today and what you would see in SR 3 or even older versions of Church Windows we're going to be looking at the member records the household and individual record and those have not been rewritten yet so even if you're in an older version prior to 18 the way you add field still functions the same way so I'm go ahead and click on the word membership to open up the membership module and if you're on an older version then things look a little different you click on membership and then you just click on the word members or visitors to go to that side of the database so that's a little different if you're on one of the newer versions then this brings up the membership portal we're just gonna look at members the way you add fields is the same in members and in visitors however you can really customize what you see on the records we can show different fields in members versus what we show in visitors so we will take a look at that after we add a few in the member database so we'll go ahead and click on members and you see we have the household on the left and then we put people into the household and as we do they have an individual record on the right some fields come standard with the program but you can add fields that are specific to what your church needs to do that excuse me we'd go to members or visitors and then upper left we're going to click on options and we're going to choose the second thing here customized fields excuse me wait momentarily and that should bring up this computer seems to be going a little slower than my computer we have a we go up to the front room to teach these classes so there's no noise from all the other Tech's talking this computer is going slow so I think I need to ask Jim or van to do some cleanup here so momentarily we should get the options screen a little circle spinning here we go alright so it brings up my customized fields for member file screen had I gone through visitors in the upper left it would say customized fields for visitor file the first tab here is real able hide fields and then we're going to come back to that I do want to show you some things here but we're gonna click upper left on add delete rearrange fields for member file we have Elle fields but we want to add a cellphone field because most people have a cell phone nowadays so upper-right we're gonna click this button that says add field that brings up a little window where I can enter information from my new field name is what will show on the actual individual record to identify that field so you can type whatever you like I'm gonna call mine cell phone now I want to click under type if I click the arrow here you can see the different types of fields you can add let's talk about these momentarily here character I believe that's up to 50 and that can be any combination of letters or numbers so that's a field where you just want to type information into it a date field is a specific field that expects two digits for the month two for the day and then four for the year email if you select email then it looks for the @ symbol within that to know that it's a properly formatted email address a list field we'll look at creating one of those that's a field when I show you in a minute you'll see there's a little arrow beside it and you create different codes and descriptions however a list field you can only choose one of your codes and descriptions that you create create you can only put one of those in that actual field numeric would be a field that only accepts numbers phone is a field that expects the area code and then the seven digit phone number and then you also have a phone extension field if you want to add an extension for cell phone we're gonna that is a phone field so we'll select phone and it automatically fills in the length for a phone field because that expects ten digits so then let's just say OK and we'll close the define new field window if you have many many fields to add you can just keep adding all your different fields and then close this window but let's take a look do you look at the top of the list we see cell phone I didn't mention here if you look at the first two columns they're checkboxes to end Kate if this field is being shown in the member file and then the second column using visitor file tells us what fields are being used in the visitor file now we can hide or show a field in the member file right now since we're in members we could hide a field or show a field just by clicking on the field name let's go ahead and click on health record and over to the right there's a button now watch this button says hide field in member file but once I click on that you'll notice it unchecked health record for using it or showing it in the member file and that button now says use field in member file so what this button says depends on whether or not the field you highlight has been chosen to be shown or hidden you use this button to check something to show it here I'll check it again notice now health record we have a check in use in member file and it says hide or if I click it again because I have highlighted health record it's gonna take that check out and we'll just leave that as not showing in the member file so we can see that when we go back to member file now cell phone we see is the second listing we don't want that at the very top of all of our information for the individual records so I can determine the order things show on the individual records by highlighting a field and then over to the right here I have order buttons and I can use my down arrow I want to move it just above email address but I can use those order buttons to change the order of how I see the fields and right now everything we're doing is affecting the member file all right and I want to show you how to affect the visitor file but let me show you one more thing here I'm going to click on add field and we're going to go ahead and make a field call email newsletter some individuals would prefer to have the newsletter emailed to them so we want to be able to on each specific individual record indicate if they want that newsletter email to them so I'm gonna call this field email newsletter for type I'm going to make it a list field and for list fields they can be anywhere from one to three characters in length so I'm gonna go ahead and hit I'm gonna make it one character and then click OK now notice because I had cell phone highlighted when I clicked add field when I made this new field it automatically put it right above what I had highlighted so I can close this and if I want that in a different position I can move it I'm going to just move it right above email address all right so now we have our two new fields but one is a list field so I'm going to upper right click OK to exit the customize screen and notice let me grab my pen notice here we have our new field cell phone and email newsletter now email newsletter has a little arrow beside it let me erase my drawing and get my regular clicking tool back and let's click that little arrow just to the right of email newsletter that brings up so that's odd let me I don't know why we must have had this field already and it held something behind there let me delete that when you open that new field when you click the little arrow you should get a screen showing any of the codes and descriptions you already have it should be blank that was a little odd then we need to actually create our yes and no fields that we can add to people's records to indicate if they want that newsletter emailed so I can click add items and I'm just going to it's up to you what you call your codes and descriptions I'm going to say why for code because I selected only one I only wanted it one character long it's automatically moving over to description once I type that in so then I'll type my description I could just hit enter to have it accept that or I can move my mouse to the Add button and click that and then I'm gonna create my no code or you could just have a yes code and leave things blank if they don't want the newsletter emailed then I'll close this and now to add this to someone's record I can just double click or you can single click and click add item to record so here I had yes originally and now I just changed it to no now excuse me um someone asked what happens to the hidden field when a visitor file is transferred to the member file does it automatically show when the file is transferred so if you have fields showing and visitors that are different from members and vice-versa if you transfer someone to the other side of the database if that field is showing for all of your records if you said to show it on that side of the member the database then it would show for that person if it's a field you have chosen to hide on that side of the database then it will not appear for that person the information is still hidden behind the scenes but if the field if you've not said to show that within that side of the records it will not show for that person even when you transfer them over if it's not a field you're showing let me show you real quick how we can make fields show now in visitors to do that we need to actually go to visitors so up here I'll click on membership visitors and now in visitors I'm gonna do the same thing I'm going to click on options and customize fields and then click on add delete rearrange fields I don't need to create an entirely new field for the visitor side I've seen people do that you don't need to do that all I need to do if I want cell phone to show in the visitor file notice we see it is not checked to show I just highlight it and now I go over here and click on use field and visitor file could do the same for email newsletter click use field and visitor file and I can even change the order if I'd like let's just leave those at the top so you can see because we moved the others let's just see how it looks now say I say ok and notice right at the top over on the right side in the individual record first thing we see is that email newsletter field and the cell phone field so another thing it reminded me of when Louis asked about transferring and fields that are hidden in one side versus the other if you're considering deleting a field but then you find people have information in that field and you're not sure you want to delete it let me go back into membership members here you could just hide that field and that would retain the information it's all still hidden you just aren't showing that field in the records let me show you if I go to customize fields I actually here cancel here oh quick notice we see on Bob's record right in the middle here he has an email address if I go up to options and customize and I highlight email address and say hide field and member record and say ok oops did I click on the wrong one or maybe he had it in both I know he had there we have an other email field as well notice we don't see that plain email field but I haven't deleted information if I go back in and I click on email address and say use field and member file not gonna even change the position say ok notice now email address is there showing and the information is still there so hiding it does not remove the information it just hides that field and any information that was in there another thing I want to show you really quickly I see questions coming in but let me let me show you one more thing under customized real label and hide fields that's the first tab that comes up and these are fields the first column shows the actual field name but you can real able these fields and use for other things I frequently see people taking geographic area and renaming that Shepard cell or deacons group so let me so I just in the second column I would type in what I want that field to appear as on the records now and then I click OK and notice this is in the upper left just under mailing code we have deacons group if I click the little arrow beside it we still have all the geographic area codes and descriptions here but if I want to now create deacons groups codes and descriptions I can highlight the first one of these hold shift on my keyboard and highlight the last one and that highlights all of these and then I can click delete items now it will if you at one point maybe use geographic area but now you aren't using anymore so you had it filled out on a few people's records if I delete these codes it is going to delete that information from the records but again we're assuming here you you don't really use geographic area that much so you've decided to discontinue that and use it now for a deacons group or some other reason so now I have an empty field called deacons group and I can click add items and then create my different codes and descriptions usually I see the actual deacons name I'm just kind of generically showing you how Deacon 3 so we could keep adding the different deacons we want for a deacons group and now if I click the little arrow by deacons group that brings up the three codes and descriptions I created and I could add that household or family to the particular deacons group all right let me go ahead and look at some of the questions people are asking that's about all I really want to show you here someone asked can you just click on the box to add the check mark instead of using the hide show button what she's referring to is in customized fields can I just come over and click I'm clicking right now using member file can you just click this box no you have to actually highlight the line that you want to hide or show and then click the button hide picked one that you can't hide there are a few fields you cannot hide I would click on hide or if I wanted to show that again I would click on use you do have to click on that button you can't just go over and check the boxes on the left somebody asked would be able to add that cell phone over on the left side screen under home phone currently no however if you've been with us a while you've seen that we are rewriting the membership database the actual records meaning the family and individual records have not been rewritten yet same screens I've seen since I started in 2007 but I know that is a frequent suggestion so hopefully they may be adding a cell phone field for the household I don't know though because oftentimes you know in a household people have different cell phones but I do know that as a suggestion so that might be something they're changing but currently no you cannot add a cell phone field or you can't add any fields to the actual household record you can rename some of those but you can't add them to the left or household side someone said I see you making these changes in one person's database do these changes apply to all those members or visitors or only the ones you add the fields to this applies to everyone I'm not adding it to just this person if you watch I'll hit next and we can see email address right at the top for all of these people and if you look right towards the middle of the screen where you see cell phone and email newsletter this those fields are available for everyone so when you add a new field that is a field that is available and shows in all of the member records or all of the visitor records if you're showing it also in visitors someone said does reordering the fields affect report layouts no reordering the fields in the individual records has no effect on report layouts report layouts are completely separate and you in the layout determine where you want something in that actual report layout someone said can you get rid of the geographic area or carrier route designations we don't need them at all no you cannot hide those or unsure them you can rename them and use them for something else but you cannot get rid of them no someone asked is there a limit on the number of fields you can add not that I am aware of I've been here since 2007 and at this point I have never heard of someone making so many fields that they couldn't add more if you add more fields than you see you know to the bottom of the screen then what will happen is you'll get a scrollbar along the right and you'll have to scroll down to see all of your fields another questions special question we have two congregations and our parish is it possible to have two members databases in this program no you can install the program twice if if you'd like and use each install for the different congregations but there is no way to create two member databases within the one membership module you could use you know maybe members for the one congregation and visitors for the other or you could install a second copy of Church windows and use that for the second congregation someone asks can cell phone have an unlisted box like the home phone currently no but I know excuse me that is also a suggestion I put in a couple times into the suggestion database so when they rewrite the program or rewrite I'm sorry the membership records sections of the membership module that is something that they may do currently what I've recommended for people is if you're including cellphones in the directory but some people they want there's unlisted create a regular cell phone field and then create a second cell phone field and call it unlisted cell phone and actually put that person cell phone number in your unlisted cell phone field and if the field you're showing in your directory is cell phone then it won't show anything because you put their number in your your second field called unlisted cell phone all right Wow I thought I thought I was be so overwhelmed with questions that we'd be here till five o'clock because normally Ross is helping me answer things it is 2:23 so we are past the end of our twenty minutes I'm definitely sticking around to answer more questions but if you need to leave just click the little X on your GoToWebinar toolbar and that will close you out of the classroom I am recording this so once it's cleaned up and standardised we will put it up on our new virgin resource page all right see some more questions somebody said hypothetical if you need the - congregation databases couldn't you add a new field and call it Church one and a second one called Church two and specify it on your reports yes you could or you could just create one list field and have a code and description for church one and a code in description for Church two and then assign people to that even better if you're not using maybe the geographic area or the carrier route on the household side you could use that to indicate church one in church two and then it would apply to the entire household so you wouldn't have to add it to each individual in the household but yes great idea Susan will the rewrite of the membership records include the city and state as separate fields I don't know I'm not a programmer I'm not privy to all the changes that are gonna occur I know that is a suggestion that I put into the suggestions database so we keep our fingers crossed but I I don't know I'm not a programmer so I don't know what all their plans are for the records but I imagine it's probably a big rewrite because they've done a lot to attendance and visits and these screens we're looking at right now have yet to be rewritten so I think that's gonna be a big rewrite just my guess I'm not a programmer I just remember back in in the 80s in high school doing Pascal and making like five pages of code just to have it do one little tiny thing all right so I'm sorry I don't know the answer to that but hopefully they will because we have I know that's been suggested someone asked is there a way to have new donors be automatically entered into the member database let me show you I'm really quickly here because that is little more towards donations a little off our topic but if you have the most current version of the program when you are in donations if you're entering someone if you click the little plus sign bye giver you do now have the option prior to 18 you only could add people to donations but now you have the option to add a member or a visitor and when you choose that that's going to create a a household an individual record over in the membership database so you can add a donor to the donations module and choose to add an actual membership record alright and I believe that also from manage givers if they're adding people there if you click the plus at the end of individual givers you have the option to add a member or a visitor and again that creates a record in the member or visitor file if you're not familiar with donations anyone in your membership database automatically shows in donations as a possible donor but you can also create by clicking add individual or group at the top you can create a individual or group that is only in donations but if you want them to be in membership you want to make sure you either make it membership or when you make it you choose add member or add visitor all right are there more questions now if you're in the middle of it type in a question you might want to hit enter and then just type the rest of your question that way I don't close the class before or the the webinar before you finish your question and you're welcome you're welcome everyone I see some thank yous and people saying it's very informative I don't know if Susan could see but Gloria said thank you for your idea Susan I don't think she sees the question so Susan Gloria appreciate Gloria appreciates your idea on how to do the database oh thank you so having said I hope hope you feel better I'm not sure what's going on I got real dizzy I just moved and was working on the garage last night and got real dizzy and laid down and I don't know if I got food poisoning or what but I'm still feeling just a little off-kilter today so hopefully it's just the weather I'll thank somebody said probably a brain to know life's going good I just moved and things are going really well I don't need nobody needs a brain tumor my luck probably alright any other question somebody said dehydrated possible cuz normally I drink lots of coffee and I think I get some water from that but I only had one cup of coffee yesterday somebody said allergens and that's what my brother said moving around all the boxes it could have been allergen so if it continues I will go see the doctor I promise thank you for all your suggestions though I googled my symptoms and no don't ever do that okay I here's another question is this the medical advice hotline somebody asked that yes do not do not google and don't give me any other any other things to fear okay somebody asked we want to know who is an active giver in the member visitor database is there a way to do this Pam that all depends on what you consider active if you mean status code that's something that really you should give us a call on because it's kind of specific to your data if you don't mind calling in a tech can help you with that I take a late lunch normally I take it it too as soon as I'm done here I am gonna take my lunch so you can call and ask for me if you want me to help you with that and answer that but I won't be back at my desk till 3:30 so you might be waiting a little longer than if you just call in and ask for anyone to help but typically you could you know I that to me would be a status code of active and you could do that through reports and list labels or I'm sorry reports directory export my brain is going back to the old old program alright any other questions Susan you're funny she's told me is ooh I'm not gonna say what she wrote oh this was been a fun fun webinar not that they aren't always fun but that's some very interesting suggestions and medical advice at the end any other questions pertaining to church windows and your membership database data design all right Thank You Jeanette she said our tech support is tops we try we have our off days all right I don't see any other questions coming in so I am gonna go ahead and end this webinar and go get some food okay man another question what is the best way to name the mailing code for both spouses I'm not sure what you mean the mailing code is on the family record so you can only have one mailing code for the household if the people in the house want different kinds of mail that's where you might want to create a field on the individual record for that but brandy if you can call us if I'm not understanding your question if you call in we might be able to help you better with that any other questions alright alright then I'm gonna go ahead and end today's usergroup real quick I always like to show this if you're new to church windows or if somebody else signed you up for this and you didn't know we have all these webinars if you look under church windows training the last option free online webinars if you scroll down there's a list here of all the webinars and we have new ones every month you can just click on register now to sign up for those and sign up for as many or as few as you want again we do record these and once they're cleaned up and standardized if you look on the left under support in new version resources we have all of these recorded and up here for you to view for free so there are movies specific to each different module and versions a lot of the if you're in 18 a lot of these version 17 movies still apply then also one other thing under support is a support blog and the support blog has movies and free documents that you can review or print out and those are very helpful as well alright again I like to show that at the end just for anybody who's new so you can find all of our free help that's out there if you don't want to wait for a phone call then go ahead and I think I said it three times now I'm really gonna close the room now thanks so much for attending and sign up for more user groups if this was helpful to you and have a great rest of the week bye