Our church wanted to use Planning Center, but we had no clue where to get started. And because of this Planning Center would sit on the shelf for longer… it’s potential for my ministry would go untapped. Sound familiar?
At the time, there was no easy way to learn Planning Center. You had to read support articles, search endlessly for tutorials, and kind of just try to figure it out… and hope for the best. It’s exhausting, right?
That got me thinking, “What if there was an easier way to learn Planning Center? What I created a way for ministry leaders to cut through the confusion and frustration and make the most of this tool?”
I dove all-in learning Planning Center and the results were huge for my ministry: it ended up saving me hours of time every week.
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That’s when I launched a consulting company to help churches move their data to Planning Center… but I was reminded again that the biggest roadblock to using Planning Center is training. You need an easy way to learn how to make use of this powerful tool.
And that is what Planning Center Made Easy is, it’s a step-by-step course made up of bite-sized videos that are easy to follow along with. In this course, I walk you through the basics and then help you make the most of this tool by sharing practical examples and best practices that ministry leaders are finding success with.
Whether you are new to Planning Center or you’ve been using it for years, this course will help you become confident with this tool and save hours of time every week.
Introduction
What is Planning Center & Where Does it Fit In?
The Architecture of Planning Center
10 Principles to Learn Planning Center FAST (Start Here)
Create a FREE Sandbox Account
People 101
Navigating Planning Center
The Dashboard
Create, Edit & Navigate Profiles
Adding People to Households
Updating & Customizing Membership Types
Tracking What Schools Kids Attend
Adding Custom Fields
Updating Background Checks
Adding Notes to a Profile
Merge, Delete & Inactivate Profiles
Three Strategies to Avoid Duplicate Profiles
Automate Online & In-Person Attendance Tracking: Check-In with a Form
People Pro (Lists, Workflows, Forms & More!)
How to Run a Simple List
DOWNLOAD: 50+ List Examples
How to Create a Powerful List with Multiple Rules and Conditions
Creating “Core Lists” (Lists of Lists)
How to Adjust Your View While in a List
Playlist Mode
Create Your First Workflow
Download: Workflow Inspiration
Adding People to a Workflow
The Workflow Card
How to Update Multiple Workflow Cards at Once
Download: Workflow Workbook
How to Create & Share A Form
Add Conditional Fields to Forms
Send Mass Emails & Create Email Templates
Download: Email Templates
Services 101
Overview
Create, Edit & Delete Folders
How to Create Service Types
How to Create & Copy Plans
Navigating the Plans Page
Create, Edit & Delete Times
How to Setup Teams
Create Positions & Assign People to Positions
Navigating a Volunteer Profile (& Blockout Dates)
Add Needed Positions to a Plan
Schedule Volunteers to a Plan
Email Scheduling Requests
Edit a Volunteers Response
Add Items to Your Plan
Add Your Plan to a Sermon Series
Create Tags
Asign Tags
Creating Filters in Services
Scheduling & Planning Pro
Schedule with Tag Teams
Supercharge Scheduling with Preferences & Auto-Scheduling
Templates for Planning & Scheduling
The Matrix: Plan & Schedule Multiple Weeks
Matrix Reports
Assign Team Leaders and Get Notifications
Track Attendance in Services
How to use Signup Sheets
Q&A – How do I have multiple people schedule volunteers to the same plan?
Check-Ins Mastery
Do I use Groups, Services, Registrations or Check-Ins for Attendance Tracking?
Create An Event (Locations & Filters)
Labels
Setup Your Device As a Station
Edit Your Station Settings
Temporary Visitor or New Household
Add & Check-In Attendees
Check-In Volunteers (Services + Check-Ins Integration)
Add, Edit or Remove Check-Ins
Reprint Labels
Headcounts
Add Pop-Up Announcements to Your Event
Registrations Mastery
Signup Types
Create Detailed Signups
Edit Details & Settings
Setup Attendee Types
Edit Capacities
Add-Ons
Adding Questions & Forms
Manual Registrations
Managing Registrations
Accept Payments
Filtering & Categories
Create Reports
Integrations Pro
On-Demand Volunteer Training with Serve HQ
Powerful Text Messaging with Clearstream
Automatically Import Reports & Forms w/ PCOChef
MailChimp Integration