People

People is the church directory: everyone the church knows, from long-standing members to last Sunday's first-time guests. Each person has a profile with their contact details, household, tags, staff notes, giving summary and a history of changes.

When to use this

• Someone new fills in a connection card and needs a record.
• A family moves, changes a phone number or wants to be called by a different name.
• The same person appears twice and the records need joining.
• Someone has left the church, or asked to come off every list.

When records are read-only

Once the back office is connected to the church database, People shows the real directory, and you sign in to see it. Until kids check-in moves to our own iPads, Elexio is still where people are edited. During that time, People and Households show a Read-only for now banner: "These records still come from Elexio until check-in goes live; edit them there." The edit buttons are hidden, and the database itself refuses any change made from here, so the two systems never disagree.

1. Make the change in Elexio as usual.
2. Wait for the next import, which brings it into the directory here.
3. On the day check-in goes live, the banner disappears and the directory becomes editable here instead.

Staff and admins can see and edit the same things. Merging duplicates, tags, staff notes and the activity list aren't connected to the database yet; until they are, use them in the practice sandbox only.

Find someone

1. Open People from the menu.
2. Type in the search box: part of a name, an email address, a phone number or a tag all work. Accents and apostrophes don't matter: "zoe" finds Zoë and "obrien" finds O'Brien.
3. Narrow the list with the status buttons (Member, Regular Attender, Visitor, Inactive) or a tag under Lists.
4. Select a name to open the profile.

Archived and merged records are hidden unless you tick Show archived and merged. Export CSV downloads exactly the people you can see, without birthdays.

Add a person

1. Select Add person.
2. Fill in the first and last name (both required). Add a preferred name if they go by something else; it's what staff see first.
3. Add a birthday if you know it. For children it decides which Sunday class they're placed in at check-in.
4. Choose a membership status (see below) and, for adults, an email address and a mobile number.
5. Under Household, add them to an existing household, start a new one, or leave it for now.
6. Add any tags, such as a team or a class, then select Add person.

For a child under 13, the form hides email and phone: children have no contact details or accounts of their own, and messages for them go to their guardians.

Edit a person

1. Open the profile and select Edit.
2. Change what you need: names, preferred name, birthday, email, mobile or membership status.
3. Select Save changes. Only the fields you changed are saved, and the page says which ones.

A mobile can be typed in any format; a number from outside the US needs its + and country code. In the practice sandbox every change is also written to the Activity tab. In the connected directory the record shows when it last changed; a full history of who changed what is still to come.

Membership status

The status describes someone's relationship with the church. It drives the counts at the top of People, the filters, and which lists people appear in.

Status	Use it for
Member	Someone who has completed the membership class and been received as a member.
Regular Attender	Someone who comes often but isn't (yet) a member.
Visitor	A guest in their first weeks, usually from a visit plan or connection card.
Inactive	Someone who hasn't attended for a long while but hasn't left.

Status is not a judgement and isn't shown to the person. When in doubt, ask the pastor who looks after membership before changing someone to or from Member.

Tags and staff notes

Tags are short labels, such as a serving team, a class or "First-time guest". They make lists easy to build in Messages. Pick from the suggestions or type your own.

Staff notes are for practical, internal things: a follow-up call, a serving preference, a ride to church. They are visible to staff.

Never put pastoral, counselling, prayer, medical or safeguarding details in a staff note. Those belong in the restricted care records, which have their own access rules and are not part of the sandbox.

Restricted information

Some details are kept apart from the directory altogether: allergies and medical needs, custody arrangements, who may or may not collect a child, and screening results. These live in restricted records, which only a few people can open, and every view is logged.

The directory shows only a Restricted info on file flag, so staff know to check with the children's director before making arrangements. When you add a child, tick Restricted info is on file if the family has given the church such details. Kids check-in sees only approved short codes (for example an allergy code), never the details.

Merge duplicate records

When the same person is in the directory twice (common after an import), merge the two records:

1. Open either record and choose More actions › Merge with another record.
2. Search for the duplicate under The other record.
3. Check the side-by-side comparison. The record on the left is kept; details shown in green are copied into it from the other one. Use Swap which to keep if the other record is the better one.
4. Select Merge records.

The merged record isn't deleted. It's archived as "Merged" with a link to the kept record, so old links and Elexio IDs still find the right person. If you merged by mistake, open the merged record and choose Undo merge.

Archive and restore

Archive someone who has moved away, joined another church, asked to be taken off lists, or has died.

1. Open the profile and choose More actions › Archive.
2. Pick the reason. It's kept on the activity log, so keep it factual: no pastoral or medical details.
3. Select Archive.

Archived people drop out of the directory, pickers and message lists, but nothing is deleted. To bring someone back, tick Show archived and merged, open their record and select Restore.

In the connected directory, Archive… is at the bottom of the person's record, and the reason is kept with the record. Tick Show archived in the list to find an archived person again.

Good to know

• People are never deleted, even in error. Archive or merge instead; both can be undone.
• Records from Elexio show their Elexio ID. In the practice sandbox, an edit is saved over the mirror in your browser only. In the connected directory, records stay read-only until check-in goes live (see "When records are read-only").
• Giving details are restricted. The Giving tab shows a summary; in the live system, full giving detail opens only for finance staff with two-step sign-in, and each view is logged.

Top tips

• Search by the last four digits of a phone number: it's the quickest way to find a family who has just called.
• Use a preferred name for anyone who goes by a nickname, so name tags, emails and check-in all greet them properly.
• Before adding a "new" guest, search for their email first; a quick merge later is easy, but not creating the duplicate is easier.
• Use tags for anything you'd want to message as a group, and save the list in Messages.

Troubleshooting

I can't find someone I know is there. Clear the filters, then tick Show archived and merged: they may have been archived or merged into another record.

The email and phone fields are missing. The person's birthday makes them under 13. Children have no contact details of their own; add them to their guardians' household instead.

The merge button is greyed out. Choose the other record first, under The other record.