Planning Center Transition
TL;DR - We’re replacing Church Community Builder (CCB) with Planning Center. There will be more details in the next several weeks.
Project Overview
For the past couple of months, we’ve been working on transitioning our church management system from Church Community Builder (CCB) to Planning Center. If you’ve been around CoaH for a while, you probably recognize both of those names already...
We currently use CCB to manage contact information, online giving, CG information, CoaH Kids check-ins, general communication, and many behind-the-scenes processes. In addition to CCB, we use Planning Center to plan our Sunday morning services, store files, and schedule and communicate with volunteers.
At the end of the transition, everything will be stored and managed in Planning Center.
Reasons for the change
We’ve used these two systems in parallel for a long time, but there are an increasing number of issues as we grow as a network of churches. Some of the main benefits of the transition are:
A unified system | We have contact information in both CCB and Planning Center, but that information is often outdated in one or the other. By moving to a single system, we will only be maintaining one set of information, meaning fewer errors and less confusion about which information goes where. It simplifies things for staff, leaders, and members.
Better reporting and behind-the-scenes tools | One of the major frustrations we’ve faced with CCB is the difficulty of generating reports and managing data. The interface is frustrating and not intuitive, which means we are not able to use the information we have as well as we could. The corresponding tools in Planning Center are much easier to use and updated regularly.
More flexibility | As we grow and plant new churches, we are able to set up different campuses within the same Planning Center account, so we can manage information at both the church and network levels. Leaders will be able to customize the different Planning Center applications to fit their needs.
Better support and training | The team at Planning Center is constantly improving the platform as well as creating training materials for users. Whether you will use Planning Center to manage groups or teams at CoaH or to just update your personal information, there are great tutorial videos on YouTube and help pages on their website.
What this means for you
Our goal for the transition is to simplify and make things easier for everyone. We realize that there will be a small learning curve in the next couple of months, but we think this will help us greatly in the long term!
The transition mainly impacts things behind the scenes, but there are a few things we need your help with:
Online giving/donations | The biggest change is to online giving. If you currently give online through CCB, we will ask you to set up a new giving profile in Planning Center. We will send out more information about setting up your profile, and we will have someone available after church for several Sundays to answer any questions!
CoaH Kids | If you volunteer with CoaH Kids, you’ll be trained on the Planning Center Check-Ins app. Other than a new app, the setup and process for checking in kids and volunteers will stay the same.
CG Leaders | If you lead or co-lead a CG, we’ll be moving away from CCB Groups to Planning Center Groups. CG leaders will receive more training resources as we finalize the transition.
Volunteers | If you’re already using Planning Center to volunteer at CoaH, not much will change! We will be cleaning up some of our existing information in Planning Center, but you will continue to receive scheduling requests and reminders just like you do now.
Next steps
So what do we need you to do right now? Nothing!
In the beginning of the new year, we’ll send out more information about setting up your profile in Planning Center. We will have online and in-person training resources for leaders, volunteers, and attenders. If you have a profile in CCB, your contact information will be migrated to Planning Center for you, you’ll just have to log in and make sure everything is up to date.
If you have any questions about the transition, feel free to contact Brandon Bellanti at brandon@coahchurch.org.
If you’d like to learn more about Planning Center, here is a great overview of the system: