Harnessing the Power of Lists in Planning Center People

Planning Center People is a robust church management software that offers a wide array of features designed to streamline church operations. Among these features, the Lists module stands out for its ability to organize and manage data effectively. This blog post will delve into the main benefits of Lists and provide examples of potential use-cases that can enhance your church's operations.

What is a List?

A list in Planning Center People is a powerful tool that allows you to filter your people based on their information and activity across all Planning Center applications. You can create custom lists to find specific groups of people, share these lists with others, or print them using reports. Lists can be used to contact a group of people, change the membership status of a large group, or report on data in a database.

Benefits of Lists

Streamlined Data Management

Lists allow you to manage your data effectively by grouping people based on specific criteria. This can significantly reduce the time spent on data management, allowing your team to focus more on ministry.

Improved Communication

Lists facilitate better communication within your team. By sharing lists, you can ensure that everyone has access to the same information, promoting transparency and preventing misunderstandings.

Enhanced Reporting

With Lists, you can easily generate reports based on specific criteria. This can help you monitor trends, identify patterns, and make data-driven decisions to improve your operations.

Potential Use-Cases for Lists

Personal Information Lists

You can create lists based on personal information such as birthdays, school grades, or household data. For example, you can create a list of all members who have a birthday in a specific month, or a list of all children in a certain school grade.

Activity Lists

Lists can also be used to track activity. For example, you can create a list of all members who have not attended a service in a certain period, or a list of all active members.

Authorized Application Lists

If you've given access to Planning Center mobile apps or allowed other applications to access the Planning Center API, you can create lists to see which people have been using those applications. This can be useful for tracking engagement and usage trends.

Collaborating on Lists

One of the recent updates to Lists in Planning Center People is the ability to collaborate on lists. Now, anyone who makes a list can add other people to their list-making team as managers, which allows them to edit list rules. This feature allows for more team effort in creating and managing lists, and it also helps smooth over any role transitions within your staff.

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Conclusion

Lists in Planning Center People offer a powerful way to organize and manage your data, improve communication, and enhance reporting. By implementing lists, you can ensure that you have a clear overview of your church's data and that everyone in your church is cared for. Whether you're tracking personal information, monitoring activity, or managing authorized applications, lists can make the process smoother and more efficient.

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