Instructions for Setting Up Your Data Sharing Network for the First Time

ChurchTrac’s data sharing feature allows you to share your ChurchTrac data between two or more computers, even computers in multiple or different locations. To enable this feature, you need to purchase a subscription. Note: These instructions are only for ChurchTrac 8 (the 2011 version). If you are using ChurchTrac 2010, please refer to the data sharing setup instruction on the Data Sharing Settings screen in ChurchTrac 2010.

Before You Begin:

First you need to designate one of your computers as "Computer A", or the Primary Computer, for setting up your data sharing network.

• Your Computer A should be the computer that already contains all the names, records, and data that you want to use and share.
   
• IMPORTANT: The data on all the other computers (Computer B, Computer C, Computer D, etc.) will be discarded and replaced with the data from Computer A, so choose Computer A carefully.
   
• The designations of "Computer A", "Computer B", etc. are only used for setting up your data sharing network. Once your network has been set up, each computer can be considered "Computer A," as each computer contains the same information and each have the same ability to make changes in the database.
   
• You can set security options to control which users can access and edit information in your database.

TIP: The data sharing feature works best when you enter most of your data on one computer first before setting up the data sharing feature. So we recommend that you enter all your names, groups, etc., on one computer (this will be your Computer A) before proceeding with setting up the data sharing on your other computers.

STEP 1:

If you haven't installed ChurchTrac on Computer A yet, go ahead and do that now.

Note: If you plan on using ChurchTrac's password and security features, we recommend setting that up on Computer A before continuing. As a data sharing customer, we recommend that you use the second security method (Require each person to log in with their own user name and password). This method allows an administrator to control which users have access to which information, and who can make changes in the database.

STEP 2:

Next, click on Utilities, then click on "Data Sharing Settings" and check the "Enable Automatic Data Sharing" box. Enter your data sharing user name and password (your user name and password is provided for you when you purchase a data sharing subscription).

Note: There are several other settings on this screen that you can configure to meet your needs. For example, you can choose how often you want ChurchTrac to synchronize. For most users, the default settings should work fine. For assistance with a setting, click the help icon next to that item.

IMPORTANT: Please review the information regarding the Data Retention Period setting. By default, the data sharing feature uses a 21 day data retention period. This means that new and updated data from your computers is stored on the server for 21 days. Therefore, each computer must synchronize at least once every 21 days in order to remain active in the data sharing network. Be sure each data sharing user understands how often they need to synchronize. For more information, take a look at the Data Retention Period knowledgebase article. You can also set up your computers to synchronize automatically on a schedule.

STEP 3:

After updating your settings and preferences on this screen, click the “Synchronize Now” button. This process will set up your data sharing server account and upload the necessary files.

When complete, Computer A will appear in the list of computers in your data sharing network.

STEP 4:

Go to the next computer (Computer B, C, etc.).

If ChurchTrac 8 is not already installed, download and install it now. When ChurchTrac prompts you to Create a data file or Browse for an existing data file, choose the option to Create a New Data File.

If ChurchTrac 8 is already installed on this computer, make sure you have installed the most recent program update by clicking "Check for Updates" on the toolbar when opening ChurchTrac.

STEP 5:

On Computer B, click on Utilities, then Data Sharing Settings. Check the box to Enable Automatic Data Sharing, then enter your data sharing user name and password.  Note: This will be the same user name and password as you entered on the data sharing screen on Computer A.

Click the Synchronize Now Button. ChurchTrac will connect and then prompt you about adding this computer to your data sharing network.

NOTE: When you add a new computer to your data sharing network, any existing ChurchTrac data on the new computer will be replaced by the data from Computer A.

When the sync process finishes, the new computer will appear in the list of computers in your data sharing network.

STEP 6:

Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for the other computers you want to add to your data sharing network.
 

Important Notes (Please Read!)

• Be sure that data entry is not duplicated on different computers. This could result in duplicate entries after both computers have synchronized. For example, if you enter the same name on two different computers, that name will appear twice on each computer.
   
  • ChurchTrac will allow attendance entry from multiple computers or check-in stations. However, make sure that one computer creates the attendance event first, then synchronizes that event to the other computers before beginning attendance entry. If two different computers create an attendance event for the same group category on the same date, then ChurchTrac will be unable to merge the data from these two events. To avoid this issue, make sure each computer synchronizes both before and after creating or editing attendance data.
     
  • If you do encounter a duplicate entry on any screen in ChurchTrac, assign one user with the task of deleting one of the duplicate entries. Immediately synchronize to copy deletions to the other computers in your data sharing network.
     
• Make sure all your computers are always running the latest version of ChurchTrac. When installing the latest program update on one computer, you should also install the update on every other computer in your data-sharing network. This will help to ensure that all the computers can share data effectively.
   
• ChurchTrac has the ability to synchronize individual and family pictures. For the best results, follow these simple steps:
   
  • Make sure each picture is resized to 800x600 or smaller, and that each picture is less than 100 kilobytes in size. ChurchTrac cannot synchronize pictures that are larger than 100,000 bytes. For best results, crop unwanted parts from each picture, and use a picture resizing tool to reduce the number of pixels in each image, and save the image as a jpeg file, which is typically has a smaller file size than bmp or tiff images.
     
  • On each computer (Computer A, Computer B, etc.), you must set the location where the ChurchTrac pictures are to be located. Click on the Utilities menu and choose Settings, then click on People Screen Settings.
     
  • When updating or changing a picture, use a new name for the new picture. For example, if the Smith family had a family picture named smith_family.jpg, the new picture should be named something different, like smith_family2.jpg. You could also name each picture using the date the picture was taken, like this: smith-2009-05.jpg. By using unique names for each picture, this will help ChurchTrac to locate and synchronize more effectively.

Troubleshooting Tips

If you are having trouble synchronizing:

• Make sure your data sharing user name and password are entered correctly. The data sharing user name and password is provided to you when you purchase a data sharing subscription. This user name and password is different than the user name and password that you may use to log into ChurchTrac.
• Check your firewall settings and make sure Microsoft Access 2010 has full access rights through your firewall.
• Some content filtering software, like NetNanny, may prevent the data sharing process from working properly.
• If you're getting an error message, check the online knowledgebase for solutions.

Updated: 2011-03-08