You no longer need those old bulky pagers to contact your nursery and preschool parents in the case of an emergency during Sunday School or church services.  ChurchTrac’s new Check-In feature and Automated Messaging System work together to allow you to easily send a text to the child’s parents to notify them of an emergency situation with their child.

On the Check-In screen, simply type in the parent’s cell phone number into the Emergency contact field.  Then if there is an emergency, you simply click on the “Send a Text/SMS message to the numbers listed here” button and type in a short message identifying the child’s problem.  ChurchTrac will send the message to the parent immediately.

Note: For the texting feature to work, parents must opt-in by texting your church’s keyword to 292929.  The purchase of Automated Messaging Credits is also required.  Click here for more information on the Automated Messaging System.

Only two more days to cash in on the Easter promotion.  The more you spend the bigger the savings!

USE PROMO CODE: EASTER
at checkout and save
$5 when you spend 50,
$15 when you spend 100,
$30 when you spend 200, or
$50 when you spend 300!

This offer is only good until April 30, 2011.

Sorry, this discount can’t be applied retroactively to previous purchases.

ChurchTrac’s new Check-In feature can be used to check in people of all ages for all types of group activities.  The entire family can be checked in at one time at any of your computer check-in stations.  You can type in their names on the keyboard to register their attendance or use one of the two bar code scanning methods: name tag scanning or bar code role sheet scanning.  Click here for more information on check in options.

This check-in feature can be used for more than just Sunday School.  It can be used for Children’s Church, Discipleship groups, Wednesday night youth activities, AWANA, choir rehearsals, committee meetings and so much more.

If you are using ChurchTrac’s Check-In & Security Feature for your attendance check in, here is a quick tip for using the Child Security Tags for more than one event on the same day (ex: Sunday School and Children’s Church).

If you would like to check the children in to Sunday School and then later that same day in to Children’s Church, we recommend that you set up your Attendance Date on the Attendance screen for both Sunday School and Children’s Church BEFORE you start checking the children in for either event.  By doing this, the Security ID number printed on the Child’s Security tag and on the ChurchTrac Check-In screen will stay the same for both events.

If not, the Security ID number will change when you create a new Attendance Date for Children’s Church, and the parent’s Pick Up tag will no longer match the Security ID on the screen for the second event.

Once all (or most) of your preschoolers and children have checked in using ChurchTrac’s new Check-In & Child Security Feature, you can print a Child Information/Check-In List for each of your classes.  This sheet contains a list of all your class members, with a notation of which ones have checked-in, along with their birthday, who is authorized to pick up the child, an emergency contact number, allergies, any special notes and the child’s security tag ID number.

This information can then be used by the class teachers as a reference sheet during class and during pickup.  Also, you can use this list to verify who has checked-in and who still needs to be checked-in in order to maintain accurate attendance records.

ChurchTrac now offers a great way to computerize your attendance check-in. Instead of manually entering pages and pages of role sheet data on Mondays, you can now do it from one (or several) centralized locations.

As your people arrive for Sunday School, or any other church event, ChurchTrac gives you several check-in options.

• Bar code check-in from a pre-printed role sheet. Prior to check-in, you can print role sheets for all your groups or classes with barcodes printed next to each name. As the person enters, they locate their name on their class role sheet and scan the barcode next to their name.  Instantly, their attendance is recorded in ChurchTrac.
• Bar code check-in from a pre-printed name tag. ChurchTrac will print barcoded name tags for each member of the class.  These tags can be laminated and used each week as name tags and to register attendance.  As the person arrives, they locate their name tag and scan the bar code to register their attendance in ChurchTrac.
• Keyboard check-in. This includes typing in the person’s name on the computer keyboard.  As you type the person’s last name, ChurchTrac will automatically match it to names from the People Screen. When the correct name appears in the list, press Enter, and it automatically marks the person present.

For more information on this great new feature, check out this article on Bar code check-in.

ChurchTrac’s new Parent/Child Security Tags are a great new security feature for your preschool and children’s departments.  As children are checked in for Sunday School or some other church event using ChurchTrac’s new computerized attendance check-in, you can then print a Child Security tag right from ChurchTrac.  You can customize these tags to include the child’s name, class name and location as well as important allergy information, special instructions and emergency contact information.  You can also include a random security/ID number.  A Parent Pick-Up tag with the matching security/ID number could then be printed and required for pick-up.

For additional security, the Parent Pick-Up tag does not include the child’s name.  Therefore, the person holding the Pick-Up tag would need to know the name of the child in order for the child to be released to them.  The Parent Pick-Up tag can also include a barcode for scanning purposes.  Scanning the barcode or entering the security/ID number would display the child’s information as well as who is authorized to pick the child up.

Click here for more information on the Barcode Check-In System and Child Security feature.

Be Ready for the Easter Rush!

USE PROMO CODE
EASTER
at checkout and save
$5 when you spend 50,
$15 when you spend 100,
$30 when you spend 200, or
$50 when you spend 300!

The more you spend, the bigger the savings!

This offer is only good until April 30, 2011.

Sorry, this discount can’t be applied retroactively to previous purchases.

We strive to make ChurchTrac the best church software available. So it is with great excitement that we announce a new feature! We’ve updated the barcode scanning feature and added a new child check-in and security module. This feature will help your children’s or preschool department keep up with allergies, special instructions from parents, emergency contact information, and more. It can also be used in conjunction with a bar code scanner, or at multiple check-in stations, to assist with attendance for all age groups. This new feature is available after installing the latest ChurchTrac program update, and can be found under the Attendance tab. For help getting started, click here. We welcome your feedback. Send us a note and let us know what you think!

User-defined fields are one of the features that makes ChurchTrac one of the most flexible and customizable church software products on the market.  But that’s not all.  ChurchTrac also allows you to create a variety of reports so you can access and use the information in those fields.  To create user-defined reports, click on the User-Defined Fields tab on the People Screen.  Then click on User-Defined Reports on the top toolbar.  Here you will see a variety of options for creating reports with your unique information.

For example, if you have a user-defined field for widows, you could print a report of all the widows in your church and determine how your church can best minister to them.  Another idea is to create a list of new members who have joined in the past quarter and host a quarterly New Members’ Luncheon with the pastor and staff.  This same list could be used to create a New Members’ class.

Any of the information stored in your user-defined fields is easily accessible through the User-Defined Reports page.  Don’t forget to use this information to better know and minister to the needs of your people.