Tags VS User-Defined Fields: Which are best?

Tags and Fields are necessary church software tools built into ChurchTrac. They are both used for creating reports (like a church directory), managing your church's data, and church communication. This article covers the best use case for using Tags and Fields in ChurchTrac ChMS.

Tags VS Fields In Your Church Database

When it comes to deciding which to use, the general rule of thumb is that Tags are for Organization and Fields are for storing information.

Tags are a way to label people who have a specific trait or belong to a particular group. Fields and User-Defined Fields are best for recording information about people or families.

At first glance, the two look very similar. After all, they can both be used in the creation of Smart Lists. Let's talk about when to use them and give examples.

When to use Fields

Let's say you need to know the date that a nursery worker had their last background check. The best solution for this type of data is a User-Defined Field. This approach makes it easy to create a Smart List of people who have current background checks or a list of those who are up for renewal. Tags don't offer an easy way to find this information.

Here are some other common uses for User-Defined Fields:

• Record an individual's baptism date, membership date, or anything else that requires a date
• Upload a PDF file that pertains to a specific person or family
• Use as a field option in a Custom Report
  
• Anything that would be an option for a selection list of values

When to use Tags

Let's say your church has 7 elders and each of those elders oversees a small group of a group of members. Creating a Tag for each elder and assigning that Tag to the church members they are in charge of would be a very good use of Tags.

Tags are usually a better solution when it comes to organizing your people, or assigning people to groups. For any "groups" that you want to use attendance tracking or check-in, you'll need to use tags.

Common uses for tags include:

• Assigning people to a group for attendance or check-in
• Assigning a SMS Tag to members who have opted into church texting
• Tracking the discipleship journey of church members
• Tracking spiritual gifts, like SHAPE ministry profile entries