iPhone / Android Attendance with App

Important

These instructions are for the Mobile App that has been available for several years. If you are one of the churches that has begun using the newest version of the mobile available starting in Nov. 2017, please click the link below and see the instructions in that help article.

Prerequisites

Taking attendance using the app has slightly different requirements than taking attendance using the normal application. Here are the prerequisites for individuals who want to record attendance using the iPhone / Android app:

  1. The person must have a user account with Access and Attendance roles. These users can be staff members with full access, or Lay Leaders with OrgLeadersOnly role access. See below for more about Lay Leaders adding Guests.

  2. They must also be enrolled as a leader in the organization for which they want to take attendance. See below for information about leaders needing to take attendance for multiple orgs.

  3. Of course, they must also download the App, named TouchPoint Mobile, from either the Apple App Store or Google Play. See below for information about branded apps vs free app

Click here for instructions for taking attendance using the app.

Lay Leaders and Multiple Orgs

If a user plans to take attendance using the app for several orgs and is not enrolled in those orgs, then the Parent/Child setup is required. The user must be enrolled as a Leader in a Parent Org and have those orgs for which he will take attendance associated as Child Orgs for the Parent Org. See the help articles below for more information on how to set this up.

Branded Mobile App vs TouchPoint Mobile App

If your church has a branded app, that means that they have paid fees to have us create the app using their church name for the name of the app and other special features. So, in those cases, it will be in the App Store or Google Play under the name of the church. If you are unsure, check with your church admin to find out which version your church is using and how the app will be listed if it is a branded version.

Churches using the free version will find the app listed as TouchPoint Mobile. Branded apps will each have a different name.

Click here to see the various mobile options available for churches.

Note

This app is not the same as the TouchPoint Check-In App.

Record attendance

For information on taking attendance by sub-group, see section below.

Caution

Please note that these instructions are for an iPhone, and navigation on an Android device may vary slightly. However, the basic operation is the same.

Step 1

Login using your TouchPoint username (or email address) and password, the same credentials you use use to logon to TouchPoint on your computer. You will be asked to enter the server name. This will be the same as when you access TouchPoint on your computer, except without https. Example: mychurch The rest of the server name (.tpsdb.com) will display automatically. You only do this the first time you log on.

Step 2

Set a 4-digit PIN and the optional TouchID. Again, this is only the first time you log on.

Step 3

Select the Attendance icon on the home page.

Step 4

Select the Organization for which you want to record attendance. The date and time will default to the schedule on the Organization.

If the organization has multiple schedules, select the one for the appropriate meeting.

Step 5

Touch the names of those in attendance to mark them present. The red x will change to a green check mark, indicating that they have been marked present. Any recent guests will display under the list of members.

If you make a mistake, just touch the person’s name again to remove their attendance.

When finished taking attendance click Back in the top left of the screen. If you need to add attendance for someone after you have finished recording attendance, you can return to the attendance list. Just follow the same steps as above.

Add a Guest

Do not proceed without first reading this section about OrgLeadersOnly users adding Guests.

Special Setting to Allow OrgLeadersOnly Users to Find Guests

If you want to allow lay leaders with OrgLeadersOnly role to be able to search and find anyone in the database in order to add the person as a guest, then give the Setting RelaxAppAddGuest a value of true. The setting is found on the Features tab, in the Mobile App section. Without this setting, an OrgLeadersOnly user will be limited to viewing only those people in the orgs they lead - either Members, Recent Guests, or Prospects - or anyone for which they have been assigned a Task.

This Setting applies only to taking attendance using the app.

Without the setting mentioned above, when a lay leader with OrgLeadersOnly needs to add a guest, he will only be able to view records for those who have already visited or been enrolled in an organization that they lead. So, the guest might be in the database, but the person taking attendance will not be able to find them.

If you use this process, just realize that you will likely get duplicate records. Just merge those they way you handle any duplicate. Or, you can ask your lay leaders to email a support staff member with the information and have them record the visit.

The next time the person visits, they will be in the Guest list at the bottom of the list of members.

Step 1

While still on the meeting, press New guest in the top right corner, and search for the person using part of a first name and part of a last name, or by their email address or street address.

Note

The person might be in the database, but with different contact information, so you want to search as thoroughly as possible in order to not create a duplicate record. Searching on the iPhone and iPad are a little different than on the desktop version.

Step 2

Once you find the person, touch their name to select them. This will add them as a guest, marking them present for that meeting.

If your Individual Search does not return any results, you have to option to either Search Again or perform a Family Search. The Family Search will allow you to search for someone in that person’s family. If you find a family member, select one of the family members, and add the guest to that family.

If you do not find a family member, press Add New (or the + sign) in the top right corner.

Step 3

Whether you are adding a person to an existing family or creating a new record with a new family, enter the requested information and press Submit.

This will create the new people record, add the person to the bottom of the list (under the Guests heading) and mark the person present.

Note

The system will determine the family position for new records based on age and marital status, so be sure to complete the form for each person.

Other Options

Press and hold on a person’s name to you the following options.

View Details

This will display the full record for that person, including the list of Family Members, Related Families, and the person’s contact information.

Join

If you press and hold on a Guest’s name, you have the option to enroll the guest (Join) as a Member of the organization. He will still display as a Guest for that meeting, but the next meeting he will be in the list of Members.

Drop

If you press and hold on a Member’s name, you have the option to Drop his membership from the org.

Take Photos

While viewing a person’s record (after selecting View Details), click on the circle (where the person’s picture should be) and you can take his photo and upload it to the database. Follow the onscreen instructions.

See also

Free Mobile App

Sub-Group Attendance

If your organizations that take attendance using the App have sub-groups, you can use a feature that will present group leaders only their sub-group as well as any guests in the roll list on the app.

How it Works

This is a feature that only applies to taking attendance using the TouchPoint app. Here are the basics of how this works.

  • Group Leaders will see only their sub-group members when they view the roll list on the app.

  • All Group Leaders will see any guests that are associated with that org.

  • The one leader whose member type matches the Leader Member Type for the organization and who is a sub-group leader will see his sub-group and everyone not enrolled in a sub-group as well as all guests.

  • This leader matching the Leader Member Type will also see all sub-group members whose group does not have a leader.

  • If this leader is not a group leader he will see all members and guests.

Set up Filter Attendance by Sub-Group

Step 1

Go to the organization Settings > Attendance > Basic Setup, click Edit and then check the box Filter Attendance Roster by Sub-Group. Save.

https://i.tpsdb.com/2016-04-29_08-01-47.png

Note

Make sure you perform this step first before you proceed. Certain options will not be visible without that box checked.

Step 2

Go to Sub-Group Management and select the tab Manage Sub-Groups and create the sub-groups as you normally would do.

Then go to the Sub-Group Members tab and add all the members including the leaders to the appropriate sub-groups.

For more information about creating groups and adding members see the article below.

Step 3

Now in Sub-Group Management you need to flag the leaders of each group as the leader for his specific sub-group.

Select a group as the Target Group, check the box beside the leader of that group, and then select Actions > Make Select a Leader of Target Group.

Repeat this for each leader, so that each sub-group has a leader flagged. Notice that the word Leader will appear next to the sub-group name for each leader. This lets you see at a glance if a group does not have a leader.

There is also an option to Remove Selected as Leader in Target Group.

Step 4

Make sure all of your sub-group leaders have user accounts with OrgLeadersOnly, Access, and Attendance roles.

Have them download the TouchPoint Mobile app either at the Apple Store or Google Play.

See information at the top of this article about taking attendance and more about the app itself.



Latest Update

10/20/2020

Modify image link with secure protocol.