Search / Add

Search and then Add People¶

Places to Add People

You will use the Search / Add dialog for the following reasons:

In each of these cases, the first thing you must do is search for the person in the database. Then search to see if there is an existing family member in the database. This training video demonstrates best practices for searching when adding a guest, new org member, etc.

Note

The principles in the video below are still valid, but now there is a different search dialog at the beginning of the process. Now your search will begin with a simplified dialog, with the option to switch to the more advanced search. Below is the simplified dialog:

https://i.tpsdb.com/Hayley-SearchAdd.png

With this simplified dialog, you can quickly search using first name, last name, or parts of either or both. Best results may be found using the format last, first. As with the quick search from the top menu, up to six matching results will be displayed.

If you are adding people to the Trial Database, just follow this same procedure. You can add new people as guests (as in the video) or as members of an organization, then create user accounts for them.

Where is the Add button?¶

To add a person to the database, you start in one of the above mentioned contexts. The program forces you always to search for the person before you add a new record. This is the proper order to avoid duplicates. There is an Add People button in under the People menu. However, there is a very good reason why we do not recommend that you add people using this button:

If you use this button, you have no context for why the new record was added. Context answers the following questions about new people records:

Was the person a guest to a worship service?
If so, when?
Was the person a new family member?
Did the person enrolled in a class?
If so, when did they join?
Was a Contact made to this person?

These are the kind of questions that are very important for ministry, so we always start in one of those contexts.

Notes on Searching¶

However you are adding a person, when you click Add Member, Add Guest, etc. a search dialog will open. The process is the same whether regardless of the context.

You will always search for the person first.
If you do not find the person, you will search for anyone in the family.
Then you can either add a new person to an existing family or create a new family.

Tip

Search for one criteria at a time, adding more as necessary to narrow the search.

Proper searching helps ensure that you get the desired results and helps prevent the creation of duplicate records.