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Contacts

Summary

Every person or company in MinistryPlatform has a Contact record. Basically, the Contact record is the master record. Other record types - Donor records, Participant records, User records and more - are associated to a Contact record so you can easily identify who a person is based on a variety of data.

Note

Contacts can be created with as little information as a first and last name. The more information you can enter, the better, but if all you have is a new still create the contact.

Top FAQ

  1. What to do when I find a duplicate contact record?

Contact Record​

At the top of the Contact Page you will see:

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  • Profile Image: Most members have an image on them, but if it is missing, images can be attached in the Files folder found in the right side navigation bar.
  • Display Name: This is the last name and first name of the contact.
  • Contact ID: Unique database identifier for this Contact.
  • Record Facts: These little pills are under the display name and gives an overview of some major data points for the person.

Basics​

If you need a quick refresher on what buttons do on this page please toggle the dropdowns below:

Top Navigation Bar
Below the row of tabs is the top navigation bar found on all pages in Ministry Platform. Toggle the sections below for more details on how to use these:

Toolbar
Tool Bar
Edit
- Allows you to edit the fields on this record

Message
- Opens the new message tool.

Secure - Allows you to secure a record to a user or user group. Use with extreme caution. Attach

- Attaches files to the record. This is how you add an image to a record.

Notify
- Allows you to create or modify a notifciation email for the selected record.
Insight
- Allows you to choose if record insites are showing or not.

Cloud Tools
Tools
- The tools that are visible here are dependant on user rights and what page you are currently on.

Reports
Report
- The reports that are visible here are dependant on user rights and what page you are currently on.

Right Navigation Bar
To the right of page you will see the right navigation bar that is also found on all pages in Ministry Platform. Toggle the sections below for more details on how to use these:

Toolbar
Tasks
This section will show you any tasks assigned to the user that is associated with the contact record you are currently on.

Files
In this section you will see all of the pictures that have been attcehd to the person's contact record. The picture with the star next to it is the current profile picture. You will also go to this section if you need to edit or download a picture. This is done by clicking on the actual picture and the file editor will open up.
Membership also uses this section to attach files to a person's contact record.

Audit Log
This seciton shows all of the changes that have been made to a record and who made them. It can be searched by the date of the change or the field that was changed by choosing the correct toggle.
Some "users" to be aware of when you see changes are:
Blackpulp - It was done on the website
SQLNightly - A stored procedure made a change overnight
APIUser - A webtool made the change

Tabs​

Below the contact record you will see a row of tabs that displays other information that is connected to the contact:

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info

There are several records that are related to the Contact record. Depending on your User Rights, the following tabs may appear at the top of the Contact Record:

General​

Primary Family​

Relationships​

Relationships in MinistryPlatform are used to indicate connections people have between one another - from marital and parental to mentoring and any other connections you want to track. When a Relationship is created on one Contact record, the reciprocal relationship is automatically created on the related Contact record (if a reciprocal relationship exists).

Duplicate Contacts If you notice duplicate Contact records in Ministry Plaform, follow these steps.

  1. Open one of the Contact records.
  2. In the Relationships sub-page, click New and create a "Duplicate of" relationship record.
  3. An IT staff member regularly reviews and merges duplicates. Your duplicates will be merged within a couple of days.

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Note

If you have specific instructions about how the merge should happen, like which record to keep, put those in the note field. Please use contact IDs to help identify they correct contact record.

Attributes​

Message Log​

Contact Log​

Shepherd Notes​

Prayer & Feedback​

All Form Responses​

Subscriptions​

Invoices​

Payments​

Other Households​

Interviews​

Activity Log​

Fields​

General​

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  • Company: Specifies whether the selected Contact record a company
  • Company Name: If the Contact is a Company, the Company name
  • Display Name: Last Name, Nickname
  • Prefix: Title before the Contact's name (for example, Mr., Mrs., Dr.)
  • First Name: Contact's first name
  • Middle: Contact's middle name
  • Last Name: Contact's last name
  • Suffix: Provides additional information about the person (for example, Jr., Sr., PhD, JD, LMFT)
  • Nickname: The name the person goes by and is often used by various applications in lieu of the formal first name.
  • Date of Birth: Includes the calculated age listed in parentheses. A calculated age which is less than one year is represented in months. The system prevents a future date of birth from being inserted or updated.
  • Gender: Contact's gender
  • Marital Status: This value is visible to the User on the Portal My User Account page. It is not visible in MobileTools.
  • Contact Status: An automated field that is updated nightly based on an individual's participation.
    • Active: The individual has done something in the last 180 days (event, group, donation, etc.)
    • Inactive: There has been no activity in the last 180 days
  • Household: If this individual belongs to a Houshold, the Household record is linked here
  • Household Position: Identifies the Contact's position in the Household (head, minor child, etc)
  • Spouse Name: If there are two heads of household in the household and the marital status is marked as married the spouse will appear here.
  • Anniversary Date: Wedding anniversary
  • Date of Death: Contact's date of death. When entered, this value prevents the Contacts from aging.
  • Participant Record: If the user has a Participant record, the Participant record is linked here.
  • Donor Record: If the user has a Donor record, their donor record is linked here.

Contact Methods​

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  • Email Address: The singular email address for this Contact (this field does not support multiple addresses)
Important

All church staff should have their staff email address in this field (not their personal email address). The main reason for this is that the To/From email address used for emails from the Platform is based on the email address in this field.

  • Mobile Phone: Contact's mobile phone
  • Company Phone: Contact's business phone

Professional Information​

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  • HS Graduation Year: This field is not calculated or pulled from anywhere. It must be manually updated.
  • Current School: This field is populated based on form responses. Any form field label containing "school" but not "future" will populate this field.
  • Future School: This field is populated based on form responses. Any form field label containing "school" and "future" will populate this field.

Communication Preferences​

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  • Bulk E-mail Opt-Out: Set this value to Yes when someone requests that their email be omitted from general mailings.
  • Email Unlisted: Set this value to Yes when someone requests that their email not be displayed in the online church directory or My Groups.
  • Do Not Text: Set this value to Yes when someone requests that their phone be omitted from general text messages.
  • Mobile Phone Unlisted: Set this value to Yes when someone requests that their mobile phone not be displayed in the online church directory or My Groups.
  • Remove From Directory: If Yes, this Contact record is not displayed in the online directory.

Other Information​

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  • User Account: If the Contact has a user account (used to log in to MinistryPlatform, Perimeter.org, and the Shepherding App), it will be linked here.
  • ID Card: Holds The value for churches that use a card with a barcode or scanner symbol.
  • Contact GUID: This is pre-assigned by MinistryPlatform.
  • Last Web Update: The date that the contact last updated their information through the annual memeber update or by update profile on Perimeter.org.
  • Ethnicity: This is popluated using automation from contact attributes. member updates are teh most common way to colect this information.
  • Perimeter School ID: This is the FACTS ID from Perimeter School used to help connect informtion in the two systems.
  • Shepherdess: Used by the Shepherding Department to assign shepherdesses to specific contacts.
  • Contact Setup Date: The date this Contact record was created to assist in determining how long a Contact has been a part of the system and is useful in views, view notifications, or custom routines.