Managing privacy settings

My ChurchSuite is a great way for members to stay connected with their church/organisation, and also with one another. Whether it's to organise a rota swap or contact a fellow small group member, My ChurchSuite privacy settings make it easy for each member contact or child to control which elements of their basic personal contact details are visible to others in My ChurchSuite.

There are three areas within My ChurchSuite where members may be able to see another member's contact details (name, address, contact phone numbers, and email only): My Groups, My Rotas, and Search for Others.

For those serving on rotas and those belonging to small groups, being able to contact one another is helpful. There's also an optional searchable contact directory called Search for Others. When enabling the Search feature, you can specify Tag restrictions to determine who can access the search and who will be included in search results. In this way, you can restrict access to Search for Others to certain groupings of members (rather than being available to all members), and you can restrict which groupings of members people can search for (subject to each person's privacy settings). For example, those in a 'newcomer' Tag could be excluded from using the search and showing in search results. Those in your Children module are never included in search results.

Whether these three My ChurchSuite sections are available will depend on the ChurchSuite modules you subscribe to and whether My ChurchSuite access has been enabled in the respective module options. If any of these three areas are not enabled, they will not show in the navigation menu in My ChurchSuite.

Privacy and group emails: A rota group email or small group email sent with Send replies just to me will always disclose the sender's email address in the "reply-to" field of the message so that replies are routed back to just the sender, rather than to the group's email address. This will happen even if the sender's privacy settings have their email set as not visible - it's not possible to send an anonymous email requesting replies to "just me" - the sender's email address has to be disclosed, or the recipient's email provider will bounce the message undeliverable. However, a rota group email or small group email sent with Send replies to me and all other group members will disclose the group's private email address only in the reply-to field of the email - replies are routed back to all rota/group members by ChurchSuite without disclosing the rota/group member email addresses.

Privacy settings & My Groups

The My Groups section shows a list of all the small groups that a member belongs to and a list of groups available for sign-up (if enabled). For each group, members with an active status can view a Members list and, subject to each group member's privacy settings, will see each group member's name listed, including their email address, mobile and telephone number. Group members with a Pending status cannot view the Members list until they are set active in the group. Group members whose privacy settings have their Name set not visible are shown as Hidden.

Clicking Edit my visibility (shown above), a member can further control their privacy settings for the group by choosing whether to use their default privacy settings, or whether to override those settings to provide more granular visibility of certain details for just that group. For example, a group member might make their mobile visible to other members of one group they belong to, but for it not to be visible to members of another group they belong to.

Small Groups module users can also manage the granular privacy settings on behalf of group members on a group-by-group basis in ChurchSuite. This is ideal if you have members who cannot access My ChurchSuite to manage their privacy settings. See later in this article for details of how this is done.

Privacy settings & My Rotas

The My Rotas section shows a list of 'next serving' rota dates and a list of rotas that a member belongs to or oversees. This section is only visible to rota and ministry members; those not on rotas or who do not belong to any ministry will not see this section in My ChurchSuite.

When viewing a rota, rota members can view a Teams list and, subject to each rota member's privacy settings, will see each rota team member's name listed, including their email address, mobile and telephone number. Rota members whose privacy settings have their Name set not visible are shown as Hidden.

Clicking Edit my visibility (shown above), a ministry member can further control their privacy settings for the ministry's rotas by choosing whether to use their default privacy settings or whether to override those settings to provide more granular visibility of certain details for just the rotas belonging to that ministry. For example, a ministry member might make their mobile visible to other members of one ministry they belong to, but for it not to be visible to members of another ministry they belong to.

Rotas module users can also manage the granular privacy settings on behalf of ministry members on a ministry-by-ministry basis in ChurchSuite. This is ideal if you have ministry members who cannot access My ChurchSuite to manage their privacy settings. See later in this article for details of how this is done.

Note: Only ministry members can edit their ministry visibility. Ad hoc rotas members who are not members of the rota's underlying ministry cannot manage ministry visibility - default privacy settings will always apply.

Privacy settings & Search for Others

The Search for Others section, if enabled, allows members to look up the contact details of other members - either by scrolling through a paginated list of members or by typing a contact name into the Search bar. Subject to each person's privacy settings, their basic contact details - name, email, mobile number, and telephone number can be visible in the search results. Those in your Children module are never shown in Search for Others.

Clicking on a contact from the list opens a pop-up, which, subject to that person's privacy settings, shows their name, email address, mobile and telephone number, address, site, and any custom fields set visible in My ChurchSuite.

Managing privacy settings in My ChurchSuite

Contacts and children with My ChurchSuite access can self-manage their Privacy settings in My ChurchSuite, enabling them to choose which elements of their contact details - name, email, address, mobile, landline telephone - are visible to others with My ChurchSuite access. Primary parents/carers with My ChurchSuite access can also view and manage information for each of their own linked children through My ChurchSuite.

From the My Details section, members can view their current privacy settings and see which elements of their basic contact details are currently visible to other members with My ChurchSuite access.

Clicking Edit opens a pop-up showing your organisation's privacy message and a series of checkboxes that control which elements of their details are visible (checked) or not visible (unchecked). Just to remind you, while everyone can view their own details in My ChurchSuite, others with My ChurchSuite access can only view their name, address, telephone number, mobile number and email address if the settings are checked.

Note: It's not possible for address, telephone, mobile or email to be set visible without their name being set visible first. Once their name is set visible, it's not possible to subsequently hide their name - doing so would impact their visibility on rotas and groups in My ChurchSuite. Once visible, but where there is a compelling reason for someone to be 'hidden' again, their name visibility privacy setting can only be disabled by an Address Book module user. However, primary parents/carers can set a linked child's name as 'not visible in My ChurchSuite'.

Managing privacy settings in ChurchSuite

Administrators and users with at least Write permissions for the Address Book and Children modules can change a contact or child's Privacy settings on their behalf - for example, when acting on the verbal instructions of someone who may not have My ChurchSuite access. You might add a note against the person's profile to record verbal instructions.

To change a person's Privacy settings, navigate to their profile page within the Address Book or Children module and click Edit at the top of their profile...

On the Edit pop-up, locate the section titled Login & Privacy and make the changes as appropriate. Click Save.

Note that you can make bulk changes to multiple people's privacy settings using the batch Edit action in the Contacts and Children section of the respective Address Book and Children modules. You may find it helpful to use the custom column selector to show Login & Privacy settings in the list or the Advanced search to filter the list:

Batch actions can be used to make changes to multiple selected people - use the batch Edit action to make changes to privacy settings:

Note that the Contacts and Children sections are paginated and that batch actions only apply to the current page. Use the pagination controls to increase pagination and reduce the number of pages to process:

On the batch Edit pop-up, locate the Login & Privacy settings, tick the settings you wish to bulk-change and select the option value to be applied to each setting. Click Save to process the changes for the selected people on the page.

Similarly, Small Groups module users with at least Write permissions can manage the privacy settings of group members on a granular group-by-group basis. From a group Members list, select Edit for a member to open a pop-up through which you can override the person's default privacy settings. These privacy settings only apply to this group, meaning that the visibility of a member's details to other group members in My ChurchSuite can be different from group to group. Group members can also self-manage their small group privacy settings on a group-by-group basis from within My ChurchSuite; changes made here by a User are typically only made with the member's consent, perhaps if they don't have My ChurchSuite access.

Similarly, Rotas module users with at least Write permissions can manage the privacy settings of ministry members on a granular ministry-by-ministry basis. From a group Members list, select Edit for a member to open a pop-up through which you can override the person's default privacy settings. These privacy settings only apply to this ministry, meaning that the visibility of a member's details to other ministry members in My ChurchSuite can be different from rota to rota. Ministry members can also self-manage their ministry privacy settings on a rota-by-rota basis from within My ChurchSuite; changes made here by a User are typically only made with the member's consent, perhaps if they don't have My ChurchSuite access.

Customising the privacy settings message

In each place where people can manage their privacy settings, a customisable privacy settings Message can be shown. Head into the Profile section of your Account Settings and click on the My ChurchSuite Options tab:

Scroll down the settings to the Privacy section. Here, you can add or edit the Message that appears when privacy settings are surfaced. The same message applies to contacts and children, so you should use appropriate and easy-to-understand language and terminology. Click Edit to make changes.

Similarly, in the Small Groups module My ChurchSuite Options, you can add or edit the Message that appears when privacy settings surface in the My Groups section when group members click to Edit my visibility for a group. The same Privacy message applies to contacts and children, so you should use appropriate and easy-to-understand language and terminology.

Scroll down the My ChurchSuite Options to the Privacy section and click Edit to make changes.

Finally, in the Rotas module My ChurchSuite Options, you can add or edit the Message that appears when privacy settings surface in the My Rotas section when ministry members click to Edit my visibility for a rota. The same Privacy message applies to contacts and children, so you should use appropriate and easy-to-understand language and terminology.

Scroll down the My ChurchSuite Options to the Privacy section and click Edit to make changes.

Managing the default privacy settings of new people added to ChurchSuite

You can set default privacy settings that are assigned to new contacts and children added or imported to the respective Address Book and Children modules. Later, as seen earlier in this article, you can override those default privacy options on a person-by-person basis and even make bulk changes to multiple people. Similarly, contacts and children with My ChurchSuite access can self-manage their privacy settings through My ChurchSuite.

Review your current defaults by heading into the Address Book (contacts) and Children (children) Module options, respectively:

Scroll down the Module Options to the Login & Privacy section and click Edit to make changes. Changes will apply to new people added or imported to the module and will not affect existing people in the module. Data Protection best practice is most likely achieved by making all default privacy settings 'not visible' so that each data subject member can freely choose which of their details to make visible to others in My ChurchSuite.