Multi-site functionality

For customers that operate across multiple sites, campuses or geographic locations, ChurchSuite supports multi-site functionality, enabling you to assign people and other details to their appropriate sites.

The process of adding sites is followed by assigning site permissions for module users - users can only access data for permitted sites. Each ChurchSuite account begins with a single site. This article explains how to add additional sites and then goes on to show how multi-site functionality works across the different parts of ChurchSuite and My ChurchSuite.

To add a new site, navigate to the Sites section in your Account Settings. Click Add site.

On the Add site pop-up, enter the site Name, optional site Initials (a short abbreviation), the Address and Postcode (required for Location reports) and select a site Colour to distinguish your sites in location reports. Click Save.

Note how the list of sites can be re-ordered if you wish - perhaps alphabetically or to place a primary site first in the list - click on any of the order controls in the list to open a Reorder pop-up. You can return to the list of Sites at any time in the future to make changes to a site - select Edit from the Action menu on the right-hand side of a site in the list. Notice also the option to Edit location, which can be used to precisely set the map pin location for the site - the site location is used for ChurchSuite's Location reports.

Assigning user site permissions

Navigate to the Users section in your Account Settings.

For each User in turn select Edit from the user Actions.

On the Edit User pop-up, select the user's permitted Sites - either a single site, any combination of multiple sites or all sites. All Sites means all current sites and any future sites you may add. Save any changes and repeat this for other users.

Top Tip! Permitted and non-permitted sites

When working with people in your ChurchSuite modules, a User can only assign people to a permitted site, meaning that only a user with All Sites permissions can assign an Address Book contact to All Sites; while a user with 'Site A only' permissions can only assign contacts to Site A. In this regard, the User's permitted sites determine what they can do. However, when editing a person whose sites include non-permitted sites, non-permitted site assignments will persist when the record is saved.

Example 1: A user has Site A permissions only. Working in the Address Book, they can edit a Site A contact who also belongs to Site B and C. When they save the changes, the contact will still belong to Site B and C, even though the user doesn't have those site permissions.

Example 2: If that same user edits the contact and selects to un-assign the contact from Site B and C, they will not be able to re-assign them later as only their permitted site will now be listed. Only a Site B and C user can assign Site B & C back to that contact's profile.

Example 3: If that same user edits the contact and selects to un-assign the contact from Site A (the user's only permitted site) but leaves Sites B & C assigned, the contact's details will be saved, but the user will no longer be able to access the contact's profile - the contact now belongs to non-permitted sites for that user.

Users with access to multiple or All Sites can switch between permitted sites using the Sites selector; choosing between a specific site or viewing as All Sites (if they have permissions for all sites) or My Sites (if they have permissions for multiple sites but not all sites).

Top Tip! Multi-site principles

It will be helpful to remember that in a multi-site context, a user's experience throughout ChurchSuite is determined by two factors: their permitted sites and the sites they are currently viewing. Consider these two scenarios:

Scenario 1
Imagine Address Book contacts assigned to a 'Members' tag. When a user is viewing the tag as All Sites they'll see all tagged members listed from across the entire Address Book. When viewing as My Sites, the user will only see a list of tagged members across all their permitted sites, and when viewing as a single Site they'll only see tagged members belonging to the specific site being viewed. The user is unable to see tagged members for non-permitted sites.

Scenario 2
Ministries in the Rotas module are always site-specific, but the ministry may (and can) include members from different sites to the ministry. A user's module and site permissions allow them to view the ministry (because the ministry belongs to one of their permitted sites). In this context, the user will always see the full ministry member list, including ministry member names belonging to non-permitted sites - we never show a user a partial or incomplete list in this context.

However, if the user has Address Book module permission, they are prevented from clicking through from the ministry member list to the Address Book profile page of a person belonging to a non-permitted site - an error is displayed explaining why they can't access that person's profile. This means users can fully manage their permitted ministries, rotas, gatherings and groups without constraint; but they only have access to the underlying people's profiles in the Address Book or Children module for those in their permitted sites.

Assigning details to sites

In this section, we'll explore multi-site functionality across your ChurchSuite modules and how data is shown to a user for the permitted sites they have selected to view.

Address Book & Children module - contact details

In the Address Book and Children modules, Sites is a required field for all contacts, children and visitors. When adding a new person you'll select their appropriate Sites. In the following example, the User adding the new contact is an All Sites user, so they can assign the new contact to one, multiple or All Sites. However, a Nottingham-only user would only have the option to assign new contacts to the Nottingham site.

When editing an existing person, perhaps to make changes to some of their details, a User can un-assign any of the existing Sites but they can only assign new sites based on their permitted Sites. A user with restricted site access can always save changes without the person being edited losing previously assigned sites e.g. a user with Nottingham-only permissions can save changes made to a Nottingham and Derby site contact without that contact losing their pre-existing Derby site assignment.

Features including Flows, Tags and Key Dates are not site-specific - they exist across all of your sites. However, the people a User sees listed in Flows, Tags and Key Dates are limited to the permitted site they are viewing. For example, when viewing a Leaders Tag as All Sites, a User sees all leaders across all sites but viewing the same Tag as "Site A only", they only see Site A leaders listed. This is the same for Flows and Key Dates.

To prevent recursion, Smart Tags that include Site conditions can only be viewed as All Sites or My Sites; the matching contacts or children for the Tag will only show in this context. For example, this tag matches Address Book contacts that are 'Nottingham parents' - the Tag is only shown in the Tags section and matching results can only be seen when viewing as All Sites or My Sites.

Finally, in the Address Book and Children module, you can add custom Forms. A Form is either site-specific or All Sites. A User viewing a Form Responses list for a permitted site will always see the full list of responses, regardless of the site being viewed; however, they can only click through to the underlying profile in the Address Book or Children module for respondents belonging to a permitted site.

Giving module

In the Giving module, giver profiles have a giver Site. For givers linked to their underlying Address Book profile, the giver's site will typically be the same as the linked contact's site, although this can be optionally overridden in the giver's profile. A giver can only be assigned to a single site - this is to enable site-specific Gift Aid Claims to be produced (UK customers only). While a giver's linked contact may belong to multiple sites you'll need to select just one site for their linked giver profile.

When making online donations through Donate, a new giver profile is always first added to the first site listed in the Sites section of your Account settings. You can edit the new giver's profile to assign them to a different site if you wish. It's not possible to specify a different default site to the first site and neither is it possible for a giver to choose a site in Donate.

Rotas module

Ministries are always site-specific. You will add separate ministries for each site where you produce rotas. Rotas derive their site from the ministry site. A User with permitted site access for a ministry can always view the full ministry member list, even if the member list includes people belonging to non-permitted sites. The User can only navigate through to a person's profile in the Address Book or Children module if they belong to a permitted site.

While a User working within the Rotas module can add new ministry and rota members from any permitted site, designated ministry overseers creating and managing rotas within My ChurchSuite can only add new ministry and rota members from the ministry's site (regardless of the sites that the overseer may belong to). However, a Rotas module option is available to determine whether ministry overseers can add members from Just the ministry's site (the default) or All Sites.

Small Groups module

Small groups can be site-specific or All Sites. A User with permitted site access for a group can always view the full group member list, even if the member list includes people belonging to non-permitted sites. The User can only navigate through to a person's profile in the Address Book or Children module if they belong to a permitted site.

While a User working within the Small Groups module can add new group members from any permitted site, group members with the appropriate role permissions (typically leaders) can only add new group members from the group's site (regardless of the sites the leader may belong to). However, a Small Groups module option is available to determine whether group leaders can add members from Just the group's site (the default) or All Sites. Similarly, you can restrict group sign-up through My ChurchSuite to just the groups for the member's sites (the default) or all sites.

Finally, designated cluster overseers can always see groups, member lists and attendance for all the groups in their cluster (regardless of the sites the cluster overseer may belong to and irrespective of group sites).

Children module

Within the Children module, children and youth Gatherings (and the Groups therein) are site-specific. You will add separate Gatherings for each site where a children or youth ministry operates. When viewing a group for a permitted site, Users will see the full group member list and group attendance data, even if some of the children, visitors or team belong to non-permitted sites. The user can only click through to view the full child, visitor or team member profiles for those who belong to permitted sites. When viewing a child profile for a permitted site, a User will see the child's full attendance for all Gatherings, including Gatherings for non-permitted sites. A User can only add children to groups in a Gathering for a permitted site.

Calendar module

In the Calendar module, events can be site-specific, multiple sites or All Sites. When viewing an event belonging to a permitted, a User will always see a full list of Sign Ups, Invitees and Check-Ins even if some of the people belong to non-permitted sites. The user can only click through to view a person's profile for those who belong to permitted sites. A User can only add sign-ups to events for people from a permitted site.

Attendance module

Attendance module categories (and the groups therein) are always site-specific. You will add separate categories for each site you wish to collect attendance for.

When adding attendance data, you will first select the Site for the data being added, adding separate attendance for other sites for just the categories and groups in that site.

Bookings module

Resources are either site-specific (e.g. rooms) or shared across All Sites. For example, a clergy member responsible for funerals could be added as an All Sites resource so that they can be assigned to funeral bookings for any site.

Bookings are always site-specific. The booking site determines the resources and customers that can be assigned to the booking - only resources and customers from the same site as the booking (or All Sites) can be assigned to a booking.

Planning module

Plans can be site-specific or All Sites.

If a Plan is linked to a Service, Event or Booking, the Plan follows the same site setting of the linked item, as follows:

When linking a Plan to a Service, the Plan site will default to All Sites but you can choose a specific site. In that scenario, the criteria for plan people linking will match those on rotas belonging to the same site as the Plan.
When linking a Plan to an Event, the Plan site will default to All Sites but you can choose a specific site.
When linking a Plan to a Booking, the Plan site will be set to the booking site.
When adding an unlinked Plan not linked to any service, event or booking, you can set the Plan site to be site-specific or All Sites.

Network module

Within the Network module, Organisations can be site-specific or All Sites.

Importing data into a multi-site account

We've produced comprehensive support articles that explain how to prepare your existing data for import into ChurchSuite - see the related article links at the end of this article.

To ensure imported people are assigned to the correct sites, Sites should be specified as a column in your CSV file. The Site value for each person can be a single site, multiple sites (semi-colon separated) or left blank for All Sites. The site-naming convention in the CSV file must precisely match the site-naming convention you have used in ChurchSuite.

Remember, a user can only add or import data to a permitted site. The import workflow is best completed by an All Sites User viewing as All Sites. Use the Site selector to change sites before importing any site-specific data.

The site avatar sports the initials and chosen colour for the site being viewed.

Multi-site location reporting

When viewing any of ChurchSuite's location reports as All Sites and My Sites, each site location with a valid address is shown plotted in the designated site colour. Contacts assigned to a single site are plotted with map pins representing their site colour for the site being viewed. Multi-site contacts are plotted with grey map pin markers. We've produced a separate support article about Fixing inaccurate map pin positions.

The Location report includes helpful insights into the Distance from the site address of each Address Book contact. When viewing as All Sites, the map plots all contacts with valid addresses and calculates each person's distance from the organisation address (stored in your Administrator Profile as your Billing Address). However, when viewing a selected site, the map plots all contacts belonging to that site and calculates their distance from the Site address. Where no site address is specified, the distance falls back to the organisation's address. The Distance results are calculated using the longitude/latitude values of each contact's address and the longitude/latitude of the map pin position of the site or organisation address.

Multi-site and My ChurchSuite

Your member-facing My ChurchSuite also supports multi-site functionality. Depending on the modules you subscribe to, those with My ChurchSuite access:

can self-manage most elements of their personal details but they cannot change their assigned site - a change of site can only be processed by a module user in the respective Address Book or Children modules
designated parents/carers can view and manage moist elements of their linked children, regardless of the site/s their children belong to. New children added through My ChurchSuite are added to the same site/s as the parent/carer who adds them
can see events for the site they belong to and any all-site events
can view small groups they belong to; and for those using small group sign-up through My ChurchSuite, a module setting controls whether people only see groups from their own site or all sites
can view rotas and their next serving dates for all rotas regardless of the ministry site; but they can only view the All Rotas page for the site they belong to
can see site-specific Links where link visibility has been restricted to a smart tag that includes a Site condition

An optional feature in My ChurchSuite is the Search for Others contact directory, enabling members to stay in touch with one another while always respecting people's privacy settings in the search results. When enabled, and by default, the search functions across the member site only - for example, a Nottingham member can only search across the Nottingham site for other members. To enable a broader search, a My ChurchSuite Option is provided to Allow people to search across All Sites.

When searching for members across All Sites, the site is shown in the contact pop-up. The other personal data shown in the pop-up is determined by the member's privacy settings and visibility settings for custom fields.

Deleting sites

Please read this section carefully BEFORE deleting a site. Deleting a site is irreversible.

Sites are managed in the Sites section of your Account Settings. To delete a site, choose Delete from the site Actions. Note that the first/original site cannot be deleted and must always exist - no Delete action is available for the original site.

When deleting a site, it's helpful to understand what happens to module data for the site being deleted. Since site deletion is immediate and irreversible, you are required to choose a New Site for existing site data to be assigned to.

If you do not want site data to be re-assigned - perhaps because you no longer wish to retain some or all of the data for a site - it should be deleted in each module before deleting the site as it will be more difficult to identify the deleted site's original data once it has been assigned to another site.

What happens to the data in each module when a site is deleted?

Address Book - Contacts (active, archived and pending) are re-assigned to the New Site. No contacts or their associated data are deleted. Contacts continue to be linked to their spouse/partner and children.

Children - Children (active, archived and pending) and Visitors are re-assigned to the New Site. No children or visitors or their associated data are deleted. Gatherings and their associated groups and historic session attendance are re-assigned to the New Site. Children continue to be linked to their parents/carers.

Attendance - all site-specific attendance categories, and the associated historic attendance data in those categories, will be re-assigned to the New Site.

Calendar - all site-specific events (past and future) will be re-assigned to the New Site. User Leave setups and requests are unaffected by a site deletion. Bookings and Plans remain linked to the events.

Small Groups - all site-specific groups (past, active and future) will be re-assigned to the New Site. All historic group attendance is retained.

Rotas - all ministries (active and archived) and their related rotas will be re-assigned to the New Site.

Giving - givers (active and archived) and all their associated donations, pledges and declarations will be re-assigned to the New Site.

Giving (the UK only) - the integrity of previously-submitted Gift Aid claims is preserved unaffected by a site deletion. Each claim's list of givers and donations remains intact and the claim remains accessible to view but can no longer be edited.

Each site has a Small Donations Scheme (SDS) giver profile, a "system" giver profile that gets added when a new site is added. When a site is deleted, if there are no historic donations linked to the SDS giver, it is deleted. If there are linked donations, the SDS giver profile is preserved, re-assigned to the New Site and renamed e.g. Small Donations [site name] (Deleted]).

Bookings - bookings (past and future, active, pending and cancelled) are all re-assigned to the New Site. Site-specific resources are also re-assigned to the New Site.

Planning - unlinked plans (past and future, draft and published) are all re-assigned to the New Site. Plans that are linked to events, bookings or services continue to be linked and will inherit the New Site for those events, bookings and rotas as explained above.

Networks - Organisations (active and archived) are re-assigned to the New Site. No organisations or their associated data are deleted. Organisation contacts continue to be linked to the moved organisation.

Administrator - site permissions for the site being deleted are removed from each user account. A User account with site permissions for only the site being deleted will be preserved but they will be unable to log in. They can be manually assigned new site permissions or you can archive or delete their user account if it is no longer required. Be aware that deleting a User has significant consequences and will delete the user's related leave setup and historic leave requests. Additionally, any tags, notes, key dates or flows that they have set visible to "Just me" will no longer be accessible.

Other considerations

Smart Tags with a deleted "Site" condition will break and need to be manually updated. Bear in mind that those smart tags may be being used for event and external link visibility restrictions in My ChurchSuite, and tag-syncing may be being used in a MailChimp integration.
When contacts, children and givers are re-assigned to a New Site, their addition to the New Site will affect future site-specific reporting and Smart Tags in the New Site. One consequence might be that new subscribers are added to your Mailchimp audience via the sync tags that now include re-sited people.
Synced contacts in your Planning Center integration will continue to be synced.
Address Book and Children module statistics (seen in the Statistics report in each respective module) are retained for the deleted sites.
Any embedded ChurchSuite forms or pages on your website with site-specific customisation - including the embeddable Address Book 'My Details' form, embedded Small Group lists and maps, embedded Calendars and event feeds - will break and new HTML code will need to be generated and re-embedded in your website.
My ChurchSuite access for re-assigned members is unaffected by a site deletion, but the members they can search for in "Search for Others" will change to reflect their new site assignment.
Use of site-specific JSON feeds or API applications may also break and need to be updated.
You should review and update your Data Protection Statement (Privacy Notice) to reflect any change of use of personal information resulting from their details being re-assigned to a New Site. Remember, their data will be merged into a New Site with the potential for their information to now be accessible by different users in ChurchSuite or visible to different members in My ChurchSuite. In most regions, this change of processing will likely require data subject consent. You should seek guidance from your designated Data Protection Officer when considering a site deletion and how the re-assignment of module data to a New Site will affect your organisation.

Multi-site functionality