Getting started with the Planning module

Introduction to the Planning module

Welcome to the Planning module. This module enables you to produce plans that show the running order for a service, event, or booking, including what's happening, when, and who's doing it.

We encourage you to read this article in full to familiarise yourself with the module's key features and customisation options, as well as some of the basic concepts and terminology you'll encounter in it, and in our related support articles and training videos.

Planning module features at a glance

Create plans and optionally link them to services (Rotas module), events (Calendar module) and bookings (Bookings module)
Build a library of songs and other commonly used items and track their usage on plans over time
Drag and drop user experience to change the running order
Store multiple song arrangements with transposable chord charts, lyric charts, Spotify and video links
Create templates for plans that you frequently produce time and again - save a great plan as a template, or create great plans from a great template!
Musicians can view song files and transpose chord charts for a plan in a single view on their music stand
Upload files to a plan - ideal for sharing the sermon slides and announcement graphics with the production team
Assign people to plan items ad hoc, or use criteria to link to your rotas - as rotas change, your plans remain up to date
Publish and share plan pages with ease
CCLI tracking and reporting
Download and share plans to MediaShout
Stay on time by seeing progress when the plan is running in real-time

Next Steps

Review the module's settings: Accessed via the cogwheel icon in the top right-hand corner of the module; there, you can customise different elements of the module's features and functionality.

Add library items and songs: Add the library items that you'll use regularly and categorise them by type - check out this Support Article for more information. The song library allows you to store multiple arrangements and chord charts for a song - This Support Article shows you how

Add a plan: Check out this Support Article for more information. You can save a great plan as a template.

Publish and share your plan: Use the communication actions on the plan view to share your plan with the people on your plan

Check out some of our short training videos...

Terminology

Here's a list of key terms you'll encounter in the Bookings module and the related support articles and training videos for this module:

Items are things that happen in a service. You can add items to your Library or add them ad-hoc to a Plan. You're optionally able to link files to Library/Plan items.
People can be linked to plan items. You can link any person ad hoc or connect items to rotas. When communicating and sharing plans, the recipient list is derived from the people linked to plan items.
Templates can be added for plans that are used time and again. A template will likely contain the broader, common elements of a plan - the things that don't typically change.

Got a question?

You’ll find the answers to most questions in our support articles - they're all available through the Support menu located in the top-right corner of each page in ChurchSuite. Select Get help and search by topic, phrase or keyword. You can also access the Support Article library on our website. And if you still can't find something you're looking for, click to contact one of the ChurchSuite team - we’re happy to help!