Managing event sign-up cancellations

Overview of the intended functionality

It's sometimes the case that those who have signed up for an event can no longer attend. In these situations, it's easy for a cancellation to be processed - either by a Calendar module User or by the sign-up themselves.

When 'sign-up cancellation' is enabled for an event, those signed up can self-cancel from within the member-facing My ChurchSuite or using the Cancel option found in their sign-up confirmation email. Processing a cancellation will send a cancellation confirmation email to the signup and an optional 'cancellation notification' to designated event overseers.

Where 'Pay' tickets are involved, a Calendar module User with at least 'Manage' permissions can then easily process full or partial ticket refunds (for active or cancelled sign-ups) following your organisation's refund policy - we've produced a separate support article about processing refunds.

When using Event Check-In, only active sign-ups are surfaced in the check-in list. Those who have cancelled are not listed.

Allowing sign-ups to self-cancel

For people to self-cancel - either from the event page in My ChurchSuite or via a link embedded in their sign-up confirmation email - Allow sign-ups to cancel must be enabled in the event's settings. In this way, you can allow sign-ups to self-cancel for some events but not others. Where self-cancellation is disabled, a Calendar module User can still process cancellations in ChurchSuite.

Working within the Calendar module on an event's 'View' page, select Edit [event] and tick to Allow sign-ups to cancel, located in the event's Sign Up settings. This option will only be available if event Sign Up is enabled. Show in My ChurchSuite must also be enabled if you wish contacts/members to be able to self-cancel from within My ChurchSuite.

Cancellation notifications for overseers

Designated event overseers can optionally receive cancellation notifications (and sign-up notifications).

Managing sign-up cancellations in ChurchSuite

Working within the Calendar module, navigate to the event "View" page. Click on the Sign-Ups tab. Active sign-ups are listed by default but note the option to switch to view Cancelled or Reserved sign-ups. A sign-up reservation is created when a prospective sign-up starts completing the signup form for the event - they have 30 minutes to submit the form; otherwise, their sign-up will fail and the reservation is released. Successful submission of the sign-up form will change the sign-up reservation status to an Active sign-up.

To cancel a sign-up, select Cancel from the sign-up Actions.

On the Cancel pop-up, optionally provide a cancellation Reason. Where multiple people signed up at the same time (using the Add additional signup option on the event page), their names are also listed, and you can optionally cancel their sign-ups in the same process. Click Save to complete the process.

A cancellation confirmation is sent to each selected sign-up who has an email address specified and a cancellation notification is sent to designated event overseers. Note that cancellation confirmations are not shown in the event Communication log but are logged against the signup's Address Book or Children module profile communication log.

Switching to view Cancelled sign-ups, notice the Actions to View the original sign-up details, Set as Active again, Edit the signup's details and View changes. The Delete action will not be available for sign-ups with 'Pay' tickets but, where tickets have been paid online, a Refund action is provided - see our related support article for further information about Refunding event tickets.

Finally, note the batch Actions available to Delete or Cancel multiple selected sign-ups - tick one or more sign-ups to surface the Actions.

Selecting the batch Cancel action, optionally specify a Reason which will be applied to all selected sign-ups being cancelled.

Sign-up self-cancellation

Those signing up for an event can View, Cancel or Check-In using the button in their sign-up confirmation email.

For events set to Show in My ChurchSuite, the same option is available in the My Events section of My ChurchSuite when viewing the event they have signed up for.

Clicking View, Cancel or Check-In opens the event page and signup's details, plus an expandable section for other Sign-ups in the same batch if applicable.

Expanding a section shows full sign-up details - their sign-up contact details, any question responses, ticket and payment details and a QR code that can be presented at Event Check-In if QR code scanning is used - see our related support article for further information about Event Check-In. Clicking the Request Cancellation button (only shown if Allow sign-ups to cancel is currently enabled in the event settings) reveals the option to Select the sign-ups you wish to cancel and optionally provide a Cancellation reason. From here the user can click Back - to close that section on the page - or click Cancel sign-up(s) to process the cancellation.

Each sign-up with a valid email address will receive a sign-up cancellation confirmation and designated event overseers will receive cancellation notifications. A cancelled sign-up can't be reactivated - this can only be done by a Calendar module user. However, a cancelled sign-up may still be able to sign up for the event again if spaces are remaining. Cancellation requests processed in this way do not auto-refund previously paid tickets; however, a refund can be processed by a Calendar module user, subject to your internal refunds policy.