Managing small group attendance
In this article
Introduction
Automated attendance reminders
Adding attendance through ChurchSuite
Adding attendance through My ChurchSuite
Attendance reporting
Introduction
The Small Groups module includes functionality to record and track group attendance or that a group didn't meet. Module users can add attendance data through ChurchSuite. Alternatively, group members with an "Attendance Submission" role can add attendance for their group through My ChurchSuite, reducing the administrative burden on the office - you can even enable automated attendance submission reminders!
Attendance recording and group members with a pending status
It's not possible to record attendance for group members with a Pending group member status - they must first be approved (Set as active) - either by a Small Groups module User or by a group member with Edit Group Details role permissions (such as a leader).
Automated attendance reminders
Good leaders are often busy and may appreciate a timely reminder to add group attendance or record their group didn't meet before it slips their minds. Reminders are optional and are enabled and customisable on a group-by-group basis. They can be sent weekly or monthly at a designated time, which could be before or after the group meets.
To enable attendance reminders for a group, head to the relevant group and click Edit:
Tick to enable Attendance Reminders, set the reminder frequency (Weekly or Monthly) and set the reminder Day and Time - these default to the group meeting day and time but can be changed. For monthly reminders, choose the weeks of the month to send them. Click Save to save your automation choices.
Next, optionally customise the reminder email - click the pencil icon to Edit:
The sender details and message body are fully customisable. The embedded Add attendance button becomes a clickable link that takes recipients to their group page in My ChurchSuite, where attendance can be added. Click Save.
Finally, on the group's Members tab, ensure that at least one person is assigned a role that includes Attendance Submission permissions - only those with an "Attendance Submission" role permission and a valid email address are sent reminders. Typically, this might be a "Leader" role but attendance submission can be enabled for any role or a specific "Attendance Submission" role can be created. Please take a look at our related support article, Assigning small group roles, for more information on creating roles, setting role options and assigning roles to members.
Returning to the Groups section of the module, an automation icon distinguishes groups with attendance reminders enabled:
Why wasn't an attendance reminder sent?
Automated attendance reminders are sent for the group if:
- The "Attendance Submission" option is enabled for a role and that role has been assigned to at least one Active group member who has a valid email address (they don't need to be opted into receiving email)
- The group is Active. Automation begins when a group is Active and remains inactive for a group with a start date in the Future. Reminders are disabled when a group end date is in the Past.
Adding attendance through ChurchSuite
In the Small Groups module, navigate to the Attendance section and click Add attendance.
On the Add attendance pop-up, search and select a Group and the attendance Date. While you can edit previously added attendance, you can only add attendance for a date that hasn't already been added. Note the option to record that the group Didn't Meet? on the selected date. Finally, tick the Attendees. As you tick or untick names, the Number of Attendees auto-updates.
In the Notes field, optionally record details of any group visitors. To include those visitors in the group attendance count, you must manually adjust the Number of Attendees accordingly. Click Save when you are finished.
Should you need to make changes or view an attendance record, click the Attendees count or choose Edit from the attendance Actions:
Historic attendance records are maintained in the Attendance section. The Advanced Search can be used to locate historic attendance records of interest. Note also the attendance Actions to View, Edit or Delete an attendance record.
Top Tip!
You can also Add attendance from the Attendance tab of a group profile. Recent Attendance is shown and can be further filtered. Clicking on the Date heading opens an attendance record for viewing - ideal if you need to correct a mistake.
Adding attendance through My ChurchSuite
Group members assigned with the Attendance Submission role permission can add attendance for their group through My ChurchSuite without needing wider access to your admin-facing Small Groups module. Empowering your groups to maintain attendance helps reduce the administrative burden on the office, providing valuable statistical data about your small group ministry and historical safeguarding records of those in attendance.
Attendance submission through My ChurchSuite is first enabled for a role. Typically, attendance submission permission is granted for a "Leader" role but by adding a specific "Attendance Submitter" role, someone else in a group could be assigned responsibility for adding and managing attendance for their group. Working in ChurchSuite, navigate to the Roles section and click Add role (or Edit an existing role).
Give the role a suitable Name and tick the Attendance Submission option. For information on the other role permissions available and how to assign roles to group members, see the related support article: Assigning small group roles.
The My ChurchSuite User Guide explains how assigned role holders with Attendance Submission permission can now add attendance for their group.
Attendance reporting
Missing Attendance
Of course, attendance reports are only helpful if attendance data has been added! The Missing Attendance report will help you identify groups that haven't submitted attendance for a chosen amount of time.
Several other Attendance reports are available in the module's Reports section:
Attendance Averages report
This report displays the attendance averages of individual members of your small groups over a range of Dates. It can be filtered to show just those in groups in selected Clusters, Groups or Labels, making it an ideal tool for identifying people who may be beginning to slip away from a particular small group.
Attendance Notes report
This report shows a list of notes added as part of attendance submissions. You can filter notes added within a range of attendance Dates and optionally drill down to the notes of specific Clusters, Groups or Labels.
Attendance Summary report
The Attendance Summary shows inline attendance for each group member within a given range based on the Number of weeks and Ending on a date. Using the same presentation of attendance data found on group "View" pages, this report shows you who was present or not recorded present on each date filtered.
Monthly Breakdown report
This report enables you to visualise long-term attendance trends across your Small Groups.
Below the graph is a summary of the supporting statistics showing the highest and lowest attendance data displayed alongside the numerical average and the total number of attendance records.
Engagement report
Whether you have many groups or only a few, Small Group Ministry is all about engagement and this report is packed with valuable insights. You can visualise the number of unique contacts, children and visitors in attendance each month. While the Monthly Breakdown report is useful for showing the total number of group member attendees each month, that number only tells part of the story. The Engagement report shows how that number is comprised, distinguishing regular contacts and children and visitors - giving you a clearer visualisation of your ministry's reach. The report can be further filtered by Labels so you can see how well a particular category or type of group engages with new people!
Engagement report statistics explained
For context, it's helpful to remember the scope of the attendance data you are collecting for each group. The number of group visitors is the difference between the total number of group members marked as attending and the total number of people recorded as actually in attendance on a date-by-date basis. Consider the example below: all 13 group members are ticked as attending but the actual number in attendance is 15 - the group leaders have helpfully added a note that there were visitors. Mathematically, we assume there were two visitors, i.e. 15 - 13 = 2.
However, from this number, we don't know who the visitors were, whether they've visited the group before or since or whether they were just 'one-offs'. Therefore, we don't know if they're unique to just this one date or if they're returning visitors across a range of dates.
The Engagement report does this same calculation across every attendance record for every group, summarising each calendar month within the range of dates filtered in the report. The system considers missing attendance, showing results based on attendance data present, which means the results are not skewed because of missing attendance. So if attendance has only been recorded for three weeks in a particular month, the calculation is based on a 3-week month; similarly, the system considers four and five-week months.
With the Engagement report, it's helpful not to think in terms of attendance but rather of how many people are reached through your small group ministry - emphasis on "potentially" - more in a moment!
Let's consider an example: Based on attendance added for "Group A" for a particular month, ChurchSuite has mathematically calculated that the group had visitors of 2, 3, 0 and 4 across four consecutive weeks of a month. We can't determine "who" those visitors were and the data doesn't tell us whether the visitors were unique individuals, each attending one-off or whether some were repeat visitors.
However, we can determine that the minimum number of unique visitors for the month had to be at least 4 people (although it might have been more people; it couldn't be less than 4 as 4 unique visitors were recorded as attending on the 4th week)
We can also determine that the maximum number of unique visitors for the month couldn't be more than 9 people, i.e. there were 2+3+0+4 visitors (assuming they were all one-off visitors) but it could have been less than 9 people with some repeat visitors - we just don't know from the data.
We can also calculate the average number of visitors during the month from a simple average of the number of visitors across dates with visitors, i.e. (2+3+4) / 3 weeks = 3.
Bringing together each of these metrics, the Engagement report can show the potential reach, an alternative way of viewing group attendance data, distinguishing known member attendance and extrapolating potential visitor reach on a month-by-month basis.
Rounding out the example: For one group for one month, we can see that in addition to the known group member attendance (based on the actual 'ticked' attendance data), the group also reached between 4 and 9 visitors and that the group had an average of 3 visitors on any given date where visitors did attend. Again, we don't know who the individuals were but we can say that the actual visitor reach was between 4 and 9 (although if visitor names were added by leaders in the attendance Notes, you could get closer to the actual visitor reach, however, this would require collating lots of data!)
This example considers a single group in isolation for one month. The Engagement report matches results across all of your groups and calculates the total of each group's minimum and maximum visitor reach within a range of dates, giving you powerful insight into the true reach of your small group ministry!