SK

toc Index of SK wiki pages:
 * C3HUU SK main page (here)
 * C3HUU SK User Guide
 * C3HUU SK Planning
 * C3HUU SK Users
 * C3HUU SK Web Training

[|Servant Keeper (SK)] was purchased for a 30 day trial evaluation as the C3HUU Church Management System (ChMS, click on this link for reviews) replacing [|Logos II]. //**The evaluation period ended on Friday 2009-04-09**//.

Update: After numerous discussions among C3HUU staff and SK support, the SK software was returned on Wednesday 2009-04-08. We will deactivate the software installed at C3HUU by no later than Sunday 2009-04-11. Though the SK team was wonderful in supporting our transition from Logos, in the end they were not able to provide any conversion services or utilities that worked to bring Logos membership, pledge, and contribution data forward into SK. Next evaluation is of PowerChurch Plus.

Why a ChMS?
Was this "cart before the horse"? Members of the IT Services group and others who reviewed ChMSs over the past year don't think so and came to the same conclusion several times: any of the top rated ChMSs provide excellent integration of the basic tools and training materials for a Church Management System (ChMS). All of the top rated ChMS packages are well integrated tools designed to provide a centralized, secure, easy to use set of tools for managing core information about a church. The evaluations were weighted toward usability with multiple training options and simplicity at reasonable cost.

Why invest so much time and energy in Church Management System? A ChMS can allow our minister, staff, Board, and other C3HUU "stakeholders" to make better decisions in support of our mission. To quote from a ChMS site: "Churches are made up of people. Those people have needs and desires and those people have talents and resources. Successful church leaders are realizing that in order to effectively minister to these people and involve them in the ministry, they have to keep track of an enormous amount of data."

What data exists?
The ChMS data collected at C3HUU over the past 9 years includes information on more than 1400 families and over 2400 individuals. Every visitor who left their name and address has been entered into the ChMS over this time. C3HUU also has information on several hundred children who have been through our RE program over the past few years.

How to leverage a ChMS?
With this new platform, SK, and enhanced training available, we now have an opportunity to leverage SK far better than we were able to utilize the Logos II ChMS. All ChMS training materials strongly encourage a more detailed exercise to evaluate church processes and map tool capabilities into them. To begin that exercise, here are a few questions that we hope will generate some discussion and jumpstart that planning:

? What information do Board & Council members, Committee Members, and staff need about the church from our members, friends, and finances to further our mission?
 * How is that need for information being met today? Where are the gaps, the areas not met today?

? How can we better collect information appropriately and then use this common repository for disseminating that information?
 * How do we record attendance at services and how can we better report it?

? What training might allow us to more effectively acquire and catalog information we can really use to advance our mission?
 * For instance, SK has an interface to a bar code reader. We could track RE kids attendance and releasing to parents by swiping a sticker on the back of the kids name badge or attendance sheet with a bar code reader. No data entry required except for kids missing name tags and new kids.

? How are our outreach programs perceived? Survey says...
 * ? How in the world to do effective surveys that people actually respond to? We have multiple tools (Survey Monkey, Constant Contact, now Vrespond as a part of SK), the real value comes from coordinating survey(s) timed to reinforce sermon topics, newsletter articles, e-mail to the congregation, promotion of events in the media, and special events.

? Are we gathering appropriate information from our members to create appropriate programs and match member need with C3HUU services?
 * A sample of additional data that many churches have found relevant: the [|Member Information Gathering Sheet that SK includes with their software].

Our C3HUU ITS group and our Board Liaison are working to create a simple survey to glean this information from staff, Board, and Church Council.

SK Info & Training
Staff now have access to SK software package from each supported PC at C3HUU. Here are some materials to support effective use of SK:
 * Planning for SK deployment
 * Setup of SK for testing with C3HUU staff
 * [|SK Training, first half of 2009 schedule]
 * Online SK web seminars (1H2009) which break out much of the material from 3 hour face-to-face class sessions into 1 hour web sessions
 * [|Live SK seminars (1H2009)], at least once every 6 months offered in the Carolinas
 * [|SK online documentation]
 * Pledge management features and training
 * Membership features and training
 * Church management features and training
 * Attendance tracking features and training

Apps that work with SK

 * Now supports [|e-mail service, I-builder, free from SK 6] (C3HUU is now registered) and looks to be a free replacement for [|Constant Contact]. Up to 10,000 e-mails free per month as a registered SK 6 customer
 * [|ClickBook]: tool to quickly build pamphlets, bulletins, etc and include data from SK. Part of C3HUU SK bundle also usable with other programs such as OpenOffice or Microsoft Word.
 * [|Metrologic Bar Code scanners] and [|Magtek MICR check code readers]: $210 wired or $469 wireless, supported through SK. Must have PC opened to class or session that is being scanned. Secure check-in for touch screen due out this year. Can also use as "Tickets" for events.
 * [|PhoneTree] - products for sending phone messages to members, integrated with Groups capabilities of SK

Related links

 * [|UU e-mail list on Church Management Software]
 * [|Church Management Software] in ChurchBizOnline.com
 * [|A succinct summary of the process of adopting a ChMS (written by a ChMS vendor)]
 * [|Web-based Church Management Software Continues Its Evolution] in Church Community web site