We're constantly updating and enhancing ChurchSuite, often building directly upon customer feedback to guide our development. The following lists some changes that were made to ChurchSuite between 20th December 2023 and 7th February 2024.
ChurchSuite
December 20th, 2023 Children > Children page updates
We've made some updates to the Children page within the Children module updating parts of the layout and introducing an improved experience for Advanced Search. In addition to new search filters, you're also able to customise the columns that are displayed - your selected columns will be remembered on your device for the next time you log in.
December 21st, 2023 Changed "Cohabiting" to "Partnered"
In order to clarify the language, we have changed the term "Cohabiting" to "Partnered". The terminology of "partner" is more common in modern culture, whilst communicating the same relationship status.
December 21st, 2023 Address Book > Contacts page updates
We've made some updates to the Contacts page within the Address Book module updating parts of the layout and introducing an improved experience for Advanced Search. In addition to new search filters, you're also able to customise the columns that are displayed - your selected columns will be remembered on your device for the next time you log in.
December 22nd, 2023 Introducing "Getting Started" banner messages
In order to help new users understand how things work, we've added new "Getting Started" banners to a selection of screens throughout the system. Each banner can be dismissed by clicking the "X" icon, which will prevent the banner from being displayed again for that user. We will continue to roll out further banner messages throughout the system in the coming weeks.
December 28th, 2023 Visual changes to the group view for Children
We've made some minor visual improvements to the group View page in the Children module: Group statistics are now shown on a new tab, giving users a clearer view of the group's Members list. Group attendance can now be added directly from the Attendance tab of the group view page. We've also improved the navigation links to other groups in the same gathering, which now use less vertical space, reducing scrolling for mobile users.
January 2nd, 2024 New contact/child optional columns
When viewing the Address Book > Contacts or Children > Children lists, you'll find there are new optional columns available for Login & Privacy, Communication and Date Added/Edited/Archived. These new optional columns give you even more flexibility to choose what data is visualised on these pages for your user.
January 5th, 2024 Flow tracking enhancement
Flow tracking now includes details of who first added the person to the flow. Selecting "View history" for someone in a flow shows the username that added them to the flow and the date and time added. The tracking also distinguishes people who were auto-added to a flow based on an automated process set in your module settings - like new contacts who are auto-added to a flow from the embeddable My Details form.
January 9th, 2024 New way to add children to gathering
We've added a convenient way to quickly add children to groups from within a gathering. The new 'Add children' button surfaces a list of all children not currently in a group in the gathering but who meet the gathering criteria and sorted by their suggested eligible group. Selecting any child adds them to their appropriate group, while deselecting them removes them.
January 10th, 2024 Added a Total line to the Attendance chart
From the main page of the Attendance module, you'll now find a handy new Total line plotted on the chart. This line is plotted automatically without you needing to make any changes and shows you the total attendance across all sites for that date.
January 11th, 2024 New giver optional columns
When viewing the Giving > Givers lists, you'll find there are new optional columns available for Bank Reference, Address and Date Added/Edited/Archived. These new optional columns give you even more flexibility to choose what data is visualised on these pages for your user and will be remembered on your device for the next time you log in.
January 16th, 2024 School year support for German regions
We've added School Year support for the five German regions of Bayern, Berlin, Brandenberg, Niedersachsen and Nordrhein-Westfalen, selectable through the Children module settings.
January 18th, 2024 Giver merge updates
We've updated the process for merging Givers, modernising the experience and making things more flexible. In addition to being warned when a potential duplicate is detected (based on their names matching), you'll also find there's a new "Merge" option when viewing a giver. Using the "Merge" option allows you to search for the givers you wish to merge, even if their names don't match exactly.
January 26th, 2024 Small Group Reports
We've updated a number of reports in the Small Groups reports to modernise them, making them quicker and more reliable.
January 29th, 2024 Import your songs from Planning Center
Songs now has an importer for those transitioning from using Planning Center. Export a song CSV file from your Planning Center account and then use the importer to bring in all the related data into your ChurchSuite Songs library.
January 31st, 2024 Booking page updates
We've updated the customer-facing booking page to more clearly show the date when charges are Paid or Refunded.
February 6th, 2024 Contact merge updates
We've updated the process for merging contacts, modernising the experience and making things more flexible. In addition to being warned when a potential duplicate is detected (based on their names matching), you'll also find there's a new "Merge" option when viewing a contact. Using the "Merge" option allows you to search for the contacts you wish to merge, even if their names don't match exactly.
February 6th, 2024 Child merge updates
We've updated the process for merging children, modernising the experience and making things more flexible. In addition to being warned when a potential duplicate is detected (based on their names matching), you'll also find there's a new "Merge" option when viewing a child. Using the "Merge" option allows you to search for the children you wish to merge, even if their names don't match exactly.
Support
February 2nd, 2024 New user option to enable/disabled Getting Started banners
We've added an option for Users to self-enable or disable the Getting Started banners across the system. Banners are enabled by default for new users and can be dismissed on a banner-by-banner basis. Existing users who are comfortable using all areas of ChurchSuite can now turn them all off in their user settings.