Establishing ChurchTools in your congregation can simplify processes and clarify procedures. However, a certain amount of preparation is required before your congregation can use the new tool efficiently. In order for the introduction to succeed, it is particularly important to set up a good admin team.
What is an admin team? #
This team should ideally consist of three to five people. It is responsible for the technical introduction of your ChurchTools and is the point of contact for questions. The administrators configure the ChurchTools system to adapt it to the needs of your congregation.
However, the team also seeks understanding and acceptance in your congregation. This does not mean that the administrators have to take on all tasks. However, they should be open to questions and be in contact with the church leadership/church council and be sure of their support.
Admin team and church leadership #
If a team member is also part of the church leadership or council, this would of course be an advantage, as it would be easier to reach agreements with the leadership.
In any case, the congregation’s leadership and admin team should signal to the congregation that the introduction of ChurchTools is not a solo effort, but is happening in cooperation with the leadership. This promotes acceptance.
Ask for support
For the successful introduction of ChurchTools, it is important that the church leadership/parish council/parish team supports this project. If a mandate has been obtained from the parish leadership, further steps are easier to implement, as the admin team does not have to take them alone.
Create administrators group #
The admin team is of course not fixed for all eternity. Changes to the team will come sooner or later. We therefore recommend that you create an administrator group in ChurchTools.
Advantages of an administrator group #
- You can see at a glance who is currently working in the team. Changes in the team can be quickly mapped and recorded.
- Membership of the group automatically gives an administrator all the necessary rights. If someone leaves the group, they are also automatically revoked.
Create group #
The Admin group works like any other group in ChurchTools.
- In the Groups module, create a new group called “Administrators”. You can select Properties as the group type.(Help: Create new group)
- You can set the visibility of the group to “internal”. This way, everyone with a Login for your ChurchTools can see the group and know who their ChurchTools admins are.
- You add the team members to this group as participants.
- You determine the team leader and give this person the role of “leader”.
- In rights management, you give the respective roles the necessary global and group-internal rights(Help: Rights management).
What rights should you assign?
The administrator team should be given at least all Administrations (ehemals ChurchCore) rights so that they can manage ChurchTools. As these rights are very far-reaching, you must be aware that these people can usually also see all data!
Accordingly, there is no reason why administrators should not be granted all other global rights via the admin group to begin with.
If a person leaves the admin team, they will be removed from this group and immediately lose all rights they had as a member of this group.
You can find our recommendation for a sensible rights structure for this group in the article Authorization recommendation for the administrator team.
Next step #
By forming an admin team and creating the group in ChurchTools, you have taken the first step and the real work can begin. In the next guides, we will introduce you to the next steps that you can take in your ChurchTools.