Group Attendance Notification
This notification does two things: it sends an attendance reminder to the Group Leader, reminding them to take attendance, and it schedules the group's next meeting. The best part? You can stop either (or both!) of these things directly from the group record.
Note: The previous version of the Group Attendance notification relied on both Group and Event_Group records to create the Group's next meeting and send the attendance notification. The Group Attendance notification relies only on the Group record.
Note: This notification works best for Groups that meet weekly. These Groups typically are not part of a corporate worship service - think Small Groups or Life Groups not Sunday School Classes.
Examples
An important feature is the ability to use the Next Scheduled Meeting field to schedule one-time meetings and get back on track with the regular schedule without disruption. Consider the following examples.
- The Group Leader schedules a future, one-off event. The Anderson Small Group usually meets on Tuesday evenings. But when they learn it's Sue's birthday, the Group Leader schedules a meeting for Friday night to celebrate. So this week (and only this week), the Group meets on Tuesday, Friday, and then the next Tuesday.
- The routine adds the date of the one-off event to the Next Scheduled Meeting field.
- The Group will meet on Friday (Happy Birthday, Sue!).
- If eligible, the attendance reminder email sends on Saturday morning.
- The routine looks at the date in the Next Scheduled Meeting field, sees that it is in the past, and replaces it with the next meeting according to the Group's Meeting Day and Time.
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A future date is added to the Next Scheduled Meeting Field. The Smith Life Group pauses each winter when most of its members head south for warmer climates. But they regather the first Monday of May when everyone returns home. The Life Group administrator enters the months-away May meeting date into the Next Scheduled Meeting field.
- The routine schedules the next meeting for the date set in the Next Scheduled Meeting field.
- The routine looks at the date in the Next Scheduled Meeting and, seeing it's in the future, does not send the attendance reminder or schedule a meeting according to the regular schedule.
- The Group will regather on the first Monday in May, sharing photos of their adventures.
- On the first Tuesday in May, the attendance reminder email is sent, if eligible.
- The routine looks at the date in the Next Scheduled Meeting field, sees that it is in the past, and replaces it with the next meeting according to the Group's Meeting Day and Time.
Troubleshooting
- Group Primary Contact not receiving their notification? Make sure they have a valid email address and a user account.
- Group Primary Contact not receiving their notification (and you've confirmed they have a valid email address and user account)? Confirm that Send Attendance Notification is set to Yes.
- Next Group Meeting wasn't created? Confirm that Create Next Meeting is set to Yes.
Views
Want to see which groups receive notifications? There's a view for that! Use the Attendance Notification Groups View on the Groups page to see which Groups receive the notification with a current or future Event. You can also explore fields to determine why a Group does or does not receive the nightly Attendance Notification.
Attendance Notification
The first part of the Group Attendance notification sends a reminder email to the Primary Contacts of Groups that have met in the past 24 hours and haven't posted attendance. The email includes an auto-login link directly to the event so they can post attendance using the Portal, MobileTools, or Group Life. This makes it easy to keep updated attendance records.
- Frequency: Daily.
- Recipients: The Group Primary Contact where the group met within the previous 24 hours, they didn't post attendance, and the Group meets the Initial Configuration Eligibility requirements listed below.
- From/Reply To: This field populates with the From/Reply to of the Message Template in the SERVICES, AttendanceNotificationTemplateID Configuration Setting.
- Contents: The Message Template contents are in the SERVICES, AttendanceNotificationTemplateID Configuration Setting.
- Method for Sending: MinistryPlatform.
- Logging in Messages: Yes. Attendance reminders are available in MinistryPlatform, and you can view them on the Messages page. They are recorded in the Audit Log.
- Configuration Settings:
- SERVICES, AttendanceNotificationTemplateID specifies which Template to use for notifications. Set this to 0 (zero) to turn off all Attendance Notifications.
- SERVICES, AttendanceNotificationPath is the application URL you want to include in the Message. Use the path for either the Portal, MobileTools, or Group Life.
- COMMON, PathToMobileTools is the path to MobileTools. Configure this to send the notification with the option to link the user back to MobileTools.
- Merge Fields Supported: [Nickname], [Event_Group_Listing].
- Initial Configuration for Eligibility: To send the attendance notification to the Group Primary Contact, confirm these settings on the Group record:
- Primary Contact: The Primary Contact must have an email address and a user account.
- End Date: This must be a future date or left blank.
- Available Online set to Yes: This ensures the group is available in the Portal and MobileTools.
- Send Attendance Notification set to Yes: Set this to No if you don't want to send attendance reminders.
- Optional Configuration: Modify the template to fit your church.
- How to Stop:
- For One Group: Set Attendance Notification to No on the Group record.
- For All Groups: Set the value field on SERVICES, AttendanceNotificationTemplateID to 0 (zero).
Create Next Group Meeting
If you haven't already manually created the Group's next meeting, the second part of the Group Attendance Notification creates the Group's next meeting according to each Group's configuration.
- Frequency: Daily.
- Configuration Settings:
- CLOUDAPPS, GroupMeetingRoomId specifies the Room to use when you create a Room Reservation from a Group record that doesn't have a Default Group Meeting Room.
- SERVICES, AttendanceNotificationEventVisibility specifies the Event Visibility for automatically created Events.
- PORTAL, DefaultEventTypeID specifies the Event Type for automatically created Events.
- PORTAL, DefaultEventProgramID specifies the Program for automatically created Events.
- Initial Configuration Eligibility: To schedule the Group's next meeting, confirm these settings on the Group record:
- Start Date: This must be a past date. You can't create Meetings for Groups with a future Start Date.
- End Date: This field must be a future date or left blank. You can only create Meetings for Groups with an end date.
- Meeting Time: Select your Group's meeting time. Use this to schedule future events.
- Meeting Day: Select your Group's meeting day. Use this to schedule future events.
- Meeting Frequency: Select how often your Group meets. If Meeting Frequency is blank and Create Next Meeting is set to Yes, the routine assumes the Group meets weekly.
- Default Meeting Room: Select where your group meets. Use this to schedule future events. If you don't select a room, the routine uses the room identified on CLOUDAPPS, GroupMeetingRoomId.
- Create Next Meeting is set to Yes: A nightly routine automatically schedules the next meeting and advance Next Scheduled Meeting date. Set to No to turn off or pause meeting creation.
- How to Stop: Set Create Next Meeting to No.
If Create Next Meeting is set to Yes and you haven't manually created the next event:
- MinistryPlatform creates your Group's Next Meeting based on the Group's Configuration and Configuration settings.
- The Event's Title is "[Group Name] Meeting".
- The Event's Congregation is the Group's Congregation.
- The Event's Primary Contact is Group's Primary Contact
- The Event's Start Date and Time is the Group's Meeting Day and Meeting Time.
- The Event's End Date and Time is the Group's Meeting Day, Time, and Duration. Note: If Group Meeting Duration is blank and Create Next Meeting is set to Yes, the routine assumes the Group Meeting Duration is 60 minutes.
- The Event's Room is the Group's Default Meeting Room. If there is no Default Meeting Room, the routine uses the room identified in CLOUDAPPS, GroupMeetingRoomId. Tip: Create a room record for an Off-Campus or "No Room" room and set that as the Group Default Meeting Room.
- The Event's Program is the Group's Default Program, as identified in PORTAL, DefaultEventProgramID.
- This routine creates the events when it runs overnight. It creates the Next Scheduled Meeting Event depending on the Group's configuration, so it may vary based on the Group's setup. It won't create any meetings more than seven days in the future.
- The Next Scheduled Meeting field populates with the next Group Meeting.
- If the date is in the past and Create Next Meeting is set to Yes, the nightly routine moves this date forward and creates the next Event based on Meeting Day, Frequency, and Duration.
- If you manually create a future event, the nightly routine adds that date and time to this field.
Note: MinistryPlatform schedules Group Meetings according to the Group's Meeting Day and Time unless there is a future date in the Next Scheduled Meeting field. If there is a future date, MinistryPlatform creates the Group Meeting according to the Next Scheduled Meeting regardless of whether this aligns with Meeting Day and Meeting Time. This means you can manually schedule a one-time meeting that is different than the regularly scheduled Meeting Day and Time, and the routine returns you to your regular schedule when that event ends. Win-win!
Tip: Have a group of snowbirds who don't meet during the winter or a parents group that takes the summer off? You can pause the routine! To do this, either:
- Set Send Attendance Notification to No; or
- Add the meeting date to the Next Scheduled Meeting field.
In both cases, MinistryPlatform won't send notifications or schedule future meetings until the date specified in the Next Scheduled Meeting field.