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Synchronize with PDS Office

You can synchronize ministry data you have set up in PDS Church Office and/or Formation Office with the Ministry Scheduler. This includes the names, addresses, and phone numbers of people in given ministries.

  1. On the File menu, click Data Synchronization > PDS Office Data Synchronization.
  2. Select which PDS program(s) to transfer data from.
  3. Select to include all members or only active members.
  4. Enter the data file path for the program(s) you selected. For example, X:\PDSOffice\Data\. Click Next.
  5. The ministries you have set up in Ministry Scheduler display in the top grid.
    • For any ministries you don't want to schedule, select Do Not Schedule. These are still included in synchronization.
    • To consider only one minister per family (the one with the oldest last served date) for scheduling, select the checkbox on the right. Otherwise, if the checkbox is cleared, the program will consider all ministers in a family for scheduling.
    • If the grid doesn't contain the ministry you want, click the add icon green plus sign or Add Ministry From Office.
  6. In the bottom grid, select which Ministry Scheduler ministry to associate with each Office ministry. If there is no equivalent, select Not Used by the Ministry Scheduler. Click Next.
  7. The program checks for ministers who haven't been associated with Office members.
    • Click Yes to automatically associate the ministers with members.
    • Click No to manually associate them.
  8. If any ministers were not automatically associated, click OK and select the Office member to associate with each minister. If no Office record exists for the minister, leave it blank.
  9. Verify the minister/member information, then click Next.
  10. Select the data transfer options you want, and click Next.
  11. If any Office members already exist in Ministry Scheduler, their information is updated. If the member is not in Ministry Scheduler, a record is added with their information. Click OK.
  12. The list of ministers displays. The Add New and Update columns are automatically selected based on whether the minister was found in Office. Verify the selections are correct.
  13. When you're ready to add new ministers and update existing data, click Transfer.

After you transfer your ministers, the shared ministers icon blue box with white church displays on those minister records.