Domains› Church Management› People› Families›

Add a Family

Warning

Before adding a new family be sure to search the database first. No matter how certain you are that they are new, you should always double check.

To add a family to the database, click People > New Family from the main menu. Rock will display the New Family screen.

Family Members

First, add the individuals to the family. Completing this section should be fairly easy, but remember these points:

  • Only use these fields to add individuals to the family who are not already in the database. If you know that one or more of the individuals are already in the system, just add those who are not. After the family is saved, you can then edit the family and add the existing members.
  • Note the marital status selection below the list of family members. This allows you to set the marital relationship of the adults in the family. These options are Defined Values so you can rename them or add additional options. You can read more about editing Defined Values in the Rock Admin Hero Guide.
  • The Grade field will only be shown when you're adding a child.
  • Additional addresses (work, previous) can be added after saving the family.

Campus and Address

The final step in adding a family is to select their campus and add their home address. Additional addresses can be added to the family after it has been saved.

Note

The Campus field will be hidden if there's only one campus set up in your system. If a campus value is required by your Add Family block settings (see next section) then the only available campus is automatically applied to the family's record behind the scenes.

Add Family Block Settings

You can customize which options you want to display in the Add Family block by customizing the block settings.

  1. Name - Enter the name you want to give the block. The default is 'Add Family'.
  2. Group Type - Select the group type to display groups for. The default is 'Family'.
  3. Parent Group - Select the parent group to add the new group to. The default is 'None'.
  4. Show Title - Select 'Yes' to display a dropdown menu of titles.
  5. Show Nick Name - Select 'Yes' to show an edit box for Nick Name.
  6. Show Middle Name - Select 'Yes' to display an edit box for Middle Name.
  7. Enable Common Last Name - Select 'Yes' to autofill the last name field when adding a new group member with the last name of the first group member. Remember, families are groups, and the individuals in the family are group members.
  8. Default Connection Status - Select the default connection status. If this is not set, the new family member will inherit the same status as the family member who is adding them.
  9. Show Suffix - Select 'Yes' to display the person suffix field.
  10. Gender - Select whether gender should be required for each person added.
  11. Birth Date - Select whether a birth date should be required for each person added.
  12. Child Birthdate - Select whether a birth date should be required for each child added.
  13. Grade - Select whether a grade should be required for each child added when the group type is Family.
  14. Show Inactive Campuses - Select whether inactive campuses should be shown.
  15. Require Campus - Select 'Yes' to make a campus required.
  16. Show County - Select 'Yes' to provide a County field in the address.
  17. Marital Status Confirmation - Select whether a confirmation message should be displayed when saving an adult without a marital status and the group type is Family.
  18. Adult Marital Status - Select the default marital status for adults when the group type is Family.
  19. Child Marital Status - Select the default marital status for children when the group type is Family.
  20. Address - Select whether to require an address for the family.
  21. Location Type - Select the type of location that should be used for the address.
  22. Show Cell Phone Number First - Select whether the cell phone number should be listed first before the home phone number.
  23. Phone Number - Select whether a phone number should be required for at least one person in the family.
  24. Adult Phone Number - Select whether a phone number should be required for each adult added.
  25. SMS - Select whether SMS should be enabled for cell phone numbers by default.
  26. Attribute Categories - Select the Person Attribute Categories to display attributes from. The next section below talks about how this setting is used.
  27. Workflows - Which workflows to launch when a family is added.
  28. Person Detail Page - Select the page to navigate to after the family has been added. {GroupId} and {PersonId} can be included in the route. Leave blank to go to the default page of ~/Person/{PersonId}.
  29. Enable Alternate Identifier - If set to "Yes" you can manually enter a custom identifier for each person when adding the family.
  30. Generate Alternate Identifier - When this is set to "Yes" an alternate identifier will be generated automatically for each person.
  31. Detect Groups already at the Address - If there is already a family (i.e., group) at the address provided, then you can have the system detect it and alert you. You will then be able to use an existing group instead of creating a new one.
  32. Max Groups at Address to Detect - Use this feature to reduce the number of existing groups you'll be presented with when adding a new family to an address in use by other groups.

Select which options and default settings you want to display and click Save.

Warning

Default Connection Status
As noted above, if a Default Connection Status has not been set, then the new family member will be assigned the same status as the family member who is adding them. For instance, a new child will be added with a status of 'Member' if the parent's status is 'Member'. If you have requirements for certain statuses, be sure to set a Default Connection Status to ensure people aren't assigned statuses for which they do not qualify.

Want Even More Info?

For many, the family entry screen will be just what the doctor ordered. Some organizations, however, may want to capture additional information about the family. The good news is you can have both!

The block settings of the Family Entry block include a setting for configuring attribute categories. After filling out the family, phone number and email information and selecting Next, you'll see an entry form for the first attribute category you selected. Completing this form and pressing Next takes you to the next attribute category. This will continue until you've entered information for each attribute category. On the last screen, you’ll see the Finish button.

The following example shows this process with the Education and Visitor Information attribute categories set.

  1. Next - With the additional attribute categories added, the Finish button on the phone number and email page (not pictured) is renamed to Next. Clicking Next will take you to the first attribute you’ve added to the block settings.
  2. First Category - After clicking Next from the phone number/email page, the first attribute category, Education, is displayed.
  3. Next or Previous - Navigation buttons are present to step either forward or backward.
  4. More Information - The remaining attribute category, Visitor Information, is displayed next.
  5. Finish - Since this is the final attribute category, the Finish button is back.

Tip

Useful Tips
Below are a few tips to help you use this feature to its fullest:

Remember that attributes can belong to more than one attribute category. This allows you to create custom attribute categories with the sole purpose of being used on the Family Entry screen.

If you configured the attribute to be required, it will also be required on these entry forms. Keep in mind that it will be required when it's edited on the Person Profile page, too.

Duplicates Happen

To help reduce the number of duplicate records, Rock will display a listing of possible duplicates for individuals added to the family.

  1. Possible Duplicates - You'll see a warning message indicating that you may be adding a duplicate record into the system. This page is skipped if no duplicates are detected, or if the existing record's Account Protection Profile is configured to skip duplicate checking based on your Security Settings.
  2. New Record - The "New Record" is listed to the left, for comparison against existing records on the right.
  3. Possible Duplicate Records - Existing records that may be duplicates of what you're trying to add are listed here. This allows you to view details related to the existing record, to determine whether you should proceed.
  4. Do Not Add Individual - Click this button if you've determined that the record you're trying to add already exists and should not be added.
  5. Continue With Add - If you've determined the record you're adding is not a duplicate and should be added to the system, then you can proceed by clicking this button.

For more information about duplicates in general, check out the Duplicates chapter below.

Families Edit a Family