Importing information

To get your web site off to a flying start, you can import your existing information into ChurchInsight.  To do this, you will need to have your church's information in a structured format, such as a database or a spreadsheet, and be able to save this information into a Comma Seperated Value (CSV) file.  (This is basically a text file that uses commas to show where new columns are in the data).

The Member Import wizard will take you through the process of mapping your existing information into the church insight database.  You can access the wizard from the top level group in the Web Office, select the Members tab, and then the Import Members from a file task.

Full instructions on using the Member Import wizard can be found in the online help of the Web Office.

Data Protection (UK only)

It is very important that you get permission from the members of your church to put their personal information on to the web site.  Because you already store information about individuals on a computer, under UK law you should have asked permission to do this at the time of collecting the information.  Because you are now changing the purpose to which that information will be used, again by law you should notify everyone that this is the case.

An email or public announcement explaining the changes is usually the most effective way of doing this, giving people the chance to opt out of featuring in the address book.  Be careful not to scare people (the internet is a source of fear for many as it may be poorly understood) and stress that the church address book will only ever be visible to other members of the church who have logged in with a password.

If anyone notifies you that they wish to opt out of the address book you can set their privacy level to exclude them from the address book - although they will still feature in membership listings in the Web Office and be able to login.  Similarly, if you already know of people who have chosen not to be listed in your address book then their wishes should also be respected.