Understand member records
A member record belongs to one organisation and can have a primary branch. It holds the contact, membership, ministry and follow-up information authorised users need. A member record is different from a staff login: linking a membership to a member enables the member portal without granting administrative permissions.
Add a member
Search before creating a record so the same person is not added twice.
- 1Choose the correct organisation and branch in the account switcher.
- 2Open Members from the main navigation.
- 3Search by name, phone or email.
- 4Select Add member when no matching profile exists.
- 5Complete the required identity and status fields, then save.
Creating or changing records requires members.edit in the current scope.
Choose the right information
Use status for the person's current membership stage, primary branch for their home location and ministry assignments for active service. Collect only data the organisation has a legitimate reason to hold. Custom fields should have a clear owner and purpose before administrators add them.
Update a profile
Open Members, select the person, then edit the relevant section. Correct a typo directly. For meaningful lifecycle changes, update status and leave enough context in the timeline for another authorised administrator to understand what changed.
Archive rather than erase
Use archive when a record should leave everyday lists but history must remain understandable. Restore reverses an archive. Permanent deletion should be exceptional because attendance, finance and audit records may still refer to the person.
Never use deletion to hide a mistake or remove legitimate financial history.
Import members
Use Settings → Data for reviewed CSV imports.
- 1Download or inspect the expected column format.
- 2Clean duplicate rows and normalise dates, phone numbers and statuses.
- 3Choose the intended organisation and branch context.
- 4Upload a small sample first and review validation errors.
- 5Run the full import only after the sample maps correctly.
Imports require data-management access and remain organisation-scoped.
Why the list may look empty
Confirm the active organisation, branch, search text and archive filter. A branch-scoped user cannot see another branch's records. If the scope is correct, ask an administrator to review members.view, explicit denies and membership status.