We recommend using the Add/Edit Family Tool (or another tool such as the BMT or Check-In) to create Contact records rather
than the "New" button on the Contacts page. This ensures you create the necessary Household and Participant records as well.
To remove the New button from the Contacts page (and ensure users don't use it), a SPoC can grant Read (rather
than Edit) permissions to the Contacts page.
There are many ways a Contact record can be created; specifically:
- Add/Edit Family Tool — Create multiple Contacts, place them
in a Household, and create Donor and Participant records at one time.
- Data Migration — Contacts are moved from the legacy system into
MinistryPlatform during implementation.
- Manual Entry (clicking New on the Contacts page) — Not recommended. Should only be used in special cases.
- Check-In — Create Contacts using attended mode functionality in Check-In.
- Widgets — When someone creates a User account in a Widget and the system can't find a match
for them in the Platform, a new Contact record is created. In this case, the Audit Log shows API User as the person who created the record.
- Donation Batch Tool — This custom check-scanning software can create new
Contacts and have Donations assigned immediately.
- Assign Donor Tool — Create a new Contact record when a Donation is not matched
to an existing Contact.
- Assign Participant Tool — Create a new Contact record when an Event registration
is not matched to an existing Contact.
- Add/Edit Company Tool — A Company is a type of Contact record. This tool
is designed specifically for adding Companies.
- Custom Applications (API) — MinistryPlatform comes equipped with an API that allows any church to build their own applications. Creating Contact records can be achieved by using our API.
Other records made when the Contact record is made
The following records are always created when using the listed Contact creation method:
The following records are potentially created when using the listed Contact creation method:
