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MemberLink Contacts Display Panel Row-Column Form

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MemberLink Contacts Display Panel Row-Column Form

CAA Product Help





(HELP ?) Circles provide narratives on Training, Explanations, and Hints. These can be related to the overall screen, or to specific items on the screen.



** Note: Refer to the (NAVIGATION HELP ?) Circle on the Information Bar of MemberLink immediately after logging into it to see the screen sections and layouts used by all the CAA Products.



This (HELP ?) Circle narrative is for the "CONTACTS" Screen or the "CONTACT" Tab and associated Display Panel in the MemberLink product.



Contacts Screen Layout in MemberLink:



- Product Bar: MemberLink

- Operations Bar: Contacts

- Information Bar: Contacts

- Navigation Panel: Reset, Search, Add New Contact, Import Contacts, Export Contacts, Filters

- Display Panel: Contacts ROW/COLUMN Form





When you login to the MemberLink Administrator module, the default ROW/COLUMN Form will be shown in the "CONTACTS" Tab and Display Panel . It will show all contact records in the database, whether for members or prospects of your church, business contacts, or contacts at other churches, and so forth.



Section 1: Navigation Panel:



At the top of the Navigation Panel , your church name will appear.



Following that will be the various navigations and functions pertaining to the "CONTACTS" Screen and Display Panel .



At the bottom of the Navigation Panel , if you create one or more "Database Segmentation Filter Fields" known as "Filters", and have at least one activated, a "Filter Area" will appear under the Navigation Links.



** Note: The Filter Area in the has its own (HELP ?) Circle narrative to explain how Filters work and what impact they will have with the "CONTACTS" Screen and Display Panel (also known as a ROW/COLUMN Form). Please read the Filters (HELP ?) Circle narrative for more details.



In brief, however, Filters are used to select only those contact records (people) that match the Filter criteria. The records that match the Filter criteria will automatically be displayed on the "CONTACTS" Screen in the Display Panel .



Setting Filters can be an effective way of narrowing the list of active records more quickly than using the "SEARCH" Hyperlink function to choose specific contact records to be "active records" displayed on the "CONTACTS" Screen ROW/COLUMN Form.



Section 2: Display Panel:



This section is the ROW/COLUMN Form area of the screen. It is located immediately under the Operations Bar and Information Bar , and just to the right of the Navigation Panel .



When the Operations Bar is set to the "CONTACTS" Tab, this is where individual contact records from the database are displayed for you to see and use.



The default sorting presentation for this Display Panel is controlled in the Configuration File. Your MasterAdmin can choose to show records listed in descending sequence by "DATE ADDED" Column; or in Lastname Firstname ascending sequence in the "FIRSTNAME LASTNAME" Column.



Here are some other features regarding the "CONTACTS" Screen and Display Panel :



"¢ The people (contact records) shown in the ROW/COLUMN Form are considered to be "active records". For ease of use, the records are displayed in a "spreadsheet style" layout. Each person is on a separate row, and the person's data is shown in the columns for that row.



"¢ The number of active records shown in the ROW/COLUMN Form is a configurable option that the MasterAdmin can change in the Configuration File. It is typically set at 50, 100, or 150 records per page, and the [NEXT] [BACK] [FIRST] [LAST] Buttons are provided for scrolling through the records when more are active than can be displayed on the screen.



"¢ If you use the "SEARCH" Hyperlink Function to choose specific contact records to be "active records", only those will display in the ROW/COLUMN Form.



"¢ To activate all records again (allowing all records to be displayed in the ROW/COLUMN Form), click the "RESET" Hyperlink at the top of the Navigation Panel just above the "SEARCH" Hyperlink.



"¢ If the column header has an "Up Arrow" and "Down Arrow" next to the column title, it means you can sort the active records in the ROW/COLUMN Form using the values in that column. "Up Arrow" sorts into ascending sequence, and "Down Arrow" sorts the active contact records into descending sequence.



"¢ If the column header has the "Two Circular Arrows" symbol next to the column title, it means you can customize the Display Panel by toggling between two or more uses for the column. For example, the "DATE ADDED" Column can be toggled to become the "PROFILE MODIFIED" Column. You can toggle back and forth between the two.



"¢ If the column header has a little "SPROCKET WHEEL" symbol (some call it a "settings" symbol) next to the column title, it means you can customize the Display Panel and substitute other data columns for the column shown currently. If you click that symbol, it will take you to the "CHOOSE FIELDS TO SHOW ON MAIN CONTROL PANEL" Screen. There you can select either Standard/Regular Data Fields, Segmentation "Filter" Fields, or Custom Data Fields to display in the ROW/COLUMN Form. (Select 1, 2, 3, or up to 4 fields to display - the limit is four.)



** Note: "Custom Data Fields" are also known as "User-Defined Data Fields" or "Church-Defined Data Fields" because they may be created by your church MemberLink administrators. Your church can create as many "User-Defined" fields for your database as needed if the data fields that come "standard" with MemberLink do not meet all the needs of your church.



Here is an overview of each column:



"ROW NUMBER" Column:

This is an optional column. The MasterAdmin can turn it on or off in the Configuration File. If it is turned on, the "spreadsheet-style" rows will be numbered. The first row in the ROW/COLUMN Form will be row 1, the next will be row 2, and so forth. But if this column is turned on and appears in your ROW/COLUMN Form, it will not have a column header.



"SELECT" Column:

This column offers "highlighting" Checkboxes. When you click a Checkbox, that row is highlighted. You may highlight one or more rows. This feature is provided as a convenience if you need to focus on certain rows of records (focus on certain people).



There are also special effect buttons above and below the "SELECT" Column that you can use to retain or exclude highlighted rows. In effect, this removes the records you do not want to see, leaving as active records only those you do want to see and use.



"DATE ADDED" or "PROFILE MODIFIED" Column:

This is a "toggle" column that can display either a "DATE ADDED" Column or a "PROFILE MODIFIED" Column depending upon which toggle option is active. If you click the "Circular Arrows" Symbol in the column header, the column changes from the active option to the other option. The "Circular Arrows" Symbol toggles the column back and forth between "Date Added" and "Profile Modified".



"DATE ADDED" Column:

This column shows the date this person (this database record) was created or added to the system. (The date they joined your church is a different field on their "PROFILE" Screen.) This column is also one of two choices to be the default sorting column for all records displayed in this "CONTACTS" Screen Display Panel . If this column is the default for sorting (setting is in the Configuration File), active records will be sorted in descending values in this "DATE ADDED" Column. In the default sorting, the most recently added people will be at the top, the oldest at the bottom of the list of active contact records. Of course, you may always use sort options in one of the other columns to change the presentation order.



"PROFILE MODIFIED" Column:

This column shows the date of the most recent update to this person's Profile. With this toggle option active, you can view the date of the last time someone updated a person's Profile from the Administrator module, or the last time a person made their own Profile update from the Member Portal module.



This column may also contain several status hyperlinks (defined in the following paragraphs). Two in particular are labeled "Verified" or "Pending". These hyperlinks can be toggled back and forth just by clicking on them. Others that may be displayed are indicators if the Status of this person is "Restricted" or "Banned" or "Former" or "Deceased". Finally, it displays a special "Login" hyperlink.



In "PENDING" status, this person cannot login to the system. They have no access or privileges and do not appear in Email distribution selections.



Only people with "VERIFIED" status can login. You can quickly disable a person's ability to login, without deleting their database information (without deleting their contact record), by clicking the "VERIFIED" Hyperlink to toggle it to a "PENDING" Hyperlink.



However, the best way to disable a "Verified" person is to go to their "PROFILE" Screen and click the "RESTRICT THIS PERSON" Hyperlink or the "BAN THIS PERSON" Hyperlink in the Navigation Panel .



This permits you to "Restrict" or "Ban" a person.



"Restrict This Person" means:

- User will not appear in any emailing using the Email & Texting button

- User will not appear in the Photo Contact Directory

- User will not be able to add or reply to Prayer Wall postings

- User will not be able to perform global configurations

- User will not appear in birthday or anniversary notifications



"Ban This Person" means:

- All of the "Restrict This Person", plus

- User cannot login to the Administrator or Member Portal modules



You can flag a user as "Former" by going to their "PROFILE" Screen and entering a date in the "Date Left Church" standard data field.



"Former User" means:

- All of the "Restrict This Person", plus

- All of the "Ban This Person", plus

- User is excluded from Search results unless you specifically search for "Former Users". Not showing in the Search results means contact records for Former people (no longer at your church) will not be intermixed with your currently active contact records. There is no need for Former users to be allowed to login or for them to keep appearing in searches.



You can flag a user as "Deceased" by going to their "PROFILE" Screen and entering a date in the "Date Deceased" standard data field.



"Deceased User" means:

- All of the "Restrict This Person", plus

- All of the "Ban This Person", plus

- User is excluded from Search results unless you specifically search for "Deceased Users". Not showing in the Search results means contact records for deceased people will not be intermixed with your currently active contact records. There is no need for deceased users to be allowed to login or for them to keep appearing in searches.



You can use the "LOGIN" Hyperlink to login to the Member module as this person. You cannot see the person's Password anywhere in MemberLink, so this feature permits an authorized Admin to login as them without knowing their password.



The purpose of this feature is so that you can initiate a Password reset for people who forget their Password and don't have an email address to do it themselves. There is a special [ADMIN CHANGE PASSWORD] Button that appears on their "PROFILE" Screen for you to use. If they have an email address, they can get a fresh Password themselves from the Member Portal "LOGIN" Screen.



Only the MasterAdmin and SysAdmin permission levels can use the "LOGIN" Hyperlink - other permission levels will not see it.



"PHOTO" Column:

This column shows a small copy of the digital photo associated with this contact record. It helps you to "put a face with a name!" The photo can be added or updated from the "PROFILE" Screen. A ghost image will be displayed if a photo has not yet been provided.



The photo is also a hyperlink that takes you to the "PROFILE" Screen for the person identified in the "FIRSTNAME LASTNAME" Column. Click the photo, and there you can view, update and maintain the Profile data for that person.



Under the photo, there is an "EDIT" Hyperlink. Clicking it is like clicking on the photo itself, it takes you to the "PROFILE" Screen for the person.



"FIRST NAME & LAST NAME" Column:

This column shows the first name and last name of the person identified in the contact record. This column is also one of two choices to be the default sorting column for all records displayed in this "CONTACTS" Screen Display Panel .



Each row in the display is an active contact record. Using the "Up Arrow" and "Down Arrow", you can sort the Display Panel active records by first name ascending or descending, or by last name ascending or descending.



"EMAIL" Column:

This column shows the email address of the person displayed in the ROW/COLUMN Form row.



** Note: This column can be replaced by clicking the little "Sprocket Wheel" symbol in the column header and following those instructions.



"PHONE" Column:

This column shows the phone number of the person displayed in the ROW/COLUMN Form row.



** Note: This column can be replaced by clicking the little "Sprocket Wheel" symbol in the column header and following those instructions.



"REMOVE" Column:

This column allows you to delete existing contact records. Use the Checkboxes to identify the people you want to remove - meaning you want to delete them from the system. Click the Checkbox to turn it on for any contact record you wish to delete. Then scroll to the bottom of the screen and click the [PERMANENTLY DELETE CHECKED USER(S)] Button.



** Note: The system will not let you delete a person who is still in any of the Groups. If a person is a member of a Group, go to the "GROUPS" Tab and remove the person from every Group they are in, then come back and try the Remove again.



** Warning: Deleted contact records (which means deleted people) disappear from the database and cannot be recovered. They are gone! Please be careful when deleting contact records from the system. Instead, you could flag them as "Former" or "Deceased" and keep them without them being active. Then if a "Former" person returns in the future, you will still have the previous data about them.


"CAA Product Help" from CAA Ministries at Support@CAAsoftware.com or 404-551-4230