Planning Center

Very useful for all Departments!

Aspetti positivi:

The design, the backend ease of accessibility, the layout. The ease of use for both users and administrators, the amount of features that could be used each week, and also the ability to store files and songs into it.

Aspetti negativi:

It was a bit pricey, and also the financial organizing side wasn't ideal. When it came to service flow layout, it seemed a bit awkward looking, like the agenda needed to be updated to streamline and match the rest of the platform.

Trae Bremer

Aspetti positivi:

Planning center provides a foundation to manage your church. Its a go to platform that allows to approach and manage every aspect all from one software. That's my favorite part, the fact our whole church can be managed from one program.

Aspetti negativi:

I do think planning center can continue to update it's email system. Though Mailchimp is a great integration, the lack of customizing email templates and list can be updated.

Portions are non-functional

Commenti: Frustrating. But when it works, it's great.

Aspetti positivi:

Ability to send emails or messages to group members. Dashboard of who is in my group. Custom photos to ID the groups.

Aspetti negativi:

Unclear as a user -- or as a group leader -- when, how, and why to use Church Center. Second, emails for confirmation acceptance into a group are sent via a [sensitive content hidden] or the like. It's confusing as the recipient, and is sometimes blocked by users' email platform settings. Third, Many people are unable to register for a group--but it appears to them as users that they have indeed registered. This is a fundamental and foremost problem impeding use. Fourth, it appears to favor PCs. Macs don't work in some situations, apparently the Mac App is needed.

The MUST USE platform for Worship Planning!

Commenti: I love using Planning Center and do not plan on switching anytime soon. It has blessed our church and helped me do my job so much more effectively!

Aspetti positivi:

Planning Center is a wonderful platform to create services, organize your volunteers, and create/edit songs! You are able to add lyrics and chords AND transpose both chord sheets AND .mp3's that you can upload (if you have the right copyright)! Users can easily see their schedules and decline/block out dates they know they will be out of town. You can integrate this with ProPresenter for easy service creation and lead your teams to success!

Aspetti negativi:

The only thing I wish Planning Center could do is replace the current membership and online giving platform we currently use. It's getting close but for church management it falls just shy.

Planning Center: A Must do for Any Ministry

Commenti: My experience with Planning Center has always been good. The Services platform is amazing and I love using it to plan worship and create service orders. Their customer service reps are always so nice. There was even a time of financial struggle in one of the churches. I reduced our system down to the free level and the reps were so nice and even credited back money we had prepaid. Planning Center is customizable, affordable, and a great resource for any ministry, church or nonprofit.

Aspetti positivi:

I love Planning Center. I have worked in several churches and have started planning center from the ground up on several occasions. Every feature is very intuitive. It was so easy to learn and set-up. I have been an administrator as well and love the ability to view what others in the system do. It is great at sending email reminders. There are so many features you can customize for your own ministry situation. It transposes chord charts for you. What I am describing is just Planning Center's Services platform because I am the most familiar with that part. There other applications are useful and helpful as well.

Aspetti negativi:

It is truly had to think of a con. The smallest complaint I have is minor. I download the chord charts I make in Planning Center chord chart maker as pdfs. When I have gone to a new system, I can only upload the pdf...I cannot change the song's key or arrangement in the chord chart maker as I could before in the prior system. But again, that's minor.

Industry Standard for a reason

Commenti: Planning Center is great, don't get me wrong. If your church has the funds to invest in Planning Center, or if you are already using their other software, it is likely the best solution out there for you. HOWEVER, (and that is a big however) if your church has a ChMS that already offers worship planning, it is likely just fine! I am with a different church now, and we just switched to Pushpay. Their worship planning is very simple and offers SongSelect integration. If you are a small to medium-sized church, looking for worship planning software, I would HIGHLY encourage you to make sure you do not already have access to this in your ChMS, and if you do not, consider switching to a solution like Pushpay where it is integrated. I know ShelbySystems offers this too. But if your budget and situation allows you will be thrilled with the functionality and user interface you find in Planning Center. It is simple enough for volunteers to use and the optional Music Stand app is great for getting music into the hands of your musicians early in the week, and allowing them to have their music on their phone or more preferably iPad/tablet. But if your current system offers an alternative, it is probably not worth the extra to have Planning Center as well.

Aspetti positivi:

The simplicity to plan services and schedule volunteers help make it the best!

Aspetti negativi:

Planning Center is the leader in worship planning software and they know it! Planning center is expensive an may not be worth it for your church. Especially if you have another ChMS that already offers worship planning.

BEST Software For Churches!

Aspetti positivi:

By far the best and most comprehensive church software out there, simply for the fact that everything is integrated together! I can give my volunteers everything they need, and plan out months of music at a time, work with all our other volunteers, sync our app for small groups, sync our calendar, sync our online giving, and more. I wouldn't recommend any other worship planning software!

Aspetti negativi:

The only con I have is that I wish, like some other church software, you could make your own app that's fully branded for you, including the name. To download our app, you have to search Church Center and then find your church. Not that big of a deal, but it's the only con I have.

If you have teams at all, Planning Center is your go to!

Commenti: Excellent. I have used them for years and don't plan to stop. I regularly recommend it to others

Aspetti positivi:

Planning Center is an industry standard for worship services and team management, it is essential for our church of 400 to be able to make sure people are plugged in where they need to be.

Aspetti negativi:

It does get a bit pricey the more add ons you have.

Church Service Planning

Aspetti positivi:

I have been using Planning Center for many years now and I have enjoyed using it. It is easy to use, and I get all information needed for when I am scheduled to serve in worship.

Aspetti negativi:

In the past I had issues with blocking my schedule but it's been fixed since then

Essential Worship Planning Platform

Commenti: Have been using Planning Center for years and it just keeps getting better and more powerful.

Aspetti positivi:

Everything is in one location and we can do backend programming to customize reports.

Aspetti negativi:

Sometimes what we are trying to do is buried deep in the platform.

Planning Center for Churches

Commenti: Overall, we enjoy using Planning Center and the apps work extremely well. Everything is customizable and extremely flexible with any kind of organizational system that you may have. They have a great Slack community as well where you can ask for help with any questions you may have.

Aspetti positivi:

We really enjoy using Planning Center. It is easy to use, fast, and very intuitive. The different apps help to keep the data separate and they work together really well. We use like how the apps are quick and easy to find the information that we need.

Aspetti negativi:

The only downside that I find is the cost. I feel that it is slightly overpriced. Everything works great but they charge you for for each app separately. In some ways it could keep costs down but it would be nice if there was an option to save when you are using every app they offer. They also charge to track donations which many companies do not.

Planning center best tool for managing charismatic groups and churches

Commenti: Planning center allowed me to better know all the members of the organization to which I belong and to know how to enlist them in the work for a common good.

Aspetti positivi:

What I liked most about this software is its ability to manage religious groups.

Aspetti negativi:

What I liked least is that it is not easily usable by new religious organizations.

User Friendly

Aspetti positivi:

I love how easy it is to access and customize events, registrations, payments, etc. Easy tracking and management. Can sort the registration lists a variety of ways. Can add manual payments and registrations. Can access people information, household information, attendance records, etc. Love it!

Aspetti negativi:

I guess what I like least, is the fact that payments towards an account are split equally for registrants in the same household. Our situation with fundraising is that sometimes one registrant in the household partakes in a fundraiser, while another does not. When I post a manual payment, it posts to the household total due instead of just one registrant or the other. We also sometimes have donations come in for one registrant or the other and I would like to be able to post it to just one of their accounts instead of both.

Good app and cool features

Aspetti positivi:

I like how audio can be uploaded and played on the app. Even downloaded. I could listen to songs so I know how to plan using the cameras.

Aspetti negativi:

Sometimes it was hard to find specific things but that could depend on the admins and where they put it and label it

Love PCO

Aspetti positivi:

Definitely a believer in planning center. My go to for worship sets, teams and planning.

Aspetti negativi:

No complaints here. Would definitely recommend to all.

Planning Center makes scheduling easy!

Commenti: I have found planning center easy to use in terms of planning my attendance, seeing other members who will or won't be able to attend, and using the attachments for planning purposes.

Aspetti positivi:

Planning Center makes it easy to respond to requests for scheduling purposes. It's also very easy to block out days in advance that you will not be available.

Aspetti negativi:

There are still features I'm learning about so it's too early if I would have recommendations on improving any features.

Great Planning Service

Aspetti positivi:

Great for keeping up with volunteers and planning for services

Aspetti negativi:

found nothing i did not like about the service

A great and versatile solution for churches and non-profits

Commenti: People management, scheduling, donation management all became greatly simplified through Planning Center. This is a solid all-around product.

Aspetti positivi:

One of the best features of Planning Center is the ala carte ease of use. Choose the products and the level you need and that's all you pay for. Great functionality, data management, and giving options are included and ready for use with minimal set up.

Aspetti negativi:

There are some 'Planning Center' focused features that are difficult to personalize; web-based giving pages and the app, that could allow for more organizational personalization. However, the value for the money is overall present.

Planning with Planning Center

Commenti: I ie planning center but it can be confusing.

Aspetti positivi:

The ability to organize events and inform those working with the plans and arrangements is nice.

Aspetti negativi:

the layout and optimization can be a bit confusing.

Helps me keep track of everything happening across ministries

Aspetti positivi:

This app helps me keep track of all my commitments at church. I love that I can see who else is serving across various roles on a Sunday I'm also working -- I can see which appropriate people to look for when needed. It also helps me learn peoples' names -- my church is big so sometimes I might recognize someone's face but never have the chance to ask what their name was, or I might forget.

Aspetti negativi:

The experience of the interface isn't always smooth. At one point I was involved in multiple churches and wish there was a way to access all the churches at the same time. Currently I'm required to sign out and sign back in, in order to switch to another church.

Planning

Commenti: The overall experience is great.

Aspetti positivi:

This software was a great help in reminding me to every important events.

Aspetti negativi:

As far as I can see, I don't have any cons that can say.

Good enough but not great

Commenti: We originally were having a very hard time getting our musicians to remember to show up or keep up with changes but this made all of it centralized and good.

Aspetti positivi:

I really like how easy it was for us to share it with our team but I think the UI was a little outdated

Aspetti negativi:

I wish the UI was updated to be more modern. I also would like more customizable ways to share each set.

Interface

Commenti: I would also take a moment and think through the basics of the site. If the goal is to do something basic like add a song, or even to rehearse a song [Which is difficult to do, or at least not clear to my older choir members], then it should be easy to see, and easy to execute. I love the fact that things are customizable, and that I can plan my service down to the second, but the moment I go to show someone else how to run basic things especially within the app, I am painfully aware that the interface could be tweaked to help make things a little bit easier for the users who are using your products the most. Most churches are less than 50 people. Most church members are baby boomers. Do your market research with that demographic in mind and I bet you will quickly see what works and does not work with regards to your interface. That being said, anyone outside of that demographic is willing to find out how to do things from youtube tutorials, so keep those up to date and looking nice and you will remain at the top of the church-planning food chain.

Aspetti positivi:

The things that Planning Center does well, it does very well. It always delivers notifications and I feel that it is reliable. Every single time that one of the people on my team have had an issue with the software, it was incredibly simple to resolve, and usually was a case of user preferences that needed adjustments. For the majority of the people that benefit from the software, the experience is seamless and professional. Due to the fact that most of the people who use Planning Center are not directly paying for the software, it has set itself apart as the crown of church planning resources. It is certainly my first suggestion to new worship pastors or churches that are trying to become organized. The fact that it can take care of so many different church needs from one platform is also worth mentioning. My church uses another system for online giving, but it is comparable to what Planning Center offers. We are in the process of transitioning all of our check-in systems to Planning Center and it is significantly cheaper and easier to use than ANYTHING else on the market right now.

Aspetti negativi:

My experience with Planning Center is not limited to, but mostly within the realm of "Services" so that is where I will spend most of my time. Before that, however, I will mention that while I know of a number of people who enjoy the "Music Stand" app, Planning Center does not offer the best deal for the service. Apps like Onsong, while expensive up-front, are not a monthly expense and allow for many file types and importing formats, including the ability to download the music straight from "Services." This allows for some freedom in set design and application as many of my musicians are playing during the week and not at the church. If they could pay once for "Music Stand" and also import the secular music into their setlists, they would use the app outside of a Sunday morning context. Now for the interface. One of the best tools in "Services" is the REPORTS section. And while I love the way it looks now, it has lost a lot of versatility. It is difficult to select the date for the reports, not to mention, hard to find the reports to begin with. Now, if I want to find songs from last Christmas, I really have to hunt to find the reports, find the right drop-down bar, and select "custom" on the display. Why not keep the custom option in the bar to begin with, and have the presets in the drop down bar? There is just a lot of unused real estate on that particular page, and I have spent too much time trying to relearn something that wasn't much easier in the last edition.

Is Planning Center the way to go?

Commenti: Overall, I think Planning Center is a good product...when you figure something out and it does what you want it to do, it's amazing. It's just getting to that point which is the pain for the majority of the time. Because there's a different "Platform" for each area Planning Center has, "Services" "People" "Groups" "Registrations" "Check-in's" so forth...they are similar but not 1 platform.

Aspetti positivi:

There is so much that Planning Center can do. I love that there is a way to get pretty much anything I want to do done. It's also the major giant when it comes to church systems and platforms.

Aspetti negativi:

The reason I chose this software to speak to is because of a major issue I've had with planning center which is, duplicating what I'm able to do with other people. It's quite difficult replicating ALL that Planning Center can do. In my line of work, getting multiple people to do what I do is GOLD...with Planning Center, I spend a lot of my time looking at tutorial videos and in the help menu trying to figure out how to do something that I'm almost positive it can do. So, when raising up other leaders to use Planning Center, they are often left frustrated and decide to just not. Not to mention, when I have somebody in charge of Planning Center for our ministry, they usually last no longer than a year, before they burn out. The reality is, planning and working directly with volunteers is an ANIMAL in itself. Dealing with people cancelling, forgetting, double booking, or complaining is no fun job for any scheduler...so dealing with certain frustrations with Planning Center is the last thing that individual wants. So what's the solution? Perhaps share the work-load with multiple people doing the scheduling...however, we never get to that point because of the difficulty of the program to the average volunteer. It's not impossible...but it's also not easy. I consider myself pretty computer savvy and every now and again during big events I assist the scheduler for that specific event and even though I've used Planning Center off and on for years...I'm always left frustrated.

A game-changer for any church to spice up their worship planning!

Commenti: Overall, Planning Center has been a game changer for our church. It has allowed us to be more prepared, planned and efficient when practicing and performing our worship services. There are a lot of features that we don't use simply because we are a small church but there are a lot of features.

Aspetti positivi:

The music database has never not had a song we were performing. If it ever doesn't, not worries because you can add custom songs and lyrics that are automatically converted to a viewable PDF. The worship planning feature is pretty great as well. I love the drag and drop arrangement. I also love how you can add times to each song and item so you can estimate a total duration of your set. The member planning is pretty great as well. I love that you can see in real time which members invited have accepted, declined or have not responded to invitations. You can also add audio files (pads, backing tracks) that you can play on the child application Worship Stand.

Aspetti negativi:

The learning curve for this software is pretty high. After a year of using it, I still find it difficult to add songs on the iPad version. I also find that the program crashes frequently when trying to add music. Battery optimization could be worked on as well as it drains battery pretty quickly.