Why don’t you use an electronic check-in system?
It’s not that we are against an electronic check-in system. We’ve talked about it often, done a good bit of research and are experimenting with it in our middle school department.
I predict that one day we will have some form of an electronic check-in system. But currently, we do not, and we are not aggressively moving towards it.
Here is why:
1. Our current system is relational.
We are big on the “personal touch” around here. We don’t want the size of our ministry to be a deterrent to getting connected. We feel that real people can solve problems, listen and give that “above and beyond” kind of service at the door better than a computer.
I know you can have the computer AND the people at the door. Just seems like an extra step. We like to think in terms of removing obstacles.
2. Our current system is reliable.
We’ve checked out a few systems used by some pretty big ministries and both times they were down on Sunday morning! That would be a very frustrating situation for our families.
So let’s just say we’re waiting and watching to see where the technology lands.
3. It doesn’t feel like a great use of resources.
For us to make sure every classroom on every campus is equipped to check in children electronically would be a very big financial undertaking. To be perfectly honest, I would rather spend money on other things!
One thing that we do to help with the paperwork/data entry side of things is to assign every child a barcode. This barcode is printed on the roster right next to the child’s name. During the week we simply scan the barcode as we are entering attendance.
I know that there are a ton of “pros” to using an electronic check-in system. But for now, they just don’t outweigh the “cons” for us.
Why do you like your electronic check-in system?
Post written by: Kendra Fleming - Multi-campus Children’s Ministry Director
July 27th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
What is your check in process now??
July 27th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Hi Karyn!
I’ll write more details in a post soon, but for now I’ll give you the quick version.
1 - Greeter has a pre-printed roster - checks the child in
2 - Child/parent receive a 2part security tag
3 - Younger children receive a pre-printed name label w/ classroom number
4 - Parent uses the security tag to pick them up
The Greeter gets to know the families and so begins to recognize them and the process goes pretty quickly.
Hope that helps!
Kendra
August 19th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I too would like to know more about your check in process!
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:47 am
Have you written the posting about the check-in process (in more detail than the reply given here?).
September 24th, 2009 at 10:44 am
I would also like more detail on your check in. Since its not electronic, but you use the barcode system? Does this still print out the childs nametag?
Thanks,
Sean
January 3rd, 2010 at 4:36 pm
How do you print up the barcode? Is there an easy and affordable system? What computer software do you use? how do you scan it? Where do you purchase scanners? Thanks for your help. If we can figure out how to do the barcode, I might not have to spend $ on computerized check-in yet.
January 18th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
Hi Jen,
Sorry it took me so long to respond. After talking to our IT department - here’s what they told me:
As for printing the barcode: this is a function of a program that has the ability to print bar codes. There are several programs with this capability.
Easy/Affordable: there are a multitude of church software programs that have this capability. I do not have any pricing information on them. The best thing to do is to Google “Church Management software” and request pricing information on programs that are compatible with what you are looking for.
We use hand held bar code scanners. Scanners can be purchased from a variety of vendors, the important issue is to buy scanners that are compatible with whatever system you purchase. Your vendor should be able to help you with this.
Hope this helps!
K
January 21st, 2010 at 2:15 am
Hey!
we use an electronic system because we sign in about 100 kids into the one room (we don’t have smaller break out class rooms). Finding a child’s name on a list takes too long when there’s that many to sign in in the 10 minute period everyone seems to arrive. Electronic check in has been a miracle in this.
We then have our greeters on the doors to take them to where their connect group is hanging out.
We use the electronic system to help us work out where kids are and how often families attend etc. It’s a bit ‘big brother’ at times
but we’re still stabilising our team - getting every-week team is our biggest challenge at the moment. The only way to know we are catching our kids if their attendance drops off is through the system. It’s not ideal but is definitely better than not knowing at all.
If a non-electronic system is fast enough and you’ve got your volunteer/team to scan mid-week, it’s definitely more personal without it!
January 21st, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Thank you for this great feedback on an electronic check in system. I’m going to email you and get you to write a post for us on it….what do you say?
K
March 10th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Would you have a sample/copy of what your roster that the greeter uses looks like? That would be really helpful!
Thanks-
May 26th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Do you go through a lot of waste pre-printing out the labels for all your kids on your roster? Or do you keep your database system always up to date from which you merge your labels from?
I would really like to try and use labels, but not go electronic, like you…
May 26th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Hi Paula,
We do keep our data base up to date. We purge our rolls pretty consistently and if a child hasn’t attended in the last quarter we remove them.
We do waste some by printing labels - but we found it was much cheaper than maintaining permanent name tags and assigning parents a consistent number. Some of that is due to our size. If you have a smaller number of kids, it might be cheaper to make permanent tags and hand them out to parents. More complicated though!
Have a great week.
K