Types of Digital Check-In Systems

Digital check-in systems have been in use for over a decade. Over the years these systems have developed into three basic categories:

• Centralized self-service check-in
• Decentralized check-in
• Centralized attended check-in

There are pros and cons to each system. Let’s take a look at each.

Rock Solid Church Configuration

Boulder Solid Church Configuration

Service Times

Let's start with something simple by configuring our service times (schedules). You'll use the values on this list later in the check-in configuration. They are used to help determine which services are active (allow check-in) at any given time.

1 Schedule Menu Tree

Shows hierarchical list of schedules defined in Rock.

2 Schedule Name

The name to use for the schedule item.

3 Description

A brief description of what the schedule refers to and how it will be used.

4 Check-in Start/End Times

The times check-in will start (before the scheduled time) and end (after the scheduled time).

5 Edit Schedule

Click to edit the start date and time, event duration, and recurrence pattern.

1. Configure your weekend service schedules at Admin Tools > Check-in > Schedules.
2. Modify, and if needed, add additional services times to the Service Times category. If you have multiple campuses with different service times, add each unique start time to this list. If two campuses share the same start time, you should only add it once. Our suggestion is to put all campus weekend service times in this one category, Service Times.
3. Be sure to set the correct check-in start and end times. The built-in example values start check-in 30 minutes before each service begins and end 30 minutes after the start. Adjust these values to fit the needs of your organization.
4. Schedules that overlap will present the person checking in with a choice during that overlap period.
5. Click Edit Schedule to set the day, time and recurrence settings.

Taking Exception

Of course there will be times when your regularly-scheduled programming is interrupted by special events or holidays. For example, let's say there are no Saturday services on Easter weekend. You can tell Rock to ignore your regular schedule for that date. This is called an exclusion, and there are two ways to set it up. Let's check them out.

The first way to set up an exclusion is at the schedule parent category level in the main Schedules page, found at Admin Tools > Check-In > Schedules. This is an easy way to inactivate all schedules in a category for specific date ranges. In the tree navigation, select the parent category for which you want to create an exclusion, such as "Event Schedule" as shown in the screenshot above. Click the to name the exclusion and set the date parameters.

The second way to set up an exclusion is at the schedule event (or child) level. From the Schedules page, drill down in the tree navigation to the specific event you want to create an exclusion for. Click the Edit button to display the schedule details for the event, then click Edit Schedule. In the Exclusions section of the Schedule Builder page, click Add Date Range to specify the exclusion parameters.

Locations

Next, let’s configure the locations where our children meet.

1. Navigate to Admin Tools > Check-in Configuration > Named Locations.
2. Start by renaming the top-level campus.
3. Next enter each building on your campus.
4. Finally, add locations (or modify the existing ones) for each room that will need to be set up for check-in.

Areas and Groups

Rock comes with several pre-configured check-in types. Most organizations should be able to simply tweak what is already there using the following steps.

1. Navigate to the check-in configuration screen Admin Tools > Check-in > Check-in Configuration.
2. Select the Weekly Service Check-in Area.
3. Now you'll see the sample configuration for check-in. Using the worksheet you completed in the section above, modify the check-in areas to meet your organization's structure. Note that area headings are blue, with their associated groups indented below in green. If your structure is vastly different, you may want to check with other Rock organizations to ensure that you're on the right track.
4. Once you have your areas configured, move down to the groups under each area. You'll notice that groups have a green top border. For each area, configure the groups that are needed for your organization. For each group, consider and configure each of these items:
   1. Age Ranges: These are the ages of the kids who should be allowed to check in to a group. You can use 0 to 3 to specify kids who are anywhere from 0 to 3 years of age (inclusive). Another way of saying it would be, "kids who are anywhere from 0 to less than 4 years of age". When a person checks in, Rock reads the age in their profile and compares it to the group's configured age range. For the first number in the range, Rock looks for a "greater than or equal to" condition. For the second number in the range, Rock looks for ages "less than or equal to" numbers starting with the second number. So a child of age 3.9 would still match your "0 to 3" age group, since their age starts with a number less than or equal to the upper range you've configured ("3"). You can get creative with decimals if you want to be really specific, such as specifying half ages. For instance, one group configured with ages 2 to 2.4 and another group configured with ages 2.5 to 2.9 would put children who've already had their second birthday, but who are not yet 2 1/2 into the first group, and children older than that but who are not yet 3 into the second group.
   2. Grades: For groups that are based on grades, enter the valid grades for the group.
   3. Gender: Groups may be configured by gender. If a gender is selected, only individuals of that gender will be able to check in to that group.
   4. Locations: Select all of the locations where this group will meet. For multi-site organizations, you can use a single group to cover all campuses by adding the appropriate locations for each campus.
5. Next, go back to each area and select the labels you want to print for the groups in these areas. More information on configuring labels can be found below.

Settings

There are several settings that can be configured for the check-in type that control the behavior of check-in. While the default values are probably sufficient for most installations, you can change any of them to suit your particular needs. These are updated by selecting the Edit button on the Check-in Type. You get there from Admin Tools > Check-In > Check-in Configuration.

1 Name/Description

Be sure to add a detailed description. Your future self will thank you.

2 Check-in Type

This is where you select Individual vs. Family. As described in the sections above, this controls the screen flow when a family checks in. Using the Family check-in type allows a family to check-in multiple family members at one time.

3 Security Code Length

When Rock creates new security codes for labels, it will create the codes using the number of characters you specify in these fields. It will show the alpha-numeric characters first, then alpha characters, and then numeric characters. Typically you would configure just alpha-numeric characters or a combination of alpha and numeric (typically, you wouldn't use all three). We would recommend using codes that contain at least 3 characters, as you would be limiting the number of available codes with anything less than that.

4 Random Numeric Values

When using numeric values as part of the security code, should those numbers be randomly generated? If not, they will be generated in numeric order starting with 1 every day.

5 Enable Manager Option

By default the Welcome screen in check-in displays a gear that can be used by a manager to close/open rooms, override age limits, etc. If you don't want this to be available, unselect this option.

6 Enable Override

If the manager option is enabled, you can still turn off the ability to override age and grade constraints by unselecting this option.

7 Prevent Inactive People

Select this option if you do not want people who have an inactive record status to be able to check in.

8 Search Type

Select how you'd like your families to search for their family (Phone Number, Name, Name & Phone, or Family Id). Remember, using anything besides Phone Number will require that a keyboard is available at each check-in kiosk. Also keep in mind that barcode scanning, RFID check-in and any other keyboard wedge technology is ready to use from the Welcome screen regardless of which option you choose here.

9 Maximum Number of Results

When searching for a family, this is the maximum number of families that will be returned.

10 Minimum Phone Number Length

Individual will be required to enter this many digits of their phone number before being able to search.

11 Maximum Phone Number Length

Individual won't be able to enter any more than this number of digits when searching.

12 Phone Search Type

When searching for families with a matching phone number, you can elect for Rock to search for phone numbers that end with the digits that were entered, or search for any phone numbers that contains those digits (anywhere in the number). The best choice probably depends on the size of your database. If you are a large organization with tens of thousands of phone numbers, you probably want to use the "ends with" option. This will require that your families know they need to enter the last digits of their phone number.

13 Display Settings

New in v8.5, this is an advanced setting that will give you control of the output on certain steps of the check-in process.

14 Registration Settings

New in v8.5, this is an advanced setting that is explained in the Check-in Registration section.

15 Regular Expression Filter

This is an advanced setting that can be used to remove any special characters from the search string before using it to search the database. This would only be needed if your kiosks have a keyboard that can be used to enter special characters.

16 Refresh Interval

The frequency (in seconds) that the kiosks should check for any updated configurations (i.e., closing a room).

17 Age is Required

If a family member doesn't have a birthdate entered in Rock (i.e., age) should they still be able to check-in to group types and groups that have an age restriction?

18 Grade is Required

If a family member doesn't have a graduation date (i.e., grade) should they still be able to check in to group types and groups that have a grade restriction?

19 Display Location Count

When the Location Selection screen is displayed for families to choose a location to check a family member into, should that location listing display the current count of people already checked into that location?

The General Settings have a few extra options if the Check-In type is selected as Family. Below we have descriptions for those settings that only apply if you are using the Family Check-In type.

1 Auto Select Days Back

This is the number of days back that Rock will look for a previous check-in when deciding whether a family member should be selected by default when using the Family check-in type.

2 Auto Select Options

You can choose to auto select people only, or people and the location they are being checked into based on their previous check-in data. See the Auto Check-In section below for more details.

3 Use Same Code for Family

When using the Family check-in type, you can optionally have each family member's labels print with the same code by selecting this option.

4 Use Same Service Options

When using the Family check-in type users will be asked to select the area, group, location for each person and each service time they selected. If you would like families to only have to select these options once for each person (i.e. not for each service), select this option. When selected, Rock will automatically select the same area, group, and location for the other service times assuming the same options are available.

5 Hide Photos

By default the Family check-in type will display a person's photo next to their name. Select this option if you do not want any photos displayed.

7 Prevent Inactive People

Select this option if you do not want people who have an inactive record status to be able to check in.

6 Prevent Duplicate Check-in

Selecting this option will result in people not being allowed to check in during a particular service time if they have already checked into any group/location already for that same time.

Check-in Display Settings

You can also control the content of the start page, the family select list results, and what is shown when someone successfully checks in. Three new templates are inside the Display Settings section when editing a check-in configuration.

Location Schedules

Now that we have many of the details covered, we can schedule the locations and their availability. This allows you to configure check-in to only allow certain rooms to be used at specific times.

1. First head to Admin Tools > Check-in > Check-in Configuration.
2. Select the Schedule button in the lower right corner of the check-in configuration screen.
3. Now you'll see a large grid. Each combination of location/group will have a row, while each possible schedule time will have a column. To make configuration easier, you may wish to filter the locations by a specific campus or building, and/or schedules to a specific schedule category.
4. Check the check box for each schedule time when you wish to allow check-in for the specific location/group.
5. Don’t forget to click the Save button at the bottom of the screen.

Label Settings

There are a few things you can configure for labels. The default values are probably sufficient for most installations, but you can change any of them to suit your particular needs. You get there from Admin Tools > Check-In > Check-in Labels and then select the label you would like to edit.

1 Name

A unique name for the label.

2 Description

A description of the label.

3 File/Mime Type

This is where you would upload a new label file. The Creating Custom Labels section below gives an overview of how to create these files.

4 Merge Codes

The merge codes are used to map fields on the label to data retrieved from Rock. Again, the Creating Custom Labels section below describes how to set up merge codes for your labels.

5 Print For Each

When using the Family check-in mode, multiple family members can be checked in at the same time and each family member could be checking into a different location for each service time. Because of this, labels can be configured to print once per family, person or location. A 'Family' label will print once per family, a 'Person' label will print once per person, and a 'Location' label will print once for each location that a person checks into.

6 Edit Label Contents

This button allows you to edit the contents of the label. This is for advanced individuals who are able to edit the label in its native ZPL format. If you're just getting started you may want to use the ZebraDesigner program to modify your labels. We'll show this editor in the next section.

7 Reload Merge Fields

Pressing this button will reparse your label, looking for updated merge fields.

Label Editor

The label editor is for advanced users who are able to edit the label in its native ZPL format. If you're just getting started you may want to use the ZebraDesigner program to modify your labels.

1 Label Contents

The contents editor shows the raw ZPL of your label. If you're comfortable with the ZPL language you can edit the file and save it back to the database.

2 Test Print To Device

This section of the editor allows you to print the label to the selected printer device (if your server is on the same network as your printer).

3 Label Viewer

The label viewer allows you to see what your label will look like using the Labelary website. Note that this is not an exact representation of how it will print, so do a final print before you're done.

Configuring Kiosks

You can manage your check-in kiosks under Admin Tools > Check-in Configuration > Devices. Keep in mind that Rock supports multiple types of devices. Check-in kiosks are just one type. (Printers are also configured here.)

When the check-in system starts up, it lists the kiosk devices so the attendant can select which kiosk configuration to use.

It's also helpful to know that when you define a check-in kiosk configuration, it can be used on multiple physical machines at the same time. This means that when you define a check-in kiosk for use in your youth building, that definition can be used for each check-in computer in that area. Think of these configuration definitions as kiosk templates, not physical machines.

Whether you are adding a new kiosk or editing an existing one, you'll use the screen below to manage the configuration.

1 Name

The name is used at check-in startup to select the kiosk device to use for that session.

2 Description

A brief description documents the details of the configuration.

3 IP Address

Provide an IP address here if you want that address to be available for identification purposes. The Check-In Admin block checks for devices configured with the same IP address as the device being used for check-in. If it finds one, it automatically selects that device and all of the group types associated with it. Because this process is automatic, in this scenario the attendant would be taken directly to the Welcome screen, bypassing the Check-In Admin screen. On a related note, the Enable Kiosk Match By Name field in the Check-In Admin block settings searches for devices based on both IP address and hostname when looking for a matching kiosk.

4 Point/Geo-fence

This allows you to define the latitude/longitude and geo-fence of the kiosk device. This is currently not used by the kiosk device type but will be used in the future to support applications such as cellphone based check-in.

5 Print Settings

These three settings define how printing will work. Be sure to read more in the Printing section.

1. Print Using: Tells the kiosk how to determine which printer to use.
   1. Device Printer: Uses the printer defined in the Printer setting below
   2. Location Printer: Uses the printer defined for the location
   3. Group Type: Uses the print logic defined by the group type
2. Printer: If you selected Device Printer above, you will need to select a printer to print to.
3. Print From: While the previous two settings helped define where to print to, this setting determines where to print from.
   1. Client: This is the best option, but it assumes that you will be using the iPad application or Windows application. If you are running check-in inside a web-browser you won’t be able to print from the client.
   2. Server: With this option, the printing will be done from the web server. This requires the web server to be on the same network as the printer. If you are hosting Rock on an external webhost, printing from the server will not be an option.

6 Has Camera

This option must be enabled to use an iPad's built-in camera for scanning barcodes or QR codes. For more details, see the iPad Application section below. This feature is only available to iPads.

7 Camera Barcode Configuration

Select the camera configuration setting that applies best to how the Device will be used. See the iPad Application section for a description of each Camera Barcode Configuration option. This setting only applies to iPads.

8 Registration Mode

This setting allows you to turn the kiosk into a volunteer assisted, walk-up registration station where your volunteer can quickly add a person or guest to an existing family. See the chapter on Check-in Registration below for details.

9 Locations

This setting allows you to define which locations the kiosk is serving. This will limit the location options that are displayed to the guest. For centralized check-in you will want to enable all locations. Since locations are hierarchical in nature (they have parent and child locations), you can select a parent location and all of its children will also be automatically selected.

Editing Locations

Locations are edited under Admin Tools > Check-in Configuration > Named Locations. Locations are hierarchical in nature, so build them out to match the structure of your buildings. A configuration from the diagram above is shown below.

Scheduling Locations

Group/Location pairs are matched to schedules at Admin Tools > Check-in > Check-in Configuration (click the Schedule button.)

Opening / Closing Locations

We've seen how you can enable or disable a location based on a schedule. Each location also has an open/closed state. Say for instance you want the Bears Room to be used for your 9:00 am service, but need to be able to close it if it reaches capacity. Once it reaches capacity, you can close the room from the Check-in Manager (more info on this below) and it will no longer be available as an option for check-in.

Location Thresholds

In addition to simply opening and closing rooms manually, you can also configure locations to have threshold limits for the number of people that can be checked into the location at once. These limits are evaluated during check-in and once they are reached, the location will automatically stop being available as an option for people to check into.

1. Threshold: If this number is reached, check-in will not allow people to check into the location unless an attendant overrides the threshold.
2. Threshold (Absolute): Once this number is reached, check-in will absolutely not allow people to check in to the location at all, ever… even if an attendant attempts to override the threshold.

A Simple Approach to Printing

The recommended approach to printing is to always print from the client using the printer defined on the client. While this is a simple approach, it should meet the needs of most organizations.

• We recommend that you use either the iPad or Windows client application for running check-in.
• On your check-in kiosk device configuration set the Print Using setting to Device, leave the Printer setting blank and choose Client for the Print From setting. See the Kiosk section for more on these settings.
• Configure the iPad/Windows application to print to a specific printer.

Diving Deeper Into Printing

Ok, so the simple approach doesn't work. Never fear, we have many more options for you. When we break down the printing process, there are two bits of information that need to be determined: where to print and how to print. Let's look at each in detail.

Where to Print

The flowchart below breaks down the logic of how Rock determines where to print the check-in labels.

1Override

If using the iPad or Windows application, you can set a printer override that diverts all printing to the printer you define on the client.

2Devices

If the kiosk device’s Print Using is set to Device Printer, the printer defined by the kiosk device will be used. These settings can be found under Admin Tools > Check-in Configuration > Devices.

3Location

If the Print Using is set to Location, then the printer defined by the group's location will be used. The location's printer is defined under Admin Tools > Check-in Configuration > Named Locations.

4Group Type

Finally, if the Print Using is set to Group Type, then the Print Using setting of the Group Type will be considered. This setting can be configured to get the print device from the Location or the Kiosk Device. This is set under Admin Tools > General Settings > Group Types.

Quick Shortcut:

This may seem a bit complex. You might be wondering why all this is needed. If you want to get creative, these features will allow you to customize label printing so that some groups print at the device and other groups print inside the actual room. Remember to keep it simple. You can define the printer on the kiosk and forget the chart above. It'll be there when you need it.

Reprinting

We've all worked with that one volunteer or staff member whose ability to tear off the labels from the printer might not be, shall we say, their calling in life. Okay, maybe it's you…so you have a torn name tag, and we can come up with many reasons why that is an issue. Possibly you can't read a child's name, or the security pick up code is not legible. Either way, you need a solution, and we have just the thing. That's right: label reprinting.

There are two ways to reprint labels. One is through the check-in kiosk device manager (accessed by clicking the gear on the check-in Welcome page), and the other is in Check-in Manager. We will walk through both and how to enable this option.

Check-In Kiosk Device Manager

The very first thing you'll want to do is ensure Allow Label Reprinting is enabled, through a block setting on the internal page in Rock. Go to CMS Configuration > Pages > Check-In | Welcome, and edit the block settings on the Welcome block to enable or disable reprinting. It should be enabled by default, but you won't get very far if it's been disabled so it's a good idea to confirm.

After logging into the Check-In Kiosk Device Manager with a PIN, you'll see a Reprint Labels button.

Clicking on Reprint Labels takes you to the Check-In screen to type in the person's name or their phone number.

In some cases you might get more than one result. Simply click on the desired name to reprint. On the next screen, choose which tags to reprint.

After selecting the labels to reprint, hit the Print button and the confirmation screen will appear indicating that the labels have been printed.

Check out the Device Manager section of this guide for additional kiosk device manager information.

Check-In Manager

Now let's take a look at using Rock's convenient and oh-so-mobile-friendly Check-in Manager option.

Reprinting is not enabled by default for the Check-In Manager. You'll need to enable Allow Label Reprinting from the Check-In Manager Person Profile page, Person Profile block setting, located at CMS Configuration > Pages > Check-In Type > Check-in Manager > Person Profile. After enabling, you'll see a reprint button on the Check-In Manager person profile screen.

A secondary window will display, asking which labels you'd like to reprint, and to which printer to send the new tag.

After hitting the Print button you will be redirected back to the person's profile with a confirmation message.

Check out the Check-in Manager section of this guide for additional Check-in Manager information.

Setting Allergy and Legal Notes

To set an allergy or legal note on a child's record, first bring up their Person Profile page in Rock and click on the Extended Attributes tab. There you will see a section of attributes labeled Childhood Information. Click the icon to edit the values for allergies and legal attributes.

Viewing Notes at Check-In

The notes you enter above will be printed at check-in in two ways.

On the Child Label you'll see a notation that the child has an allergy or legal note in the system. Depending on the label used, the notation will be in the form of a letter ("A" for Allergy or "L" for Legal) or an icon. This label will be worn by the child and does not show the details of the allergy or legal note, for privacy reasons.

The note label will print the complete note entered above for the benefit of the volunteer assisting with child check-in.

How Ability Levels Are Stored

Ability levels are simply a person attribute that can be used as a filter to select a check-in group. If you go to the Extended Attributes tab of a Person Profile page, you’ll see the Ability Level attribute in the Childhood Information section. This is the attribute that will be considered when filtering groups. Rock comes with three ability levels configured: Infant, Crawling or Walking and Potty-Trained. You saw in the walkthrough above that an individual, or more likely their parents, could update this ability level during each check-in. You can also change the ability level behind the scenes on the Person Profile page.

Configuring Ability Levels

Not all check-in groups care about ability levels. Once you leave the preschool area they aren't that useful. (Imagine the responses you'd get if you asked high school students if they were potty-trained!) To enable ability levels, first you need to set your check-in area (the default configuration is Nursery) to inherit from Check-in by Ability Level under Admin Tools > Check-in > Check-in Configuration > Areas and Groups. This will tell all the groups in this area that they can define an ability level.

A key to ability levels is that you need to configure groups with overlapping age ranges. A child will only be able to check into the groups whose age criterion she meets, even though the parent will be presented with a list of all ability levels.

1 Inherit From

Set the group's Inherit From property to Ability Level to enable the check-in for ability levels.

Once an area has been configured to inherit from Check-in by Ability Level you'll see that the groups assigned to that area now have an Ability Level setting. This will be the filter that is used to present options to the individual during check-in.

1Ability Level

Select the groups ability level.

When Ability Levels Are Shown

Due to the potential awkwardness of the ability level selection with older children you might be wondering when the selection screen is shown. This screen is only shown when the following criteria are met:

1. The kiosk is configured to check-in for an area that inherits from Check-in Ability Levels
2. The individual being checked in matches the age ranges of the groups with ability levels.

Adding Ability Levels

Adding additional ability levels is a simple process. But you should refrain from adding too many levels because it can confuse your guests. To edit or add levels simply edit the Ability Level Defined Type Admin Tools > Check-in > Ability Levels.

Family Pre-Registration

The Family Registration block (available in v7.4 and newer only) can be used by families to pre-register before attending a service for the first time. Registering ahead of time makes the check-in process faster and easier. By default, the Family Registration block is included in the external site on the Connect page.

You can customize the Family Registration page by changing the block settings on the external site.

1 Name

Name of the registration block

2 Show Campus

Select 'Yes' to display the Campus selection field.

3 Default Campus

If the Campus selection field is displayed, you can designate a default campus to be displayed.

4 Planned Visit Date

This field determines how the Planned Visit Date field will be displayed. Select 'Hide', 'Optional' or 'Required'. The Planned Visit Date value is not saved anywhere. It is only used if launching a workflow, or it can be used in the Lava to redirect the guest after they are done completing the screen. (Note: If both the Campus and Planned Visit Date fields are hidden, the entire Visit information section will not be displayed.)

5 Family Attributes

Enter any family attributes you want displayed. The attributes will appear to the right of the Address field on the Family Registration screen. Any attributes that are configured as ‘required’ will require the guest to provide a value.

6 Allow Updates

Select 'Yes' if you want the block to automatically assume the guest who is logged in is updating information for their own family. If 'Yes' is selected, when a guest is logged in, the current names of each family member will not be editable. If 'No' is selected, the block will automatically assume a new family is being entered, regardless of whether a guest is logged in or not.

7 Auto Match

Select 'Yes' if you want the block to attempt to find a matching person in Rock when a new adult is being added, rather than creating a new person. Rock will identify a match if one (and only one) person with the same first/last name and email address matches the adult being added.

8 Connection Status

Designate the connection status to use when creating a new person.

9 Record Status

Designate the record status to use when creating a new person.

10 Workflow Types

Select any optional workflows you want to launch after the guest has entered the information. For any workflows launched, the block will set the entity for the workflow to the family that is being created. It will also try to set any of the following workflow attribute values if they exist on the workflow type:

ParentIds: A comma-delimited list of the person IDs for each adult

ChildIds: A comma-delimited list of the person IDs for each child

PlannedVisitDate: The value entered in the Planned Visit Date field

11 Redirect URL

Enter the URL you want to redirect the guest to after they are finished entering the family information. This field supports Lava, and the block will pass the following fields (in addition to common fields):

Family: The family that is being created, including adults and children

RelatedChildren: A collection of any children that are not included in the primary family

ParentIds: A comma-delimited list of the person IDs for each adult

ChildIds: A comma-delimited list of the person IDs for each child

PlannedVisitDate: The value entered in the Planned Visit Date field

12 Adult Fields

The fields in this section determine how the fields in the Adult Information section of the Family Registration screen will be displayed. Select options according to your organization’s preferences.

13 Child Fields

The fields in this section determine how the fields in the Child section of the Family Registration screen will be displayed. Select options according to your organization’s preferences.

14 Relationship Types

Select the known relationship type roles that should be displayed as an option for each child. The value ‘Child’ will always be included, even if it is not an existing known relationship type.

15 Same Immdeiate Family Relationships

Select the known relationship type roles that, if selected, should not actually create the relationship, but rather just add the child to the same family as the adults. In most cases, ‘Child’ will be the only value included in this list. Any values included in this list that are not in the Known Relationship Types list will be ignored.

16 Can Check-in Relationships

Select the known relationship type roles that, if selected, should also create an additional ‘Can Check-in’ relationship. This is only necessary if the role that is selected does not have the ‘Allow Check-in’ option.

As you can see, there are several ways to get new people into Rock. You can even turn a kiosk into a volunteer assisted, walk-up registration station to help get people registered. Read more about that in the Check-in Registration chapter.

Editing Families

Did Maddie bring her friend Alex to church with her? No problem. Adding guests of a family is a breeze with the 'Can check in' relationship. Just select the new 'Edit Family' button and add Alex with that relationship.

We've even enabled some duplicate detection so you're less likely to end up with another Alex Decker in your system.

There are a few things to note regarding duplicate detection. When adding multiple 'guest' adults, if one of them matches a person in Rock, the other new adults (and new children) will be added to that person's matching family. Also note, when a matching person is found, only non-blank field values will update the matching person's record. This will prevent accidentally clearing out a person's allergy or legal notes (for example) in the event that they didn't provide the current/correct values.

Adding Barcodes in Check-In Registration

If your organization uses barcode scanners for rapid check-in, we've also enabled these screens to know where to put the data coming from the scanner. Scanning a barcode on this screen will ensure it will automatically go into the Alternate ID field if you have enabled it (as described in the Configuration section below).

Check-in Registration Configuration

These registration features are packed with options. To configure these options follow these steps:

1. First, enable a particular device kiosk by setting its Registration Mode to 'Yes'.
2. Then open up the check-in configurator Admin Tools > Check-in Configuration > Check-in Configuration.
3. Select the configuration you want to enable registration for and then Edit.
4. Change the settings as needed and then Save.

1 Default Person Connection Status

This controls which connection status to use when creating new people (children or adults).

2 Display Alternate ID Field for Adults

If checked, a field will be shown on the adult add/edit screen that can store an alternate id (such as a key tag or barcode identifier) for that person. When enabled, scanning a barcode using a reader will capture the code into this field automatically.

3 Display Alternate ID Field for Children

If checked, a field will be shown on the Child add/edit screen that can store an alternate id. When enabled, scanning a barcode using a reader will capture the code into this field automatically.

4 Enable Check-in After Registration

This determines if the family can continue to check-in after being registered, or if they should be directed to visit a regular check-in kiosk to check-in. If unchecked, the kiosk will return back to the search mode after data entry.

5 Known Relationship Types

Select the known relationship types that should be displayed as an option for each child. The value ‘Child’ will always be included, even if it is not an existing known relationship type.

6 Same Family Known Relationship Types

Select the known relationship types that, if selected, should not actually create the relationship, but rather just add the child to the same family as the adults. In most cases, 'Child' will be the only value included in this list. Any values included in this list that are not in the Known Relationship Types list are ignored.

7 Can Check-in Known Relationship Types

Select the known relationship types that, if selected, should also create an additional 'Can Check-in' relationship. This is only necessary if the role that is selected does not have the ‘Allow Check-in’ option.

8 New Family Workflow Types

Select any optional workflows you want to launch after a new family is added. For any workflows launched, it will set the Entity for the workflow to the family group that is being created.
Note: This is only for actual new families and not families that are incidentally created as a result of adding a guest to an existing family.

9 New Person Workflow Types

Select any optional workflows you want to launch after a new individual is added to a family. For any workflows launched, it will set the Entity for the workflow to the person that is being created.

10 Required Attributes for Adults

These are attributes you want to require on the adult records. These attributes will be required regardless of their original configuration on the Person Attributes page.

11 Optional Attributes for Adults

These are attributes you want to show when adding or editing an adult. These attributes will be optional regardless of their original configuration on the Person Attributes page.

12 Required Attributes for Children

These are attributes you want to require on the child records. These attributes will be required regardless of their original configuration on the Person Attributes page.

13 Optional Attributes for Children

These are attributes you want to show when adding or editing a child. These attributes will be optional regardless of their original configuration on the Person Attributes page.

14 Required Attributes for Families

These are family attributes you want to require on the family record. These attributes will be required regardless of their original configuration on the Group Type.

15 Optional Attributes for Families

These are family attributes you want to show when adding or editing a family. These attributes will be optional regardless of their original configuration on the Group Type.

Searching for Individuals

1Results

Shows a list of matching individual search results. Next to the name is the last time the individual checked into a group in this check-in configuration type.

2Recent Check-In

Selecting an individual will show their most recent check-in dates. It will also show a list of family members and phone numbers tied to the individual.

3Parent Contact

In this case, selecting a parent allows us to get their contact information in a snap. Clicking their phone number will even dial your cell phone for you!

Texting Parents from Checkin Manager

We've all been there—there's always that poor child in the nursery that just really really needs Mom or Dad. It's easy enough, using Check-in Manager, for a volunteer to look up the parent's information, but then what? Do they have to use their personal cell phone to text them? Well, not any more.

Starting in v8.1, there is a new configuration option for this block that lets you specify a Twilio number to send texts from. Once that's configured, your volunteers who have access to Check-in Manager will have a text input box they can use to send the parent a message. Easy!

Here's what you need to make sure is set up in order for that box to show up:

• The SMS Communication Medium needs to be enabled and configured with an enabled SMS Transport (see SMS: Twilio in the Communicating with Rock manual


• As noted in the above link, you need to add at least one SMS From Value to your Defined Values


• You need to select the SMS number which will be used to send messages from Check-in Manager. To do this, go to [yourrockserver].com/checkinmanager and search for someone in your database. Click on their row to load the Check-In Manager Person Profile (the page in the above screenshot). The block settings for the block on this page include an option where you can choose one of your SMS numbers. Select one and click "Save".


• Finally, the person whose profile you're viewing needs to have a phone number with SMS enabled. If they don't, you'll see their phone numbers listed and linked for calling, but you won't see the option to send them an SMS message.

Logging In

To access the Device Kiosk simply press the gear icon at the bottom right of the main check-in screen. This will bring up the screen below.

From this screen you can get a quick view of the counts for rooms configured to this kiosk. You can also enter your PIN to access the device manager.

Device Manager

Once you're in the device manager you will see the screen below. This screen allows you to open/close rooms that have been configured for this kiosk. It also allows you to Override a child. This simply means that you can check-in a child to a room without considering the rooms age or grade ranges. When you select the Override button you will see the standard Search screen. Everything will operate the same, but the room's configured age and grade ranges will be ignored.

Schedule Locations

From the main screen above you can also choose the Schedule Locations button. This screen allows you to alter the room schedules. This is normally done in the Rock Admin screens ( Admin Tools > Check-in > Check-in Configuration > Schedules) but you can also enable/disable the schedules for the kiosk's configured rooms here too.

Chart Mode

When in chart mode, the analytics block will report back the count of the attendees who match the criteria you've provided. This is great when you're looking for numbers for a specific weekend or viewing attendance over time.

1 Attendance Type

The first step you must do is to select the type of attendance that you'd like to report. Most often you'll probably be interested in check-in data so select Weekly Service Check-in Area.

2 Date Range

The most important criteria you will provide is the date range. This date range picker is very powerful and allows you to select many different types of date ranges. To help reduce confusion, the label above it shows the exact dates that are currently being used for the filter.

3 Group By Setting

This determines how the attendance data should be grouped for the graph. Typically, this will be by week, but you may want to get a monthly or yearly graph too.

3 Schedules

Use this dropdown menu if you want to filter by specific schedules, such as only Sunday morning services. Select multiple times or events by clicking on them. Leave it blank if you don't want schedules to be included in your filter.

5 Campuses

If your church has multiple campuses, you can select the one you're currently interested in.

6 Groups

Next you can filter which check-in groups (usually age ranges) you'd like to view in your analysis. If your organization has a lot of groups, you can change the block settings to display your groups as a dropdown menu, which makes finding and selecting groups easier. To learn how to change this display, see Configuring Attendance Reporting Block Settings below.

7 Limit By Data View

This is an advanced setting that allows you to apply even more filter options to your criteria. For instance, let's say you only want to report on girls. You could easily make a data view with this gender filter and use it here to only show girls.

8 Copy Link

Did you configure the attendance analytics block to provide the perfect snapshot of your attendance? Want to share that with a colleague? The Copy Link button lets you do exactly that.

9 Update

Since the block has to crunch through a ton of data to show its results, the graph will only refresh when you click the Update button.

10 Graph By

Sometimes you may want to only see one series on your graph (the Total option) but other times you'd like to see multiple series. This setting allows you to configure what types of series you'd like displayed.

11 Graph

Yep...this is the graph.

12 Show Data

Sometimes you want a pretty picture, other times you need raw data. The good news is that you can have both!

Attendee Mode

Now that you see how you can see how to get numbers, let's look at how you can see the individuals who make up those numbers. Clicking the Attendees button will hide the graph and show you the individuals behind the data.

Much of the block works in the same way as the graph mode, but here are a few of the differences.

1 Filter

The filter allows you to show all the attendees or special attendees. We discuss these filters in detail below.

2 Return Type

Sometimes you want the attendees (usually children) but other times you want to convert the list to the parents (or children) of the attendees.

3 Columns

If you look carefully, you'll notice that the number and types of columns change based on your criteria. Normally you'll see a column for each week in the date range with a checkmark if they attended that week. If you select to Group By month or year however, it will show a column for that period type instead.

Filters

By Visit

Many times you'll want to filter out only the first-time visitors. That's easy! Just use the By Visit filter. You can select from the first to fifth visits.

Note that the date range is important to this filter. It will show anyone who has had a first visit during the provided range.

You'll also notice a No visit option at the end. This will show members of the selected groups that did not attend at all during the selected date range. Keep in mind though that children are not members of most weekend service groups. This option is more for small groups or service groups that children are members of.

Ministry Idea:

Hopefully you're already seeing that this filter provides an easy way to send emails or letters to parents of first-time visitors.

Pattern

Perhaps you want to find kids who have stopped coming or maybe who come often. The pattern filter can help with either case.

As you can see, you can filter by certain attendance and non-attendance patterns.

Configuring Attendance Reporting Block Settings

You can configure the Attendance Reporting block to service other type of check-in scenarios, such as volunteer or serving team check-in. In the Group Types section, select which group types you want to use for your analytics. Ensure that the group type you select is a top-level type that contains the groups you wish to report on.

Attendance Reporting block settings is also where you can choose whether to display all of the groups in your organization as a list on the screen, or to use a group dropdown menu instead. If you want to use a dropdown menu, select No in the Show All Groups field.

Group Specific Attendance Analytics

There are additional Attendance Reporting block settings that allow you to filter data by a specific group ID, as well as additional display options. This option is intended for group leaders to use as part of their Group Leader toolbox.

Selecting a specific group in the Group Specific field will tell the block to only display attendance for that group. When a group ID is used, the Merge People, Bulk Update, and Merge Document options on the Attendance Analytics screen will be hidden.

The Show Schedule Filter, Show Campus Filter, and Show View By Option settings give you control over whether or not these options are displayed on the Attendance Analytics screen.

Check-In Detail

This button will take you to the attendance data that drives the analytics. This allows you to edit the data.

Help

We've provided a lot of built-in help to this block to assist you in remembering all of these details. When in doubt, open this panel up.

Defining Printers in Rock

To add printers in Rock for selection when configuring locations, group-types or kiosks, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the Devices page under Admin Tools > Check-in Configuration > Devices.
2. Select a printer device to edit or add a new printer.
3. From the device details screen:
   1. Give your printer a name.
   2. Provide the IP address for your printer.
   3. Select the device type of Printer.

Now that your printers are defined, you can configure them to be used on either locations Admin Settings > Check-in Configuration > Named Locations or kiosks Admin Settings > Check-in Configuration > Devices.

Known Relationships

From a Person Profile page, you can define Known Relationships. The Allow Check In relationship allows you to grant check-in rights to a person outside of a child's immediate family.

To add a known relationship to an individual, complete the following steps:

1. Go to the Person Profile page for the child.
2. Click the [+] button on the Known Relationship block.
3. Select the Relationship Type of Allow Check-in by.
4. Select the person who should be allowed to check the child in.
5. Click the Save button.

After following these steps, anyone in the family of the person you selected will be allowed to check in the child. You may notice that the inverse relationship (can check in) is automatically added to the adult.

Adding Check-In Abilities to Other Known Relationships

Rock ships with several other Known Relationships such as grandparent, step-parent, etc. Out-of-the-box these relationships do not have check-in rights applied to them. You can easily change that behavior by following the steps below:

1. Navigate to Admin Tools > General Settings > Group Types > Known Relationships.
2. Select the role you would like (under Roles) to add check-in capabilities to.
3. Select Yes under Can Check-in.
4. Click the Save button on the role dialog and then Save again on the Group Type screen.

iPad Application

While the normal check-in screens run really well in mobile Safari, we have created a native iPad application to host the check-in experience. This application can be downloaded for free from the Apple App Store The application displays the same Rock check-in screens as the browser but also adds the ability to print straight from the iPad to your network-connected printers. The application can also cache the labels, which increases check-in performance.

Configuration

After installing the application from the App Store and running it for the first time, you'll be prompted to enter the address of the check-in start page you want to use for the application. For most organizations this address will be http://[your-rock-server]/checkin.

Navigating Complex Configurations:

Organizations with multiple check-in configurations might want to point to a simple navigation page that allows the individual to select the check-in configuration on load.

Once you provide this address, all subsequent launches will load this address on startup. If you want to modify this address later, or access advanced configuration settings, you can select Settings on your iPad and scroll down to the Rock Check-in application settings. From there you can adjust the following settings.

Setting	Description
Check-in Address	This is the initial page that will load when the application launches.
Enable Label Caching	This setting will cache the loading of check-in labels, which keeps them from being downloaded on each check-in.
Cache Duration	This determines how often the labels will be re-downloaded. The cache can also be expired by stopping the application and restarting.
Camera	Select whether the iPad should use the front or the rear camera for scanning barcodes. See the iPad Barcode Scanning section below for details on enabling this feature.
Camera Exposure	Adjust the exposure as needed to ensure the image is not too bright or too dark.
UI Colors	You can easily customize the background and foreground colors of the camera feature by adjusting these settings.
Printer Override	This setting has the effect of always printing from the iPad to the printer IP address you provide.
Bluetooth Printing	Determines if the Printer Override setting contains a Bluetooth printer name or an IP address for WiFi printing.
Enable in Application Settings	Enables or disables the 5-finger long press gesture to get to the in-app settings screen.

Bluetooth Printing

The iPad Application supports Bluetooth Low Energy printing to supported Zebra printers. As of this writing, these are the ZQ300, ZQ500, ZD400, ZD600 and ZT600 series printers. Zebra also has some older “Bluetooth Classic” printers, but these are not supported. If you are thinking of buying bluetooth printers, try just one first to make sure everything works before you buy them all. To configure the use of a Bluetooth printer you need to use the in-app settings screen.

While you are in the Rock Check-in app, press 5 fingers on the screen for 2 seconds. When you enable Bluetooth Printing a list will appear that contains nearby Bluetooth devices. Select the name of the Bluetooth printer and it will auto-fill the Printer Override setting for you.

Note About iPad Restrictions:

It's not uncommon when using iPad kiosks to "lock down" the ipad as much as possible via the use of iPad Restrictions, to prevent individuals from changing the configuration or using it in a way that wasn't intended. We have discovered a minor issue in iOS 10 where restricting the use of Safari Browser prevents the Rock check-in app from working properly. (Check-in worked fine in iOS 9 and earlier.) So be aware that you won't be able to disable the use of Safari when running iOS 10 or newer if you want the Rock app to function.

iPad Barcode Scanning

You can use an iPad’s built-in camera to scan barcodes or QR codes for check-in. This speedy option is easy to set up and comes with a variety of customization options.

To start, make sure that you have at least one Device set up with the camera feature enabled as shown below. See the Configuring Kiosks section for full details on setting up a Device. Remember, a single Device configuration can be used on multiple physical machines at the same time.

1 Has Camera

This option must be enabled to use a camera for scanning barcodes or QR codes with the selected Device.

2 Camera Barcode Configuration

Select the camera configuration setting that applies best to how it will be used:

• Off: If selected, the camera will be off and can’t be used for check-in.
• Available: This will add a button to the Welcome screen, allowing the person to choose between scanning a code or providing a phone number to proceed with check-in.
• Always On: Select this option to require scanning for every check-in. The camera feature will activate immediately when the Welcome screen is accessed.
• Passive: With this setting the camera is always on, but the camera view isn’t shown on the screen. In this case, the individual will have to know to place the barcode into the camera’s field of view.

If a Camera Barcode Configuration option is not chosen in the Device settings, then the Welcome block’s settings will be used by default. Those settings can be changed by navigating to Admin Tools > CMS Configuration > Pages > Check-In > Welcome and editing the Welcome block.

In-App Camera Settings

There are more camera options you can set within the iPad application itself. See the Configuration section above for details.

Now that Rock knows about your camera, you’re ready to start using it.

If a camera-enabled device is selected in the Administration Screen, the configuration settings described above will impact what you see next. We’ll start with the Available option, which adds a button to the Welcome screen as pictured below.

When the barcode button is tapped in Available mode, the camera will activate and look for a code to scan.

If Always On has been selected, you’ll be taken directly to the camera view pictured above immediately after moving past the Administration screen.

The code being scanned should be placed within the semi-transparent brackets to be read properly.

If the Passive setting is used then the barcode button will still appear on the Welcome screen as a reminder that scanning is available, but tapping it will not take you to the camera view page pictured above. The person scanning the code will need to know where to position it.

Changing the Barcode Button

The barcode button can be customized in the application’s Configuration, or by modifying the Check-in Display Settings.

When the Off setting is used, the process will be the same as if the camera were disabled. The barcode button will not appear, and the camera will not activate.

After a valid code has been scanned, the check-in process will continue according to your overall setup.

Windows Client

If you're planning on running the check-in kiosk on a PC platform, the Windows Client provides a simple and powerful hosting experience. The client application can be downloaded from your Rock install under Admin Tools > Power Tools > External Applications.

Closing the Windows Client

After pressing the Start button, the check-in application will load the initial check-in screen. When you are ready to exit, simply tap or click in the upper left corner of the screen six times in three seconds to close the application.

URL Parameters

By specifying additional parameters in the URL of the check-in site it's possible to pass additional information or override the default behavior of check-in. For example, if your check-in url is examplechurch.com/checkin, you could use the url examplechurch.com/checkin/2/14/18,19 to load the kiosk with the id of 2, use the check-in configuration with an id of 14, and the group types with the id of 18 and 19. This is really useful if you have specific devices that only ever load the same configuration. It's also possible to override the theme by appending a ?theme parameter to the end of your address, for example examplechurch.com/checkin?theme=CheckinBlueCrystal. These parameters are configured using Routes, which you can learn more about in the Designing and Building Websites Using Rock guide.

How Areas Assist With Configuration

The check-in system is a rich pairing of Rock's workflow engine and groups system. Under the hood, Areas are really just Group Types while check-in groups are, well, Groups. Before continuing on with this section we highly recommend you stop and read the Rock Your Groups guide to get a solid background on Rock's group capabilities, paying special attention to the Group Types section. Don't worry, we'll wait...

Now that you have a good understanding of groups and group types let's continue. Since check-in areas determine the group types for their groups, you can configure attributes for the groups by modifying the area group type. That's a mouthful, but it will make more sense when you look at the group types under Admin Tools > General Settings > Group Types. Here you'll see each of the areas you've defined using the check-in configuration screens. If you click on them you'll see some familiar attributes like Age Range and Grade Range. The check-in configuration screens are really a simplified group type and group editor especially designed for check-in. You could do all of the configuration using the normal group type editor and group viewer, but it would be much more difficult.

Using Group Type Inheritance

Imagine what a pain it would be to have to add attributes like Age Range to every new check-in group you create. Make one typo and your check-in might break. That's where group type inheritance comes to your aid.

You'll notice that there are some pre-configured group types called Check-in by Age, Check-in by Grade and Check-in by Ability Level. You can probably guess by their names what each one does. If you're sharp (and we know that you are) you may have also noticed that these group types have a purpose defined as Check-in Filter. A group type’s Purpose is really just a way of telling you what it's used for. In this case, giving a group type the purpose of Check-in Filter helps Rock know when to show it on certain screens. Nothing magic, we promise.

Now you can start to see how check-in is knitted together behind the scenes. You might be asking, "I get the inheritance but what if I need a group to inherit from more than one group type?" Brilliant! We have that same problem, too. You might notice that groups like Jr High have a need for both the Age Range attribute AND the Grade Range attribute. But a group type can inherit from only one group type.

From your reading in the Rock Your Groups guide, you may remember the concept of group type hierarchies. In this case, both the Check-in by Grade and Check-in by Ability Level inherit from Check-in by Age. So areas that inherit from them get the attributes from both. This complicated behind-the-scenes concept really serves to keep things simple for you.

Creating New Themes

While standard themes might work for many organizations, some may wish to create a custom theme. This is pretty simple if you have some web design experience. Follow the steps below:

1. Download our Photoshop PSD check-in theme design template from: http://storage.rockrms.com/resources/Check-in-Template-v1_0_0.psd
2. Edit this template by:
   1. Changing the background to an image of your choosing. It should be a retina-sized image (2696 x 2048).
   2. Changing the colors on the assets (buttons, headers, etc.) to suit your needs and compliment your background colors.
   3. Hiding the assets layer and saving the background to your desktop as background@2x.jpg.
   4. Re-sizing the file to 50% and saving this to your desktop as background.jpg.
3. Go to the RockWeb\Themes\ folder on your server (or better yet - development environment) and make the following edits:
   1. Make a copy of the existing CheckinPark\ theme folder (along with its subfolders).
   2. Overwrite the two background images in the \Assets\Images\ folder with the ones you created earlier. We recommend giving the images new names to avoid caching conflicts with previous themes. Make sure the new file names are correctly specified in the theme settings at Admin Tools > CMS Configuration > Themes.
   3. Edit the \CSS\checkin-theme.less and change the fonts and colors of the named assets (the things you modified in the PSD) found in the Variables section of the file.
   4. If you need additional styling, put your changes in the Custom Overrides section of the file.
   5. Compile your Less into CSS.
4. Test your theme by appending '?theme=' to the address of one of your check-in pages.

Installing ZebraDesigner

ZebraDesigner is a WYSIWYG design tool for designing ZPL-formatted labels. While Zebra has several different versions of the software the free ZebraDesigner has everything you'll need to make labels.

To install Zebra Designer, follow these steps:

1. Download the ZebraDesigner Software.
2. Run the setup, selecting all of the defaults.
3. Launch the application. The first time it's run, it will ask you to install a ZDesigner print driver. Select the Add Printer button to add this driver.
4. Walk through the wizard steps until you reach the Select Printer screen. Here, select the printer model you'll be working with.
5. Next, you'll need to pick the port where the printer is attached. While it's easier to select a printer connected through USB, connecting to one via IP would allow it to also be used from Rock. To connect it via IP, first get the IP address of the printer (press and hold the feed button until it flashes once, then release. A network configuration label should be printed that lists the printer’s IP.) Next, press the Add Port... button and type in the IP address in both the Port Name and IP Address Field. Finally, press OK. Select this new port and click Next.
6. Double check that the Launch installation of Zebra Font Downloader Setup Wizard is checked and click Next.
7. Walk through the setup wizard.
8. Congratulations! ZebraDesigner is now installed. You should now be able to open the program, select a default label and print it to the printer you configured.

For more information, read the ZebraDesigner User Guide (note: this guide covers both the basic and pro versions).

Creating Your First Basic Label

Follow the steps below to create a simple check-in label. We'll talk about more advanced features in just a bit:

1. Open ZebraDesigner.
2. Choose to Create a new label (or create a new blank label by selecting File > New from the menu).
   1. You can skip the Select Stock screen (this option is to select the type of sticker you are using, such as selecting a paper weight/finish for a regular printer.)
   2. On the Page Size screen, enter the size of your labels (often 4x2).
   3. Select the print orientation of your label on the Label Layout screen. (It might seem counter-intuitive, but you need to select the portrait orientation. Trust us, we went through stacks of labels figuring this out.)
   4. Make sure you uncheck Rotated or the labels will print upside down.
   5. Finally, enter your label canvas height and width (4x2) and click Finish.
   You should now have a blank label.
3. Add a text field to the label:
   1. Click the Text button on the left side of the screen, and click on the blank label in the approximate place you'd like to place the text object you're creating.
   2. A text wizard pops up; choose Fixed text.
   3. Enter your church name in the box.
   4. Make sure the font is set to Zebra 0 and sized to 18pt.
   5. Click Finish and your brand-new text object is placed on the label. You can move it around or resize it (a word to the wise: it's best to define the font size when you create the object&emdash;resizing after you place the object can lead to undesirable effects later when you use the label in Rock).
4. Add an additional text field to the label with "NickName" as the text, set to 24 pt. and again, using the zero font.
5. Print your label to the printer to see the result.
6. Save your label as a .lbl (ZebraDesigner) file for future edits.
7. When you're satisfied with your creation, create the ZPL file (which will export with the extension of .prn) for the label by printing again, but choosing Print to File on the print screen. When you click Print, the save dialog will be displayed. Save the file, remembering the name you gave it (and where you put it).

Add Your Label to Rock

Now we'll add our new label to Rock. Open the Rock Check-in Label page under Admin Tools > Check-in Configuration > Check-in Labels.

Click [+] to add a new check-in label. Once you upload the ZPL file (.prn) you should see the merge field list open, showing the text fields you created. Link the NickName merge code from your label to the Nick Name merge field in Rock. Delete the field that contains your church's name (since it's just text, and not a merge field).

Your simple label is now ready to be used in Rock. To use it, follow these steps:

1. Open up the check-in configurator Admin Tools > Check-in Configuration > Check-in Configuration.
2. Determine the check-in configuration type you want to add it to (e.g., Weekly Service Check-in Area) and click on the check-in area you want to add the label to.
3. Add the label to the list of labels on the right side by clicking the [+] button and choosing your new label from the drop-down list. Click Add.
4. Click the Save button to complete the configuration.

Your new label should now print with every check-in to that area.

Merge Fields

You might be wondering where that merge field came from and what others are available for your use. We like the way you think! Merge fields are created as Defined Values under Admin Tools > Check-in > Label Merge Fields. There you will see all of the merge fields currently set up. Pretty much everything you see on the built-in labels is a merge field. You'll also see that merge fields are simple fragments of Lava matched to a keyword.

For instance the Birthday Icon merge field is simply:

            {% if Person.DaysToBirthday <= 7 %}B{% endif %}
            

This Lava looks at the birthdate of the person checking in and if it's within seven days it prints the letter 'B' (or a birthday present icon) if the Rock icon font is installed on the printer).

You can see a list of all of the fields available for you to use in your Lava by pressing the Show/Hide Merge Fields button of the defined type. Impressive, isn't it?

Adding a Person Photo

If you need a photo in your nametag, you can use your newly-acquired custom label knowledge to make it happen. Just follow the steps below:

1. As described in the last section, add a new Label Merge Field (Defined Type) with a value of Person Photo and a MergeField containing the Lava "{{ Person | ZebraPhoto }}".
2. Photos are always printed as squares; you can adjust the size by adding the length of one side as a parameter in the merge field Lava: {{ Person | ZebraPhoto:'203' }}. This would print a photo one inch by one inch on a 203-dpi printer. Coming soon: the ability to rotate your photos.
3. While editing your custom label's ZPL file (.prn), add two new lines exactly like in this snippet (anywhere between the ^LL and ^XZ commands):

   ^LL812
   ...
   ^FDPhoto^FS
   ^FO25,68^XGR:LOGO.PNG^FS
   ...
   ^XZ
                   

4. The first line performs the magic of downloading and storing the photo in the printer's memory, and the second recalls it from memory and places it on the label. (25,68) is the coordinate of the upper left corner of the printed image (you can adjust this to place the image where you want it on the label).
5. Lastly, when you upload your new check-in label's ZPL file (.prn) into Rock, link the Photo on the label to the Person Photo merge field.

The photo of the person checking in should now appear on the label when they check in. You can find more details on the ZebraPhoto Lava filter in the Person section of the Lava documentation.

Best Practices and Lessons Learned

Creating labels is easy using the ZebraDesigner software. Below are a few best practices to help you create the highest quality labels:

• When you're working with images, be sure to make the image the exact size you want on the label (do not stretch or shrink it.) The best way to achieve this is to create the label first in Photoshop. Set your Photoshop file to be the same size in inches as your label with a DPI of 203. If you adjust the image size in the Zebra Designer you’ll get a bad case of the jaggies (a pixelated look).
• Only use embedded printer fonts. These fonts are noted with a small printer icon in the ZebraDesigner font picker. If you would like to use a different font be sure to upload it to the printer. (Note: You’ll need to do this to each printer that will be used in the check-in process.) For instructions on how to do this, see the section Installing Fonts on Zebra Printers.
• If you create some truly custom labels, you will likely run into issues with things like centered or justified text. There is a bug in ZebraDesigner where the size of a field on the rendered (.prn file) label is incorrect (even though it looks perfect in the Designer app), and you end up with a jumble of text printed over itself when trying to print the label. If you run into this issue, you can edit the label's ZPL directly via the Edit Label Content button after uploading your label into Rock under Admin Tools > Check-in Configuration > Check-In Labels This lets you play with the field's coordinates and length and see your changes in real time until you get it right.

Serving Groups

Serving groups are one of the pre-configured group types in Rock. There are many benefits to having people check in when they serve. To help you gather that data, we've configured the serving groups to allow check-in. All you need to do is provide two settings for each group to help Rock know where and when to allow check-in. Let's take a look at how to do this.

1Navigate

Edit the group from People > Group Viewer.

2Open The Details

Expand the Meeting Details panel and click the button if no location has been set, or the button if one has.

3Location

Select a Location for the meeting spot. This will be used to help determine which kiosk device should handle the check-in. It’s best to choose a broad location (like a campus instead of a specific room), because this allows your group to be visible to the check-in kiosk without a lot of extra configuration. See how we're saving you all this time?

4Schedule

Select a Schedule to determine when the check-in should be active.

Voila! Your serving group is now ready for checking in.

Configuring New Group Types for Check-in

Now that you've seen the power of the dark-side how serving groups can check in, we bet you're wondering how to configure other group types for check-in. Just follow these steps.

1Name

Edit your group type under Admin Tools > General Settings > Group Types.

2Location Selection

Configure the Location Selection Modes to use Named Locations.

3Location Schedules

Make sure Enable Location Schedules is enabled.

4Location Type

Add the Location Type of Meeting Location.

Once enabled, you'll still need to add the meeting details just like we illustrated in the Serving Groups section above.

Well done. You are now a check-in whiz. You can properly configure check-in for any group type.

Got Labels?

Do you have a group of a type that doesn't usually print labels that needs labels printed? Rock has you covered. There is an advanced option that allows you to print labels for group types that don't typically print labels at check-in. To learn more about this feature, see the Appendix - Advanced Options section below.

Rapid Attendance Entry Block Settings

It’s easy to see that there’s a lot more to Rapid Attendance Entry than entering attendance. But to truly understand all your options for this feature, we’ll need to dive into the block settings. There are a lot of settings to cover, so we’ll break it down into a few parts.

1 General Settings

Here you can update the name of the block. You can also change the pages that individuals will be taken to when attempting to add a new family or view attendance list data.

2 Enable Attendance

Because there’s so much that can be done on this page, you might choose to disable the attendance feature entirely. This could be useful if you’re adding this block to a custom page that should only be used for entering contact cards or prayer requests.

3 Current Parent Group

You can limit which groups are available for attendance entry by designating a parent group. Only groups that are listed under the selected parent group will be selectable.

4 Attendance Group

By selecting a group here, you can limit the block to only allow attendance entry for the selected group.

5 Show Can Check-In Relationships

If enabled, individuals who have a “Can check in” Known Relationship to the selected person will be available for attendance entry.

6 Attendance Age Limit

Individuals younger than the age provided here cannot be marked as having attended. This can be left as zero to allow attendance for individuals of any age.

1 Family Attributes

If you have any family attributes set up, you can choose what should appear when editing family information. Those attribute values can be changed while editing the family.

2 Family and Individual Header Lava Templates

You can edit this Lava to change what information about a person or family is displayed, or to change how the information is displayed. You probably won’t need to update this, but it’s an option if you’re familiar with Lava.

3 Adult Phone Types

The phone types you select here will be made available for view or edit when editing an adult individual’s information.

4 Adult Person Attributes

The selected attributes will be available when editing an adult’s person information.

5 Show Communication Preferences (Adults)

If this is set to “Yes” then the communication preference for adult individuals can be seen and changed when editing the individual’s information.

6 Child Phone Types

The phone types you select here will be made available for view or edit when editing a child’s person information. Always use caution when adding phone numbers for children, and be sure you’re familiar with Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) compliance standards.

7 Child Person Attributes

The selected attributes will be available when editing a child’s person information.

8 Child Allow Email Edit

If enabled, a child’s email address will be available for display and edit. Always use caution when adding email addresses for children, and be sure you’re familiar with Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) compliance standards.

1 Note Types

Select which types of notes can be used. If multiple types are allowed, then the person entering attendance will choose which one to use. If nothing is selected then the page cannot be used to enter notes.

2 Enable Prayer Request Entry

You can choose to enable or disable prayer request entries on the page by changing this setting.

3 Enabled Urgent Flag

Set whether the “Urgent” flag can be selected.

4 Show Public Flag

Set whether the request can be marked as “Public” from the page.

5 Expires After (Days)

Set the number of days before the request is expired.

6 Default Category

You can optionally provide a default prayer category into which the request will be grouped. If category selection is not enabled (see below) then this will be the category into which all requests from this page will be grouped.

7 Display to Public

If enabled, all requests will be set to “Public” by default. This can be changed for individual requests if the public flag is configured to be shown.

8 Default Allow Comments

Set whether or not prayer requests entered here should allow comments.

9 Enable Category Selection

This controls whether the person entering the prayer request can choose a category, or change the default category if one has been configured.

10 Workflow List Title

This allows you to create a custom title that appears above the available workflow types. You can change this to match the wording on a contact card.

11 Workflow Types

Select one or more workflows that can be launched from the page. See details above.

Attendance Self Entry In Detail

In the above example, Ted was logged in to the external website. That’s how Rock was able to find him and his family. There’s a little more to the process if Rock doesn’t know who the person is.

In this section, we’ll walk through the full attendance self-entry process for Alisha. Alisha is new to the organization and is watching an online service with her family for the first time. Rock can’t track attendance for someone who’s not in the system, so we’ll ask her for some basic information to get started.

1 Person Information

At a minimum, the person is required to provide their first and last name. The remaining fields are optional by default, but you can make them required in the block settings.

2 Login

This area provides an opportunity for the person to log in. Logging in lets the person skip to the last step of the process and helps ensure attendance is being added for the right people.

3 Next

After clicking Next, Alisha’s information is compared to person records in the system. If a match is found, then Rock will automatically add the person’s family on the next page (see screenshot below). If a match isn’t found, then a new record will be created for Alisha using the information she provided.

On the next page, Alisha is asked to provide similar information for anyone who's joining her. Because Alisha is new to the church and doesn’t have a record in Rock, she’ll need to add each of her family members manually. Ted Decker is joining the Marble family for this service, so Alisha will need to add him too.

Pictured below, Alisha is adding Ted Decker as an ‘Online Watcher’ to indicate that Ted is watching with her and her family. For those who are curious, ‘Online Watcher’ is a Known Relationship in Rock and is used to connect these individuals to each other.

As many watchers as needed can be added by clicking the Add Additional Individual button. Each new person is added to the list on the right, where we can see Alisha has already added Bill and Matthew.

1 Adding Other Watchers

The person filling out the form can select a Spouse, Child or Online Watcher to add to the list of attendees. The next section below explains how to change these options. An individual can only have one Spouse, but as many other types of watchers as needed.

2 Currently Listed

The people listed here will be available for check-in on the next page. It’s important to note that this list isn’t meant to actively track who is watching an individual service on a given day. For instance, if someone is hosting a watch group then all of the planned participants should be added here, regardless of that day’s attendance.

3 Remove Remembered Watchers

Watchers that the person has added can be removed by hovering over the person’s name and clicking the “X” icon that appears. Family members (Spouse or Child) can’t be removed from this list.

After everyone has been added to the list, the person clicks Next to proceed. Because she’s new, Alisha is prompted to create an account so she can log in next time and save herself a few steps.

Account creation is optional, but should be encouraged. Whether or not the person creates an account, they can proceed by clicking the Next button.

The last step, pictured below, is where Alisha will indicate who is watching the current service. Rock assumes that everyone who was added in the prior step is still watching, so everyone from her list is selected. Individuals can be de-selected here if they’re no longer watching.

This is the last step in the process for Alisha, but you might recall from the start of the chapter that it was the first step for Ted. Any identified or authenticated person will always start on this page.

1 Attendee Selection

Everyone from Alisha’s list is watching the current service, so everyone is selected. Any person can be deselected by clicking inside the blue box, indicating that they aren’t watching this service.

2 Adjust Remembered Watchers

Rock remembers the people who have watched a service with you, and will keep your list from one service to the next. Alisha can remove Ted from the list, or add new people, by clicking this link. This takes the person to the same page described above.

3 Check-in

After the current service’s participants have been selected, the Check-in button is used to add their attendance for the service.

After Alisha clicks Check-in, the below page confirms that the attendance has been successfully submitted.

It’s important to note that this process has created person and family records in Rock for Alisha and her family. Ted already had a record, otherwise one would have been created for him too. This is required because a person needs to be in Rock for their attendance to be added.

The Attendance Self Entry Block

Now that you’re familiar with the process, let’s take a closer look at the Attendance Self Entry block itself. This block handles the entire process from start to finish, so there are a lot of configuration options to cover. We’ll break down the block’s settings into pieces below.

First, there’s some terminology you should know. The block’s settings refer to a Primary Person, who is the person that’s filling out the form. In the prior section, Alisha Marble was the Primary Person. There are also settings for Other Person, which apply to anyone other than the Primary Person.

1 Check-in Configuration

You may have noticed in the prior section that Alisha never provided information about the service she was attending. The block uses the check-in configuration selected here to know where to add attendance automatically. See below for more details.

2 Primary Person Options

This set of options lets you customize what information you can collect from the primary person. The primary person is always required to provide their first and last name at a minimum, so there aren’t settings for those fields.

3 Other Person Options

These options apply to the information gathered for people other than the primary person. Like the primary person, a first and last name must be provided. The Email and Mobile Phone fields are not shown when a Child is being added.

As noted above, Rock uses the Check-in Configuration setting to know where to add attendance. There’s some complex logic behind how this works, which we won't get into here. In short, the block looks for the appropriate service by comparing the selected check-in configuration to the time when the person is checking in. For instance, Rock will automatically determine that the person checking in at 9:55am is watching the configured 10:00am service.

Pictured below are the next set of configuration options for the Attendance Self Entry block.

1 Known Relationship Types

The Known Relationship types you add here will appear as options in the Relation field described in the prior section. Also, the people with whom the primary person has these relationships will automatically be added to their list of watchers. For instance, if we added “Sibling” then Alisha’s brothers and sisters would automatically be added to Alisha’s list.

2 Redirect URL

At the end of the process, when the primary person clicks the Check-in button, you can optionally direct them to a different page by providing a URL here. If this is blank, the confirmation page shown in the prior section is displayed.

3 Check-in Button Text

The Check-in button can be assigned a different name by changing it here.

4 Workflow

You can optionally launch a workflow when the person finishes the check-in process. The primary person will be passed to the workflow, along with information about the group and schedule. For full details, see the help text (the icon) for this setting in Rock.

5 Hide Individuals

You can place age or grade restrictions on the people who appear in the list of attendees. For instance, you can prevent anyone under the age of 18 from being selected for attendance in the service.

The last set of configuration options lets you change the text that’s shown near the top of each attendance entry panel. As pictured below, you can edit the Title and Text for each panel described in the prior sections.

1 Unknown Individual Panel 1

This is the first panel someone sees if they’re not identified or authenticated. It’s helpful to indicate why the information is being collected, so people are less concerned about sharing their personal information.

2 Unknown Individual Panel 2

This panel is where the primary person can add or remove other watchers. Both new and returning individuals can access this panel, so avoid phrases like “Welcome Back!” that don’t apply to everyone.

3 Unknown Individual Panel 3

The title and text of the account creation panel can be changed here. This panel won’t appear for people who are logged in, so only applies to new attendees.

4 Known Individual Panel 1

This is the panel where the current service’s attendees are selected. In many cases, this will be the only panel a returning person sees.

5 Known Individual Panel 2

After clicking the Check-in button, this is the confirmation panel that displays. This configuration doesn't apply if you’ve also configured a Redirect URL as described above.

You might have noticed the Lava in the title for Known Individual Panel 1. That’s right, you can personalize the experience by adding Lava to any panel’s Title or Text content. Remember, not all the panels will know who the person is.

Configuring by Birthdate (Version 6.2)

Configuring check-in by age range means less work for you when it comes to managing groups. Students simply move up into the next age group or grade without you having to update group names. There may be situations, though, where you want to check in groups by birthdate range, such as when you want to keep a group of children together as they get older. While this configuration allows groups to move together, it will require the group names to be continually updated as the grade level of the group changes.

To configure check-in groups by birthdate range, follow these steps:

1. Go to Admin Tools > Check-in > Check-in Configuration
2. Select the configuration you want to modify.
3. In the Areas and Groups section, click the Area of the group you want to modify. Rock displays the check-in options for that area.
4. From the Inherit from dropdown menu, select either Check in by Age or Check in by Grade. Either option will display the birthdate range option in the group.
5. Click Save.
6. In the Areas and Groups section, click the group you’re modifying. The birthdate range option will now be displayed in the Check-In section.
7. Select the beginning and ending birthdates from the calendars in each field to set the range.
8. Click Save.

Manual Check-Out

Out of the box, Rock automatically “checks out” individuals when an event end time has passed. However, you can configure Rock to allow individuals to manually check out, and set it up to print a check-out label.

To configure manual check-out, follow these steps:

1. Go to Admin Tools > Check-in > Check-in Configuration
2. Select the configuration you want to modify.
3. In the General Settings section, check Allow Checkout.
4. Click Save.

To print a label at check-out, follow these steps:

1. Go to Admin Tools > Check-in > Check-in Labels
2. Click to create a new check-in label, or select an existing label to modify from the File List.
3. Select Check-Out in the Print for Each dropdown menu.
4. Click Save.

Auto Check-In

Automatic check-in is an option that works with family check-in and creates a speedier check-in process. With this configuration, when a family checks in, Rock pulls information from their previous check-in based on a certain number of days back. For example, if you have a weekly service, you can set up auto check-in to search a family check-in record ten days back and pull the same options as their check-in for the previous week. This saves them time when checking in. If there is no check-in record within the designated number of days, Rock automatically selects the first eligible option for the family based on age, grade and room availability.

To set up auto check-in, follow these steps:

1. Go to Admin Tools > Check-in > Check-in Configuration
2. Select the check-in you want to modify.
3. Click Edit.
4. In the Check-in Type field, select Family.
5. In the Auto Select Days Back field in the General Settings section, type in the number of days back you want Rock to search.
6. Click Save.

With the above settings in place, the screen pictured below will appear right away for the Decker family based on their prior check-in information.

You'll notice the Change button for each family member in the screen above. Clicking that button will bring you to the page pictured below, where you can change the auto-selected location.

Barcode Check-In

You can use barcode scanners in addition to your standard check-in methods as long as the barcode scanner you use supports keyboard wedge. You don't need to direct Rock to search for barcodes, though. Once installed, the scanner waits at the Welcome screen, ready to check people in by barcode key. You do, however, need to match up barcodes with person records in Rock, but this process is easy. See the steps below. When a person's barcode is scanned, Rock automatically identifies their family and checks them in. This system can be used for check-out as well.

To associate barcodes with people, follow these steps:

1. Go to a person's profile page.
2. Click the edit icon at the top right of their person profile page. (In past versions, alternate identifers were stored on a family rather than an individual—please don't be confused! We're editing the person record itself now, not the family).
3. Click to add an Alternate Identifier in the section shown above.
4. Click in the Alternate Id field in the pop-up dialog to set its focus.
5. Scan the barcode using the barcode reader. The barcode number will be captured in the Check-in Identifier field.
6. Click Save on the pop-up dialog, and then be sure to also click Save on the Edit Person page. It will return you to their profile, and the check-in barcode should work for their family now.

RFID Check-In

You can also use RFID readers during check-in. Setting up RFID is the same process as setting up a barcode; you’re just using a different input type. To work with Rock, your RFID reader must support keyboard wedge. If your device doesn’t support keyboard wedge, the free Smartlux 232 Key utility can be used to emulate this functionality. Once the RFID is associated with a family, there is no need for further configuration. 232 Key captures information for whichever screen has focus. For example, a member can scan their RFID card from the welcome screen, and Rock will take them through the check-in process.

Check-In Titles

You can now customize the titles on your check-in screens to fit with your organization branding. This is an advanced setting in the Page Map configuration.

To create unique check-in titles, follow these steps:

1. Go to Admin Tools > CMS Settings > Page Map
2. Drill down in the navigation tree to the page you want to modify.
3. Click Edit.
4. Type the custom title in the Page Title field. You can also specify a title for internal use in the Internal Name field, and a browser title in the Browser Title field.
5. Click Save.

Prevent Duplicate Check-in

By default, when you enable the Prevent Duplicate Check-in option for a check-in Area, it affects all groups under that area. If you find yourself in a situation where you really only wanted one specific group type to be affected, don't check this option under the check-in area. Instead you can add an Boolean attribute with a key of "PreventDuplicateCheckin" to the group type under Admin Tools > General Settings > Group Types. You can even add it to a group type that is inherited by other group types.

The underlying Filter By Previous Checkin workflow action used by the check-in system always checks for this specific attribute and value if the Prevent Duplicate Check-in option is not already checked. The end result is that you can control which check-in areas do not allow re-checking-in instead of using the "all or nothing" option within Check-in Configuration.

An example of this might be you wanting to prevent duplicate check-in for kids/youth (to prevent label reprinting shenanigans), but allowing it for Classes/Events where duplicate check-in is a great way to reprint a name tag for an adult if the printer ate it or similar.

Label Field Type in Group Attributes

The Label field type is an advanced option for group attributes that you may find helpful in specific situations. For example, you could run into a scenario where you have a group that needs labels printed, but is of a group type that doesn't print labels. Rather than create a new group type, you can create a group attribute with the field type Label that the groups of that type can use. If a group selects a Label value, Rock will print that label at check-in.

To add the Label attribute, go to the Group Attributes section of the group type's detail screen, and click to add a new attribute. For the Field Type, select "Label" and click Save. Now that the group attribute is available, individual groups can choose the type of label they want printed in the Edit screen of the Group Viewer.

Check-in Room Threshold

Although Rock examines room capacity when starting the check-in process to avoid displaying over-capacity rooms during check-in, there is another feature that will double-check the capacity again before allowing a person to check-in. This feature will add a bit more strain on your system, so you should consider wisely before enabling it on your system.

Enabling the Threshold

First, you will need to have each rooms threshold set.

Now let’s go to Admin Tools > General Settings > Workflow Configuration , edit the workflow called "Unattended Check-in", Expand the Save Attendance activity and expand the Save Attendance action. You will see Enforce Strict Location Threshold to enable simply change the response from no to yes. Once you are done be sure to hit save before exiting the page.

Just before the attendance record is saved, the action verifies the room count again. If a room is at capacity, a warning message is created for people trying to check in.