Summary: Congratulations on completing your Move-In! Switching software is a huge undertaking. Now that your data is migrated, where do you begin? Your database will only be as effective as the information is accurate, so it is important to clean up and organize your data right away. This guide will help you determine your essential first steps!
Before You Begin
Merging is Permanent: There is no way to UNDO the "Merge People" action. While you can restore a deleted person, the data is not properly disbursed back to the original separated profiles. Merge with caution!
Deleting Fields: When deleting a "Legacy" profile field, all historical data stored within that field will also be permanently deleted.
Phase 1: Cleaning Up People & Profiles
Combine Duplicate People
It is common for older, archaic systems to bring duplicate records into your new database. You can easily clean these up using the built-in merge tool.
Navigate to Account Settings (⚙️) > Bulk Tasks.
Select Merge People from the left menu.
Click the list icon (four horizontal lines) in the upper right to view a list of people who appear to be duplicated.
Click View # Duplicates to the right of a name to review them.
Choose which profile will be the primary one by ensuring it has the star icon next to it (this dictates which conflicting data, like emails, will be kept).
Click Merge.
Archive Inactive Records
Our team rarely archives people during a data import because we never want to make assumptions about your congregation. You will want to run a search to find people who need to be archived (e.g., searching for a status of "No Longer Attends" or a "Date of Death" field) and use the Bulk Action panel to archive them.
Restructure "Legacy" Profile Fields
If you used our data import services, you likely have a section of profile fields called "Legacy Fields." These hold information unique to your previous software. Go to Account Settings (⚙️) > Profile Fields to manage them:
Rename or Move: Drag and drop them to more relevant sections.
Delete: Remove outdated fields (like "Beeper Numbers") by clicking the field and selecting the "X".
Consolidate: If you have too many "Membership Status" options, determine your new standard options (e.g., Member, Attender, Visitor). Search for the old options in the People section, and use "Update People" to bulk-reassign them to the new standard options.
Convert to Tags: If a profile field is better used as a Tag, create the new Tag, bulk-assign the individuals to it, and then delete the old profile field.
Phase 2: Organization & Automations
Organize Tags and Tag Folders
If your "groups" were moved in, they will appear in the Tags section. Structurally, it usually makes sense to organize these into Folders (e.g., Children's Ministry, Small Groups). Tags empower your ministry leaders to update rosters, handle group communication, and print directories!
Set Up Automations
Automations allow you to accomplish "set it and forget it" tasks to save time. Go to Account Settings (⚙️) > Automations to set these up:
Smart Tags: Automatically populate people into tags based on a profile field (like grouping children into classes based on their grade).
Birthdays: Automate birthday emails so you never miss a member's special day.
Follow Ups: Trigger an automatic task for the children's pastor to reach out whenever a first-time visitor checks into the kid's ministry.
Phase 3: Financials & Notifications
Review Contribution Information
We understand how important financial accuracy is. Run some reports in the Giving section to see if what is reported in Breeze matches your historical accounting software.
Review Funds: Create new funds, archive old ones, organize them into Fund Folders, and ensure your non-tax-deductible funds are configured correctly.
Review Pledges: Take time to review imported Pledge Campaigns to see if everything appears as it should.
Enable Online Giving
If you plan to use our built-in online giving platform, set it up now! Having all your donations stored in one place saves time when reconciling and refunding. There are no monthly fees for using online or text giving, only standard processing fees.
Set Up Your Personal Notifications
You can tell the system to send you email reminders for upcoming birthdays, anniversaries, new people added, attendance reports, and weekly giving overviews.
In the top right of the screen, click your user account icon.
Click Notifications in the dropdown menu.
Select which notifications you would like to receive and what day of the week you want them.
Click Update.