Planning Center Overview

Overview

The Planning Center backend integration allows you to sync public events, small groups and members over to these modules in the cms. All public events and small groups will pull over. Also, only specific fields will sync over to the website backend, so please check out the info below for more details.

With this integration, your PCO data will re-sync to the website every 15 minutes.

NOTE: This integration option is only available at the Advanced and Pro plan levels. Please contact your project manager or the E360 support team for more info.

NOTE: a small group layout would need to be purchased in order to use the small groups integration option. Please contact your website specialist or project manager for more info.

Setup

First, login to your Planning Center account in a separate tab. The credentials you use will need to have full admin privileges, and we recommend setting up a generic login (like "Ekklesia" or "Integration" for the username). If you use a personal login and the credentials change later on, then the integration will break.

Once you have logged in, go to Admin > Site > "More Menu" link at the top right > "Integrations" tab in the sidebar. Locate the section labeled "Planning Center" and click "Connect to Planning Center Account" button. This will automatically link your PCO account to the website.

Once the integration is connected, you will see additional options for each module.

Events:

  • Sync Events - enables the sync to the events module (events > events)
  • Include categories in event sync - check this option to use tags groups from PCO as your categories
  • Only Include 'Visible on Kiosk or iCal' events - you can choose to only sync events marked as visible on ical
  • Tag Groups - these will be listed over as parent categories, and you can select which ones to include in the sync

Groups:

  • Sync Small Groups - enables the sync to the small groups module (events > small groups)
  • Include categories in small group sync - check this option to use 

Members:

  • Do not sync members - the member sync is enabled by default. Members who are added in Planning Center as Event Coordinators will sync with the Ekklesia people module, unless the “do not sync” option is selected.

Events Integration

Your public events from the PCO Calendar module will pull into the website under Events > Events. When an event is synced, you will see this indicated at the top of the settings screen for the specific event. 

Notes

  • All recurring events are imported as one time events.
  • Events are only synced one year into the future, in order to keep syncing quick and stable
  • If you need to add an event manually to Ekklesia that is also in Planning Center, make sure to uncheck the box that displays it in the public calendar
  • Any fields that are in Ekklesia that do not exist also in Planning Center will be editable by your team on the website side, and the changes will not be overwritten.

Fields Synced

Below is a list of fields synced from PCO and the corresponding fields where the data will pull in the Events module in the CMS. The fields that are synced will show greyed out in the events module and cannot be edited in the cms, since the data is pulling from PCO (see image below). Fields that are not synced can be manually updated in the events module, if needed.

PCO Field

CMS Events Field

Notes
Event Name Name
Event Summary Description Under Settings tab in PCO
Event Owner Coordinator
 Under Settings tab in PCO
Tags / Tag groups CMS Category Tag groups pull over as separate category lists in the events module
Image Image Under Settings tab in PCO. The files tab can be used as a fallback.
Starts At Start Date/Time
Ends At

End Date/Time
Featured Featured Indicates if an event is published as featured. Note: you would need to setup an individual tag labeled "Featured" in PCO.
Rooms Rooms Under Overview tab in PCO
Location Dropdown Location Under Overview tab in PCO. Must be an actual address in order to sync over.

Fields with the red asterisk will be synced from Planning Center. You can also manually add additional categories once an event is synced to the website, if needed.

Small Groups Integration

Your public PCO groups will pull into the website under Events > Small Groups. When a group is synced, you will see this info stated at the top of the settings screen for the specific small group.

Fields Synced

Below is a list of fields synced from PCO and the corresponding fields where the data will pull in the Small Groups module in the CMS. The fields that are synced will show greyed out in the small groups module and cannot be edited in the cms, since the data is pulling from PCO (see image below). Fields that are not synced can be manually updated in the small groups module, if needed.

NOTE: the "Frequency" will not sync over from Planning Center, and this field will default to "Weekly" for each group. You can manually change the frequency field in the small groups module for specific groups, as needed.

PCO Field

 CMS Small Groups Field Notes
Name Name
Group Description
 Description
Group Type Dropdown CMS Category
Tags
 CMS Category
Image Image
Location
 Location
 Must be an actual address in order to sync over
Weekday
 Day of the week
Starts At Start date/time
Ends At End date/time
Group Enrollment
 Status Under "Visibility & Enrollment Status" in PCO
Main Leader Primary Leader
 Member sync must be enabled
Other Leaders
 Add Other Leaders
 Member sync must be enabled
Member IDs
 Add Members

Fields with the red asterisk will be synced from PCO. You can also manually add additional categories once a small group is synced to the website, if needed.

Member Sync

If the member sync option is enabled, members will pull over to the cms under People > Members. It's not a full sync of all members within PCO but only members assigned a contact/leader for synced events and small groups.

Fields Synced

Here is a list of synced fields, which will display as greyed out/read only in the cms.

PCO Field

 CMS Member Field Notes
First Name First Name
Last Name Last Name
Email Address Email Address
Phone Number Cell Phone
Address Address/Country/Zip The PCO address field is parsed into multiple fields in the members module
Avatar URL Photo