Hi and welcome to UCare. This article covers the basics of signing in to UCare for the first time.
The first time you sign in it is a good idea to take note of the address and even save a bookmark. The address will be something like https://mychurch.ucareapp.com, where mychurch is the name that was chosen for your church. If in the coming days you can't remember the address then go to the global sign-in page and enter your email address.
On the welcome page simply pick your time zone and a password then tap Continue.
If SMS has been enabled and you have been given SMS privileges then you will also need to enter a verify code, you'll receive the code via SMS when you open the Welcome page. Normally this takes a couple of seconds, but it can take up to 30 seconds for the code to arrive.
Mobile apps
UCare is designed to work where you work, this doesn't just mean your location but also the device you are using. As such check out our apps for iOS (i.e. iPhone & iPad) and Android, and for other devices simply use your web browser to navigate to your church's UCare address.
Navigating UCare
Find out more about navigating UCare.
Dashboard
Once you sign in you will find yourself on the dashboard, the layout will adjust to make the best use of your device's screen. So if you are using it on a phone it will adapt to best fit the screen. While on devices with larger screens it will look somewhat like the following picture.
On the left-hand side, you will find the navbar, by default, the labels appear but you can click the very bottom button to hide the labels. If you are using a smaller screen then the button in the top-left displays the navbar.
The navbar contains the different item sections, e.g. People, Groups, etc. Following this is Check-in, Import, and Sync. You can find more info about each of these after the following picture. If you are migrating from another system then make sure you check out Import.
At the top of the window is the New menu for creating different items, and Search will let you find most things by name. Search is a quick and easy way to navigate if you know the name of what you are looking for. In fact, you only need to enter the first few letters of the item you are looking for, with people you can enter the first few letters of a person's first and last name, e.g. "Jo SM" would match John Smith. This is very handy if you aren't sure of the exact spelling of a person's name. You can also find people by any phone number, email address, or profile barcode.
The top right shows who is currently signed in, how many tasks are assigned to you, and also lets you access contextual help articles, videos, and our support team. The main part of the dashboard displays recent meeting attendance, your tasks due in the next 7 days, upcoming events, and groups that you own. If you have just started a trial UCare may seem a little blank, don't worry this will change as you add people, start recording attendance, and assigning tasks.
Note: Some of the things discussed may be unavailable if you haven't been given permission.
Latest activity
Latest activity shows you all your recent activity on UCare. If you have admin privileges then you will be able to view everyone's activity. You can use this as an audit log to ensure that people's info is being used appropriately by those people that have been given access.
People
Whether you have just a few people or thousands, you can see everything that's going on in once. Quickly find people and view their contact details, address, important dates, attendance, notes, relationships, groups, and more.
Easily send email and SMS messages or assign follow up tasks to the team.
Make sure you check out Import on the navbar, this will let you import a list of people, groups, or meetings from a CSV spreadsheet so that you can quickly get started with UCare. Once you upload the CSV file you will be asked to choose what type of information each column represents.
If you have an Excel spreadsheet of contacts that you want to import then make sure you first change the format by tapping File > Save as... > CSV (Comma delimited).
If you are an Admin you can grant other people access to UCare by tapping ... next to the Access heading on their profile, then select the permissions you want them to have. When you tap save they will be sent a welcome email with a link to sign in.
Households
Grouping people together in households helps you gain a better understanding of any given family, whether they're single, newly married, a single parent, or whatever might be the case. A household's home phone or address only needs to be updated once and keeping everyone together helps simplify traditional mail delivery.
Groups
Groups are a simple yet powerful way to keep your church, ministries, and teams organized; you can even use them to build small groups or keep track of things such as gifting. You can create groups for tracking any list of people, it helps you organize your church as needed. Groups also allow you to keep people connected with quick and easy email templates and SMS messages or view one of the many reports.
Search groups are just like regular groups except people are included based on easily selected criteria. Use it to create any report you need and to ensure people don't slip through the cracks.
When your church first signed up for UCare a number of groups were added as an example of the type of groups you may need. You can change or delete these groups to better suit your church.
Meetings & Check in
Meetings are an easy way to find out where people are connected, and knowing when people stop attending lets you more easily offer the help they need. Once meeting attendance is recorded; task emails remind you to follow up with the attendees via phone, email, or SMS if required. You can also view the health of different groups, and how often members are connecting.
Check in makes it easy for children to be signed in and out, and a security receipt can be printed in line with the requirements of many governments. Additionally, name tags can be printed that can include allergies and contact numbers should they be needed.
Services & Teams
Managing people and services can be a daunting task when most people are volunteers and when service plans can be changed by pastors and leaders at the last minute.
Teams are for coordinating teams of people that serve in one or more services. While services are used to plan your service items and manage the team, positions, and scheduling required people. UCare also manages notification of all the involved people whether leader, staff, or volunteer.
Events
Manage ticketing for your events both large and small. We process payments and help you keep contact event attendees via SMS or email. You can add a list of published events or booking forms to your website or church app, this makes it simple to publish new events to your website just by adding the event to UCare. UCare even allows you can use any smartphone to scan tickets, check-in kids and attendees, track attendance, and print name tags.
Email Messages
Sending email that is anti-spam compliant and looks great is super easy with UCare. Select a template, the recipients, and attachments then you're ready to send. You can even queue your emails so they automatically send at a specified time.
Simple Mailchimp integration lets you take your email campaigns to the next level with their extensive design and reporting features.
Forms & Processes
Processes let you track people through each stage of a process; you can automate sending follow up email & SMS, and ensure that Leaders follow them up within expected time frames. Forms can also be created so that you ensure all required info is collected. This can be used to help keep track of connecting new people; staff leave requests, leadership development, marriage preparation, and more.
An example of how this may work is you create a prayer request form and drop it on your church website, when a person submits the form they go into the prayer request process that assigns them to a pastor to ensure that person is contacted, followed up and cared for appropriately.
Payments
UCare payment forms can be added to your website or church app so people can make online payments. In fact, any giving or payments you receive from people can be recorded, you can even export transaction reports later on for accounting and tax purposes.
At the end of the finical year, you can then select funds and payments and then have UCare send a summary of all their giving for the year for use in their tax return.
Stores
Stores provide the ability to manage product sales, you can do things like sell church resources or maybe you want to give away podcasts or your weekend messages.
Sync
Sync supports two options, the first lets you sync people to and from Planning Center Services. The other option is Mailchimp, while UCare is very capable at sending emails; you may want to use Mailchimp if you need a drag and drop email design. Using Sync will help you avoid incorrect information or having to update people's info in multiple systems, let UCare worry about that so you can focus on caring for people.
Settings
Your account settings can be found in the top right under your name, and allow you to change things like your password or time zone.
If you are an Admin you will have access to UCare settings for Check in, bulk email, security areas, payments, discount codes, and taxes. Check in settings let you change the design of the name tags and receipts that are printed at check-in.
Discount code settings are where you can create and manage discount codes for use with events and stores.
The email accounts let you add other email addresses that you can send on behalf of, while email templates allow people with Email HTML coding skills to create custom email design templates.
To enable UCare to process Credit Card payments for giving, event registrations, and resource purchases you need to set up one or more of our supported payment providers in payment settings.
The portal provides an easy way to give members of your church a way to register for events, small groups, and to fill in forms. They can also give, purchase resources and update their contact details and browse the church directory all from the online portal.
Security areas allow you to restrict information so that it is only visible to people that have been given permission to that security area. You may want to add additional security areas for your Elders or for each of your campuses.
If you want to enable SMS then you first request it in settings. Once enabled you can purchase credits so that you can start sending messages.
The subscription settings allow you to specify the UCare Account manager and also enter credit card payment info to pay your church's monthly subscription to UCare.
If you need to collect taxes when selling tickets or resource then you can set those taxes up under the Taxes settings.
Sign out
If you are using UCare on a shared computer then it is advisable that you sign out when you are finished. You can find the sign out option in the top right of UCare. Tap your name (on mobile tap the person icon/image) and then tap Sign out.
Tasks
UCare allows tasks to be assign to team members, this sends them email reminders and ensures that the tasks get done. The bell icon in the top right shows a number if you have tasks assigned to you. Tapping on it will also show you all the tasks that are assigned to you and allow you to subscribe to those tasks to your calendar so that you receive reminders on your phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop. Tasks are a great way to improve the level of care your team can provide to people, whatever their needs.
Help
If you didn't find the answer to your question or if you need assistance at any time then tap the help "?" button at the top right of every page or email support. We are always happy to help so drop us a line.