We've been hard at work for many months now completely overhauling most of Planning Center. This overhaul not only includes a brand new design, but technology enhancements that make more things possible. In the process, we've added a ton of new features that should make it easier and more enjoyable to use. Here's a list of most everything that's new. Click on any image to see a larger version.
Dashboard
My Schedule
All users now have a My Schedule section at the top of their dashboard. If you have pending requests, that section will always reopen, otherwise you can close it and it will stay closed.
My Schedule Matrix
The Matrix button at the top right of the My Schedule section quickly loads the Matrix with all plans you are scheduled for.
Rehearse Buttons
Access the Media Player, Download all PDFs, or Music Stand right from the dashboard by hovering over a plan in My Schedule.
Series Grouping with Artwork
Series artwork can now be uploaded from a plan and will display on your dashboard in the plans list, grouping any plans with the same Series Title.
Loading Past plans
See all plans, including past plans using the button at the top right of any Service Type on your dashboard. Clicking "all plans" will add your past plans into the list of your current plans.
Calendar Design
My Calendar's design has been changed to use different shapes as well as different colors so that color-blind users can differentiate statuses of dates.
Reorder Service Types
Hover over the dashboard heading (Church name or folder name), click the pencil, and then drag your Service Types into any order you'd like.
Report Totals
Service Type reports showing all people or all songs used in that service type for chosen dates now show a number total.
Plans
Live updates
When any user makes a change to a plan, it will appear for all other users viewing that plan without them having to refresh. When people accept or decline, a notification will show for Schedulers, Editors and Administrators viewing that plan.
Collapsible Main Sections
Expand or collapse the entire Times, People, Notes or Attachments sections in the left sidebar.
Songs/Media/People Sidebars
The new library sidebars show your entire songs, media or people libraries, allow you to filter and then drag & drop to your plan without resetting your filter.
Plan Schedule View
Choosing the People library sidebar changes the plan to a new Schedule view, showing your people categories horizontally. Drag & drop people onto a category heading and then choose a position, or drop directly onto a position. Setup needed positions and then have auto-schedule fill them in.
Add New Person From Plan
You can now add a new person to your account from within a plan without visiting the people page, using the button at the bottom of the People Library Sidebar or when typing a new name into the Schedule a Person box.
Import
The old feature "apply a template" has been renamed "Import" and has been moved to the top right of you plans to reflect that you can select templates OR recently visited plans to import their items, people or notes.
Series Artwork
Upload series artwork to further personalize your plans. Series with the same title across your entire account will show artwork you add to that series.
Item Times Column
Showing actual times your plan items are scheduled to occur is now a setting for each user. Choose between Item Length, any specific plan time, or All times & length.
Item Notes Columns
Showing Item Notes in columns on plan view is now a setting for each user and much easier to do. Hover over the column chooser and select the note categories you'd like to see.
Inline Editing of Item Notes
You can now click to edit item notes in their column or from an expanded item without entering the edit item box.
Downloads from Media Player
If you have permission to download any audio files, a download link will show next to those files in the media player.
Attachment & Notes Hovers
Attachments have been moved to hover cards and no longer require expanding the item first, saving a step and potentially taking up less space when you expand all items.
Public View
Public view has a much improved look and no longer shows individual item times since users needing to see those should have an account so they can log in to see the plan & times there.
Other
Improved Speed using Dynamic Loading
Most information is not loaded until you request it. If you usually only access plans within one Service Type on your Dashboard, collapse the others to prevent them from loading by default
Rehearsal License Report
CCLI's rehearsal license allows you to enable downloading or streaming of audio by paying for licenses. To help you report this complicated information, we've created a new report accessible from the top right of the Songs page. Track the total amount of file downloads or the number of new people who have streamed songs between any date range.
Custom Report Builder
The custom report builder now includes an interactive sidebar including all the documentation for code you can include. Hover over code for an explanation or click it to insert tags or entire blocks of code.
Email Auto-Saving
When composing an email, any text you type is saved in your browser until you send it. If you leave the page or accidentally hit escape, you will be asked if you'd like to retrieve it the next time you compose a message.
Roll-out Schedule
As of last week, all Administrators, Editors and Schedulers have been given the beta button to switch back and forth, and today we are adding Viewers. Next week we'll add all Scheduled Viewers which will mean all users will be able to start using the beta. On January 16 we will permanently switch over to the new site to kick off the new year!
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