The church management software company, By the Book. has stepped into the digital age in a big way with their new way of checking in children at church with any mobile device. Here is how they describe it:
Imagine deploying your volunteers throughout your church building, armed with iPads or smartphones ready to check folks in. Then by the time those same folks walk over to the printing station, their name tags and security tags are already printed and waiting for them. Do you have a bus ministry? Now you can check those kids in as soon as they hop on the bus. When they get to the church, their name tags are there waiting for them. Well, this is now available using Roll Call Mobile CheckIn.
What a great way to minister to the tech-savvy families attending your church! It may seem like a little thing, but when so many churches want to meet the needs of young families, a system like this shows you are willing to go the extra mile to accommodate their life-style needs with the systems in your church. We communicate to visitors in many ways and a system like this communicates you want to meet needs.
Below is a video that illustrates the system and following that a press-release with lots more information about it:
Unshackle Your Children’s Ministry with Mobile Check In Church Software
Mobilize Your Children’s Check In Routine Using iPad®, Tablets, and Smartphones with Roll Call Mobile CheckIn
BYRON, IL., July 26, 2012– Keeping children secure through the use of a computerized children’s check in system is a prerequisite for nearly all children’s ministries. By the Book has taken children’s check in a step further to provide churches with ultimate flexibility by offering Roll Call Mobile Check In, which allows churches to use iPads, tablets, and smartphones for kid’s check in procedures.
“We feel the mobile check in option will give the church the ultimate in flexibility in how they do children’s check in,” says Kim Conley, co-owner of By the Book, software for churches and nonprofits.“Roll Call Mobile CheckIn allows the church to deploy volunteers throughout their facility to check families into classes or even worship services.”
Imagine a church that offers a bus ministry: Armed with an iPad that has 3G capability, the volunteer could check in kids as soon as they arrive on the bus and have name tags printed and waiting for them upon arrival at church.
The Roll Call dashboard will give ministry workers real time headcounts so the children’s ministry leader will know right away if any classes are getting too full or if they need to enlist more volunteers.
“They’ll also be able to check in visitors right from the mobile device and even walk them to the appropriate classroom if they’d like,” adds Conley.
“This children’s check in system has been the easiest out of any I have used. I love the ability to grow with more computers, tablets, or key cards as our ministry expands,” comments Angela C. from Summit Ridge Church.
Children’s Check In/Out Process
The child check in system in Roll Call allows users to check students into their classes, record attendance, and print nametags and security labels. With Mobile CheckIn, volunteers can check students in using a mobile device by looking up last name or last four digits of their phone number, then print labels at a centralized print station. To check students out simply compare the security code on the child’s name tag with the security code on the parent tag.
Technology Specifications
In order to run Roll Call Mobile CheckIn, churches will need to have Roll Call church management software installed on at least one computer. This computer must be running Windows Pentium 4 (minimum) or Mac (Intel) OSX 5.8 or greater. More details on technical specifications can be found here.
Churches will also need a mobile device such as an iPad, tablet, or smartphone that can connect wirelessly to their local network. If using the mobile device outside of local network, that device must be able to access the internet through a 3G or 4G network. If churches will be checking students in from outside the church’s local area network, they will need a fixed IP address for the Roll Call Server machine.
About By the Book
Founded in 2002, By the Book (http://www.bythebook.com) offers robust desktop and internet accessible church and nonprofit management software. Roll Call Church Management Software meets the needs of churches from small to large through membership management, attendance monitoring, visitor follow up, contribution tracking, and background check management. Roll Call Child CheckIn and Mobile CheckIn add on solutions offer churches peace of mind by securing children through PCs or mobile devices. Honor Roll Fundraising Software offers nonprofits complete donor management tools, pledge tracking, and contact management. Free trials are available of all of By the Book’s software offerings. Email, call, or sign up today: info@bythebook.com or 1-800-554-9116 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 
FREE 1-800-554-9116 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
Press release from: Lauren Hunter, http://churchtechtoday.com/
