OCLM Centralized Persons - Complete Help Guide

Watch the Centralized Persons Help Guide

Video Coming Soon A walkthrough video for Centralized Persons will be added here.

Centralized Persons Overview

One Record, Shared by Every Schedule:

As OCLM grew from a mid-week tool into a full meeting scheduler, each feature kept its own list of people. Centralized Persons brings them together so a person is entered once and reused everywhere — with a single, trustworthy place to keep their contact details and time away.

Table of Contents



Accessing Centralized Persons

Once the feature is enabled for your account:

  1. Log in to your OCLM Software account
  2. Click Menu in the navigation bar
  3. Select Congregation Persons from the menu

The Persons page lists every person in your account with search, type filters, per-type counts, and paging.



What Centralized Persons Does

Before Centralized Persons, the same brother could appear on three independent lists with three copies of his phone number. Centralized Persons fixes that:

  • One master record per person, shared by every schedule they serve on.
  • One source of truth for email, mobile, and WhatsApp.
  • One place to record time away that the scheduler honours.
  • One filterable list of the whole congregation.
Note: Assignment capabilities (who can give a particular part) stay tied to each schedule type. The Person record shows them as a read-only summary — it does not move them off the schedule.


Turning It On (Opt-In)

Centralized Persons is enabled per account and only the account owner can turn it on. There are two equivalent entry points:

  1. Menu tile: open Congregation Persons from the menu and follow the opt-in confirmation page.
  2. Settings: go to Settings → Congregation Persons, tick the enable box, and confirm.
Important — One Way: Because the master record becomes the source of truth for contact details, opting in cannot be reversed. Read the on-screen warning before you confirm. New accounts start with the feature already enabled.


What Happens When You Opt In

Opting in runs a one-time setup that never deletes anything:

  1. Matching: people are matched by name across your Students, Brothers, and custom-schedule lists (and your own owner profile).
  2. Create & Link: one Person is created for each unique individual and linked back to the original schedule rows.
  3. Copy Contact Details: each person's email, mobile, and WhatsApp are copied into the master record. Where the same person has different values in different places, OCLM keeps the best available value.
  4. Copy Time Away: existing vacation entries are carried over into centralized time away.

Your schedules continue to generate exactly as before — the link is by record, never by re-typing names.

Custom-schedule groups: Group entries (a family or team rather than an individual) are supported as their own Group records.


Editing a Person (Source of Truth)

After opt-in, the Person record is where contact details are maintained:

  • Edit once, updated everywhere: change a mobile number on the Person record and every schedule that uses that person picks it up.
  • Locked at the source: on the Students, Brothers, and custom-schedule edit pages, the name and contact fields are shown locked with an "Edit in Persons" link.
  • Names are fixed: a person's first and last name are the key used to link records, so they are never editable after creation.
  • Email for portal users: when a person is also a logged-in portal user, their email comes from their sign-in account and is shown read-only.


Capabilities by Schedule Type

At the bottom of a Person's record you will see up to three read-only sections — Mid-Week, Weekend, and Custom Schedules:

  • Each section lists the assignment capabilities held on the linked schedule row.
  • A section only appears if you have read access to that schedule type.
  • An "Edit in Schedule" link opens the right page to change a capability (when you have write access).
Why read-only? Capabilities are specific to each meeting type. Keeping them on the schedule avoids duplication and keeps a single, accurate home for each setting.


Managing Time Away

Time away (vacation) is recorded once against the Person and honoured by the scheduler:

  • Scope: a time-away entry can apply to mid-week, weekend, a specific custom schedule, or all schedules.
  • Admin access: from the Persons list or a Person's record, use the Time Away link to add, edit, or remove entries.
  • From the schedules: the Students, Brothers, and custom-schedule pages link to the same centralized time away when a person is linked.


Publisher Self-Service

When Centralized Persons is enabled, publishers who have portal access can keep their own details current:

  • Update their own mobile and WhatsApp numbers.
  • Add and manage their own time away.

These updates flow straight through to scheduling, so admins do not have to re-enter them.

Note: Publishers cannot change their own name or sign-in email — those remain read-only.


Importing or Creating from Persons

When adding someone to a schedule, you do not have to retype their details if they already exist:

  1. On the Students, Brothers, or custom-schedule page, choose Import or Create from Persons.
  2. Pick an existing Person to link, or create a new one.
  3. The schedule row is linked to the master record, so contact details stay in sync.


Visiting Speakers, Hospitality & Groups

  • Visiting Speakers: public-talk speakers from other congregations can be created from, or linked to, the Persons list.
  • Hospitality: the brother, family, or group who hosts a visiting speaker can be linked to a Person or Group record.
  • Groups: a family or team can be stored as a Group record — last-name-only, with no gender — alongside individuals.
Externals stay separate: A visiting speaker is always created as their own record. They are never automatically merged with a local member who happens to share the same name.


The Persons Master List

The Persons page is built for finding people quickly:

Feature What It Does
Type Filters Filter to Individuals, Groups, Students, Brothers, Visiting Speakers, Hospitality, Publishers, or unlinked records.
Per-Type Counts See how many people fall into each category. Counts can overlap — a person can be both a Student and a Brother.
Search Find a person by name.
Paging & Sorting Move through large congregations comfortably; filters and search are preserved as you page.


CSV Import (Data Import) Behaviour

If you import students from a CSV file while Centralized Persons is enabled, the imported people are also mirrored into the Persons master list and linked automatically. If the feature is not enabled, the import behaves exactly as before and only updates the schedule data.



Backup & Restore

Person records and centralized time away are included in your account backup and restore, so your consolidated data is fully protected alongside the rest of your schedules.



Privacy & Security

  • Account isolation: every Person record is protected by row-level security — no other account can ever see your data.
  • One protected home: consolidating contact details into a single master record gives the personal information your congregation needs one well-guarded place to live.
  • Only what is needed: OCLM stores only the contact details required for scheduling.


Troubleshooting

I cannot find the Congregation Persons menu

  • The feature must be enabled by the account owner first.
  • Members need read access to Persons to see the list.

A contact field is locked on the Students or Brothers page

  • This is expected after opt-in — use the "Edit in Persons" link to change it in one place.

The same person appears twice

  • Names that are spelled differently on different lists will not match. Make the spelling consistent, or link the schedule row to the correct existing Person.

A publisher's update did not appear

  • Confirm the publisher is linked to a Person and has portal access. Self-service edits are limited to mobile, WhatsApp, and time away.


Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to use Centralized Persons?

No. It is optional and only the account owner can enable it. Existing accounts keep working exactly as before until you choose to opt in.

Can I turn it off again?

No. Because the master record becomes the source of truth for contact details, opting in is one-way.

Will my schedules change when I opt in?

No. People are linked by record, not re-typed, and schedules continue to generate exactly as before.

Why can't I edit a name or email on the Students page anymore?

After opt-in, names and contact details live on the Person record. Use the "Edit in Persons" link to make the change once, and it updates everywhere.

What about visiting speakers from other congregations?

They are always created as their own record and are never merged with a local member who shares the same name.



Summary

Centralized Persons brings your whole congregation into one consistent master list. Key points to remember:

  • One master record per person, shared by every schedule
  • One source of truth for email, mobile, and WhatsApp — edit once
  • Owner-controlled, per-account, and one-way once enabled
  • Centralized time away, with publisher self-service
  • A filterable master list with per-type counts, search, and paging

If you have questions not covered in this guide, please contact us at: info@oclmsoftware.com


Home Terms Privacy Contact ©2026 · Last updated: