Help

Getting Started

How do I start?

How does the free trial work?

1. Request a trial site (here) – it then takes around 1 business day for us to set it up.
2. Enjoy full use of ChurchInsight free for 30 days. Get ideas for your site from our ‘Getting Started’ guides on Shareinsight.org and help from our support team.
3. Let us know when you want to go live, or cancel within the 30 day period.

What happens after the 30 days?

Either sign up permanently and start paying the subscription of your choice, or else cancel and don’t pay a thing.

How long does a web site take to set up?

We give you a trial site straight away (within 1 business day). After that, nearly all of our customers are ready to go live within the 30 day trial period. We’ve written some simple instructions on how to implement your new web site here.

How do we go live?

Going live is simply switching your web site domain name from the temporary address where you build it to the permanent address where everyone can find it. We’ll do this for you. It is best to switch domains a few days before you want to launch the site to give it time to propagate across the Internet. Step by step details can be found in our implementation guide on Shareinsight.org

Can you build the site for us?

We can. Click here for details of our additional services. We do everything from a full set up service to discrete parts of the process such as graphic design, content strategy, data management and search engine optimisation (SEO).

Will my site look like everyone else’s?

You can customise your web site as much as you like. These guides will help and you can contact our support team with any other questions. Alternatively, we offer additional services if you would like help creating your unique web site.

Are there any hidden costs?

No. Your free trial, including support, will cost you absolutely nothing. If you choose to sign up at the end, we will start taking your monthly subscription and you can chose the Level & support option that's best for your church. Otherwise cancel without charge. If you do subscribe you will be able to cancel without charge at any time – just give us 30 days notice.

The only other cost when you sign up is registering a domain name if you haven’t already got one. We’re happy to do it for you for free – you’ll just have to pay the registration (.uk £7.50+VAT per year, .com/.org/.net £15.00+VAT per year).

You may purchase additional services as you wish but these are not necessary to set up your site – ChurchInsight allows you to do all these things for yourself.

How do we get a domain name (web address)?

Domain names need to be registered for a small cost. You can either do this yourself (through a company such as www.ukreg.com) or we’ll set it up for you.

Can we keep our old web address?

Yes. When you go live we’ll talk you through switching the domain names.

Support

Can I talk to a real English-speaking person?

Call our support team on 0844 736 5298 (ext 2). There will be someone to answer your call Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm.

What support do you provide?

There are loads of online resources, step by step guides and FAQs on our support site ShareInsight. Customers can also find answers or ask their own questions in the forums there. Failing that, simply email or call our support team.

What if there is a feature that we want which is not part of Insight?

Let us know. ChurchInsight is under continual development. If your idea is viable, we will add it to our development list.

Can we get training?

ShareInsight.org is full of tutorials, guides and advice about ChurchInsight from us and from our customers. We also run training programmes in Cambridge (UK) for all abilities on demand. Watch ShareInsight for details.

Will it Work for Us?

For what size church is ChurchInsight optimised?

Honest answer? Any size. It has the features, functionality and scalability to work for a huge church with a colossal database. But because it is easy to only use the parts that you need, it is perfect for a church with a few members who only want a couple of pages up on the Internet. Check out the size differences in our case studies.

Why is ChurchInsight better than a free CMS?

Because it has features and functionality developed specifically for churches. Such as rotas. And we are continually developing it to work even better for churches. The other answer is: take the free trial and you’ll find out exactly why. For more information on why ChurchInsight is better than a free CMS please click here

Some of our members are not online. Won’t a web site exclude them?

ChurchInsight makes provision for your offline members. For example, it will automatically print address labels for them when you are doing a mail out; you can create accounts in the database for anyone regardless of whether they use the site or not; and all documents you publish have printable versions.

You can’t afford not to have a web site. ChurchInsight is versatile and flexible enough to be used as fits your church the best.

Does ChurchInsight need a lot of maintaining?

No. Because it is easy to use, anyone can keep an eye on the parts of the site for which they are responsible, meaning no one person has much to do. Your administration can be run through the site, but this will save time elsewhere.

Can we keep using our existing databases?

The beauty of ChurchInsight is that it is a central repository for all your data – bringing it all into one place for easy access and clever integration with all your processes. We have designed a system to make your life easier if you want it. 

How do we import our existing data?

There are options for importing data in the Web Office when you set up your site. Sometimes churches want us to import the data for them – when they have a lot and want to save time – in which case we offer a paid data management service.

Can we have ChurchInsight in other languages?

Not currently.

We’re not a church – can we still have an Insight web site?

Of course! Visit www.endis.com to find the version of Insight that is right for you.

Running Insight

Do you provide email services?

No. There is no need to charge our customers for email services when there are brilliant, free services out there. Of course you can mail people on your database through ChurchInsight – and we’d rather focus on making features like that than waste time on something that Google does better.

How many members can we have?

As many as you want.

What can site administrators do? How many can we have and how do we change them?

Site administrators have access to all the site settings (such as permissions, mailing set up, themes and layouts). You tell us who should be a site administrator and we’ll set it up. After that, they can add as many new site administrators as they like.

Who can change things on the site?

Site administrators can do the whole lot. After that, you choose which other members of the site can see and do things to whatever level is appropriate.

Technical Details

Are there any technical prerequisites for using ChurchInsight?

You just need a standard web browser and a broadband Internet connection. Please note that a few Web Office areas are optimised for the Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers.

On what system does ChurchInsight run?

ChurchInsight is built on the Microsoft .NET platform and runs on Windows 2003 web servers with a MS SQL database storage server.

Will our data be safe?

Technologically, we treat the security of the data we hold with the utmost importance, and employ the same tools and architecture we have used in our banking work to protect the privacy of ChurchInsight users.
 
We store all our information in full compliance with the Data Protection Act 1988. Endis Ltd will not use the church's information as a mailing list for any purpose and will not resell or otherwise distribute this information.

On your site, your members choose how much personal information they share in the address book. The address book itself is password protected so that only logged in members can see the information. Other content can be customised so it is visible only to those who need to see it, and permission to change things on the site given only to those who need it.

Where are the web sites hosted?

We host ChurchInsight on our own servers in a professional colocation environment in London Docklands, with 24/7 monitoring, security and multiple redundant power supplies. Information is synchronised between the 5 servers every 15 minutes as a precaution against server failure, and data is securely transferred to our Cambridge servers every night for additional protection.

Is our data backed up in case of an emergency?

Yes. Our backup strategy has multiple levels of redundancy, including being synchronised across our 5 London servers as well as daily backups to cloud-based storage in encrypted form on a 30 day cycle.

Can we export our data from ChurchInsight?

Yes. All your data can be queried (searched for specific details) and then the results exported. In addition, information such as data submitted through an online form can be exported in different formats (e.g. Word, Excel, CSV).

Will we be found on Google?

How can we improve our Google rankings?

Our search engine optimisation (SEO) specialists know what to do to organically improve your site’s visibility in search engines. See additional services for more details.

What kind of files can we upload?

Document files, including PDF, Word, Excel spreadsheets, comma separated files (.CSV), Powerpoint presentations (.ppt and .pps), Flash animations (.swf), javascript (.js), XMl, ZIP (.zip).

Audio and video files, including Real (.ra, .rm, .rv), Windows Media (.wma, .wmv), mp3, mp4 (.mp4, .m4a), Ogg Vorbis (.ogg), Quicktime (.qt, .mov), AVI (.avi), Flash Video (.flv).

Payment

How do we pay for ChurchInsight?

By monthly subscription. Paying by credit or debit cards is free (we do not accept American Express). Paying by standing order gives us more admin so it costs £5 per month.

Can we pay by cheque?

No.

Do you give discounts to charities?

We already are. We have deliberately priced ChurchInsight well below commercial rates because we know that many churches are on a restricted budget.

How do we cancel?

The free trial can be cancelled instantly any time – just let us know. Once you have signed up for ChurchInsight we need 30 days’ notice for cancellation, after which we will stop taking payments and disable your web site. There are no charges for cancelling.

Additional Services

Can we get help with the graphic design?

Our Graphic Design team can help with everything from a logo to a full web site design. See additional services for more information.

Can we get help with the words on our site?

Our Content Strategy service ensures that your message is noticed, clear, accurate, in the right tone of voice and consistent across your web site. See additional services to find out how we can transform your content.

What other services do you offer?

In addition to Graphic Design and Content Strategy services, we also offer Data Management to import your data quickly and securely into your new site, and Search Engine Optimisation to help you get found on Google. Customers wanting us to build their whole site quickly and professionally can also enjoy our Project Management Service. Click here for more details of our additional services.