Managing people
A Person record is the main identity record for an actual human being in your parish. It is the single authoritative record that connects a parishioner's sacramental history, financial records, household membership, and linked requester profiles.
Person records are not the same thing as requesters or login accounts. See Understanding parish records for how these records relate to each other.
The people page
Navigate to Admin Dashboard → Identity Management → People. The page displays a list of all Person records with the following controls:
- Search — find people by name, email, or phone.
- Status filter — show all, or filter to Active, Deceased, Archived, or Merged.
- Pagination — the list shows 25 records per page.
Each row displays the person's name, household role badge (if applicable), contact information, household name, source, status, last updated date, and an actions menu.
Status badges
| Status | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Green | Current parish member |
| Deceased | Purple | Deceased parishioner (record preserved) |
| Archived | Gray | Inactive record |
| Merged | Amber | This record was merged into another Person |
Source badges
The source badge tells you how this Person record was created:
| Source | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Requester | Created automatically when a requester's identity was resolved |
| Family Profile | Created from a household or family registration |
| Sacrament Case | Created during a sacramental workflow (baptism, wedding, etc.) |
| Form Submission | Created from a parish form |
| Admin Created | Created manually by an administrator |
| Merged | Result of merging other Person records |
Viewing a person
Click the three-dot menu on a person's row and select View. The detail dialog shows:
- Name and contact information (email, phone)
- Date of birth and gender
- Household and household role (Head, Spouse, Child, or Other)
- Status and source badges
- Last updated date
- Canonical notes — free-text notes about this person's identity record
Editing a person
Click the three-dot menu and select Edit. You can update:
- Name — first name and last name.
- Contact — email and phone.
- Demographics — date of birth and gender.
- Household — select a household from the dropdown and assign a role (Head, Spouse, Child, Other). Clear the household to remove the person from a family grouping.
- System fields — source and status.
- Canonical notes — any identity-related notes for staff reference.
Creating a person
Click Create Person in the toolbar. Fill in the same fields as the edit form and click Save. The new record is created with status "Active" and source "Admin Created."
Most Person records are created automatically through identity resolution — when a requester submits a request, the system links or creates a Person record behind the scenes. Manual creation is mainly for situations like adding family members who haven't interacted with the parish digitally.
Merging duplicate people
Duplicate Person records happen when the same individual was entered more than once — through separate imports, different sacramental workflows, or manual data entry.
Merging 2 people
- Select both people using the checkboxes in the table.
- Click Merge Selected (2).
- Choose the target — pick which Person record survives as the canonical identity.
- Resolve conflicts — for fields where the two records disagree (email, phone, date of birth, household, login account link), choose which value to keep or enter a custom value.
- Review the impact — the system shows everything that will move to the surviving Person: linked requesters, Mass intentions, invoices, receipts, memorials, and household membership changes.
- Confirm — type MERGE and apply.
Merging 3 or more people
- Select all duplicate Person records using the checkboxes.
- Click Merge Selected.
- Choose the kept Person once — all others merge into it.
- Resolve conflicts once — pick the best value from all contributing records for each conflicting field. The system highlights recommended values.
- Confirm — type MERGE and apply.
What happens during a person merge
- The surviving Person becomes the canonical identity record.
- All linked requesters, Mass intentions, invoices, receipts, and other records are re-pointed to the surviving Person.
- Household memberships are updated.
- The merged Person records are marked with status "Merged" and hidden from active lists.
- An audit trail is created recording every change.
Person merges cannot be automatically undone. The system keeps a full audit trail, but reversing a merge requires administrator intervention. Always verify you are merging the right records before typing MERGE.
What's next
- Managing requesters — the records that track who submitted requests
- Understanding parish records — how people, requesters, and login accounts relate
Related articles
- Managing users — create and manage login accounts
- Managing requesters — requester profiles and merge workflows