Basics
- Relationships in MinistryPlatform are used to indicate connections people have between one another - from marital and parental to mentoring and any other connections you want to track.
- When a Relationship is created on one Contact record, the reciprocal relationship is automatically created on the related Contact record (if a reciprocal relationship exists).
Available Relationships
You have control over which Relationships are available. A SPoC can add new Relationship options in System Lookups > Relationships. When adding Relationships, it's best to make them gender-neutral (for example, Sibling Of is better than Brother Of/Sister Of); the gender can be inferred based on the Contact itself.
Adding a Relationship
When adding Relationships, you should be able to "read down" the fields; for example, Jane Dow (Contact) is the Parent Of (Relationship) Jimmy Dow (Related).
To add a Relationship between Contact records:
- On the Contacts page, open one of the Contact records.
- Click the Relationships sub-page.
- Click New and complete the appropriate fields:
- Relationship: The type of relationship the two Contacts have in common.
- Related: The second Contact in the relationship.
- Start Date: The date the Relationship began or was entered into the system.
- End Date: Leave blank if the Relationship is current; indicate a date here if the Relationship has ended.
- Notes: Optionally indicate notes about the Relationship.
- Triggered By: This is a read-only field that the system uses to trigger updates on the reciprocal record when changes are made.
- Click Save. If a reciprocal Relationship is needed for this Relationship, one is automatically created on the related Contact's record via a trigger.
As an alternate option, you can create/edit Relationships in People Lists > Contact Relationships.
Ending a Relationship
To end a Relationship between Contact records:
- On the Contacts page, open one of the Contact records.
- Click the Relationships sub-page.
- Click the desired Relationship.
- Click Edit and add a date in the End Date field.
- Click Save.
- Repeat Steps 1-5 for the other Contact in the relationship.
As an alternate option, you can edit/end Relationships in People Lists > Contact Relationships.
Viewing Relationships
To view Relationships by the individual, open the desired Contact record and go to the Relationships sub-page.
To view all Relationships, go to People Lists > Contact Relationships.
