Setting up the integration between Tithely and Ministry Platform is an important step in streamlining your church's giving process. This integration allows you to synchronize your donation data between both platforms, ensuring accurate and up-to-date records. In this article, we will guide you through the installation process and provide detailed instructions on configuring the integration settings. Additionally, we will explore the functionalities of the Ministry Platform Activity Dashboard, which offers valuable insights into the data transfer and transaction details. By following these steps, you can seamlessly connect Tithely and Ministry Platform, enabling smooth donation management for your organization.
Note: When setting up the integration for the first time, it is expected that the initial sync will bring in only the last transaction. 🎉
Install the Integration
-
Login to Tithely and select Giving from the Dashboard.
-
From the giving page, click the Global Settings button (the Person Icon) on the bottom left corner of the navigation and choose Integrations.
- From the integrations page, find the card for 'Ministry Platform.' Click Install, and you'll be redirected to the integration.
If you've used the legacy Ministry Platform integration, you'll see a message notifying you that we are bringing over your previous settings.
-
This may take a minute or two, and when complete, the page will refresh to the setup wizard.
- Click Help Me Get Connected to be guided through the setup.
- The first step is to configure your connection to the Ministry Platform.
If you had existing connection settings that were transferred, you'll see a green 'Connected' indication.
Otherwise, click the Edit button to enter your connection settings.
Client ID and Client Secret can be obtained from within Ministry Platform
Go to Administration -> API Clients -> New button
API URL is your custom ministry platform URL that you use to access your MP account - Once you've entered those values, click Connect to Ministry Platform.
- Click Next to start editing options for campuses.
Campus Setting Options
Enable Campus
Sync this campus or disable it not to sync this campus.This allows churches with many campuses to be selective about which ones they wish to exclude from syncing.
Enable Emails
If disabled, we won't send emails related to this campus's syncs. When enabled, we will.
Default Ministry Platform Program
This is the program (fund) we will use when creating transactions in the Ministry Platform if we need to determine the correct program based on configured fund mappings.
Email Notification Addresses
A list of one or more addresses that will receive notifications about this campus
Group Transactions in a Batch
Determines whether we will associate transactions created on a given sync into a batch.
- Once all campuses have been configured, click the Finish button on the wizard.
The initial sync will happen immediately, and then subsequent syncs will take place once per day (around midnight EST) automatically.
Settings and Mappings
There are two levels of settings, Organization, and Campus.
Organization Settings
Click the Settings link from the integration dashboard. In organization settings, you can:
- Enable/disable emails for this organization.
- Specify one or more email addresses to receive notifications
- Uninstall the integration - this will uninstall the integration for the organization. No data will be deleted in MP; however, all settings and records of previous syncs will be removed from the integration. You can re-install it again and re-configure the integration.
- Update Credentials - manage the credentials for the MP connection if something were to change, like the API URL or key.
Campus Settings
To configure Campus specific settings, click on the campus name under Manage Campus. In campus settings, you can:
- Enable Campus - sync this campus or disable it not to sync this campus
- This allows churches with many campuses to be selective about which ones they may wish to exclude from syncing
- Enable Emails
- If disabled, we won't send emails related to this campus's syncs. When enabled, we will.
- Default Ministry Platform Program
- This is the program (fund) that we will use when creating transactions in the Ministry Platform if we cannot determine the correct program to use based on configured fund mappings
- Email notification Addresses
- A list of one or more addresses that will receive notifications about this campus
- Group Transactions in a Batch
- Determines whether we will associate transactions created on a given sync into a batch.
Connect Funds and Donors
From the Campus Settings Screen, you can also access 'Connect Funds' and 'Connect Donors'
-
Connect Funds - This allows you to map a Tithely giving type to a program in the Ministry Platform. These mappings are specific to each campus.
- Click on the 'Connect Funds' button.
- When the integration syncs a transaction, it will first attempt to find a mapping from the transaction's giving type to a Ministry Platform program from this table. If one hasn't been specified, it will use the default MP Program set in your campus settings.
-
Connect Donors - This allows you to map Tithe.ly donors to specific donor ids in MP. This mapping applies to your entire organization.
- Click the Connect Donors button
- Search for a Tithely donor that you wish to map to a Ministry Platform people id value. In this case, we searched for the last names of 'Smith'
- Enter the value for the MP Person ID
From now on, transactions by this Tithely donor will be created with the MP person corresponding to the id you entered.
Ministry Platform Activity Dashboard
Dashboard Overview
An entry in the Activity Dashboard is created the integration sends any time data to Ministry Platform. You can access your Activity Dashboard with the Dashboard link in the side navigation panel.
Various things can happen when trying to send data:
- Found one or multiple Tithe.ly transactions and sent them successfully to Ministry Platform. Details are available for viewing.
- Found zero Tithe.ly transactions since the last successful run. A "No event was found" notice is displayed. These empty entries are hidden to avoid cluttering the dashboard.
- Authentication error - your connection to the Ministry Platform needs to be updated.
- An error occurred. The Integrations Team receives a notice about all errors from the integration. If your configuration settings appear to be correct and the error has not been resolved in a few days, please get in touch with us.
Dashboard Filtering
Activity Dashboard entries will grow each time new data is sent to the Ministry Platform. We provide a way to find specific transactions by searching either for the net amount of the transaction or the name of the campus. The same field is used for both searches.
Campus Name Search
- Enter the name of a campus in the search field.
- Hit Enter on your keyboard.
Data associated with campuses that contain the entered text will be shown.
To reset the view, clear the search text, hit Enter again, or click the Activity Dashboard link in the top navigation.
Gross Amount Search
- Enter an amount in the search field.
- Hit Enter on your keyboard.
Sync Activity that includes records matching that gross amount will be shown.
To reset the view, clear the search text, hit Enter again, or click the Activity Dashboard link in the top navigation.
Dashboard Transaction Details
The Activity Dashboard lets you view specific details about the transaction data sent to the Ministry Platform.
To view details, follow these steps:
- Click the Dashboard link on the side navigation.
- To see the transactions for a specific sync, click the number under the 'records' column.
- If you want to look up information by individual transaction, click the number under the Transactions column.
You can also click "See all transactions" on the dashboard to see a list of all transactions that have been sent or are pending being sent.