Data Hub FAQs

All videos and Information Sheets referenced below can be accessed from the Data Hub Info page unless otherwise specified.

People Record FAQs

What individuals should have a record in the Data Hub?

Ordained, licensed, and commissioned clergy
Individuals with dual standing, ordained ministerial partner standing, or Privilege of Call
Persons serving as a pastor in a local church
Conference and Association staff
Members in Discernment

Individuals serving on committees, boards, working groups, etc at the conference, association, or church level can also be listed. Their group membership should be reflected on the appropriate organization record (i.e., conference, association or church).

When should I request a person record transfer?

Record transfers should only be requested for authorized individuals after their standing transfer has been completed. If they are not transferring their standing or it has not yet been completed you should not request a record transfer.

If a person does not have authorization a record transfer can occur at any time.

For help please see the video How to Transfer a People Record.

I’m waiting on another conference to accept a record transfer. What should I do?

If you have requested a record transfer that is still outstanding feel free to reach out to the conference that needs to accept the transfer to make sure all the appropriate paperwork has been processed. Just a reminder – this transfer process is not the ecclesiastical transfer of standing but rather an administrative transfer of their record after the appropriate Committee on Ministry has approved the transfer.

How do I add a person as staff in one of my churches if their standing has not yet been transferred to my conference or they are not transferring their standing?

A person may begin serving a church in your conference before the COMs have officially completed the transfer process. There is an Information Sheet (How to add an individual from another Conference) posted on the Data Hub Help page. This Information Sheet will walk you through how to indicate they are serving one of your churches before their standing has been transferred.

Do not make a record transfer request until after the COMs have officially completed transfer process & all necessary paperwork has been exchanged.

An ordained minister has resigned their standing. How do I indicate this in the Data Hub?

Review the Positions tab, Specialized Ministry tab, and Group Member tab on their record and to ensure the information is current and accurate. If they are no longer serving in the capacity indicated on any of these tabs update them accordingly.

Change their Standing (on the Main Info tab) to “Resigned Standing with Bias” or “Resigned Standing without Bias.” (If a fitness review was conducted please be sure you have forwarded appropriate information to the MESA team.) If they are no longer serving the UCC in any capacity you then mark their record as inactive. Do this by unchecking the Active checkbox on the Main Info tab.

When should I mark an individual’s record inactive?

Marking a record inactive does not indicate a person is no longer involved in active ministry (i.e., a retired minister), but rather that they no longer hold authorization with a UCC Association or are no longer serving the UCC.

Reasons for marking a record inactive include the following:

Standing has been terminated or resigned
Individual is deceased
Individual does not hold authorization and is no longer serving the UCC

How do I designate the standing for a person who is not authorized?

There are standing codes for People that do not have standing in UCC. These codes appear below.

No UCC Standing – Authorized by Other Denomination
No UCC Standing – Seeking OMPS or POC (This code will allow a DOC clergy person or a person seeking Privilege of Call to create a Profile user account.)
No UCC Standing – Layperson (Use this code if the other two codes are not appropriate.)

What does the Specialty Code and Church Staff Position “Designated-Term Pastor” mean?

A designated-term position is for a designated purpose for a designated time. It may or may not become a settled position at the end of the term. Some examples include Revitalization/Turnaround Pastor, Hospice/Legacy Pastor, Redevelopment/Repositioning Pastor, New Church Start Pastor, or Other. The MESA Ministry Team has many helpful resources posted at http://www.ucc.org/ministers_regional-ministers. In particular, see “Vocabulary for Pastoral Positions” for a description of Designated-Term Pastor and many more.

How do I know when a person is deceased?

CARD does not mark individuals as deceased. If we learn of a death we may use the “Report data discrepancy” button to alert you to this fact. The Pension Boards posts clergy deaths as reported to them at http://www.ucc.org/changes_and_deaths on a monthly basis. Please visit this webpage periodically to stay informed.

You should complete a necrology for an individual as soon as possible.

I learned of the death of clergy person whose standing is not in my conference. What should I do?

If you know which conference holds their standing please send them an email with any information you know to assist them in completing the necrology tab. If you have a link to an obituary be sure to forward that as well. If, however, you do not know which conference to contact please contact us at yearbook@ucc.org with all the information and we’ll pass it along to the appropriate conference.

I need help completing a Necrology. What do you want me to do?

In order for us to recognize the ministry of our recently deceased authorized ministers you must complete the Necrology tab to report their death and provide us with information to publish in the Yearbook. Please see the video How to complete a Deceased Minister’s Necrology Record and The Necrology Guide for complete instructions.

A Member in Discernment is licensed by and serving a church in another conference. How should this be handled in the Data Hub?

Members in Discernment (MID) may be licensed in a conference that is not overseeing their MID process. In these cases, their standing should be Licensed (not Member in Discernment) since licensure is a recognized authorization in the UCC. Their standing should be listed in the conference where they are licensed. When their licensure ends, their standing should be changed to MID and the record transferred back to conference overseeing the MID process.

Unfortunately, the conference (or association) that is overseeing their MID process will not have access to their record while they are licensed by another association. We suggest the conference overseeing the MID process provide updates to the conference in which they are licensed and this conference update the MID tab appropriately.

What do I do when a Member in Discernment receives authorization?

When a Member in Discernment receives authorization, their MID tab should be updated to reflect this process has been completed. You should indicate the Date their MID process was completed and the outcome. If they were Approved for authorization pending a call, please do not forget to update their standing (on the Main Info) when they are authorized. While they are awaiting authorization their standing can remain Member in Discernment.

There are address changes for my clergy that I didn’t make. Who made these changes?

The Data Hub receives address, phone and email updates from the Profiles system. Clergy maintain their own records within the Profile system. If the information they save to the Profile system is different than the information saved in the Data Hub their Data Hub record is updated accordingly. If you hover your mouse over the Date Modified for a person’s address you will see the username of the person that made the update. If the update is from the Profile system the username is “Profile Portal: email address.”

Church Records FAQs

When should I mark a church’s record inactive?

If a church is no longer holding worship services they should be marked inactive on their Main Info tab. This designation is typically reserved for churches that are on the path to dissolving. There is no need to mark a “3 – Removed Church” as inactive.

Marking a church as inactive will remove it from the Find a Church listing on ucc.org.

A church has closed, withdrawn, merged or is inactive. Do I need to mark their addresses inactive?

No, please do not mark addresses inactive for closed, withdrawn, merged or inactive churches. Updating their standing or marking them inactive on the Main Info tab is sufficient. (Mail should not be sent to churches whose standing indicates they are closed, withdrawn or merged or whose record is marked inactive.) When you mark their addresses inactive it makes it more difficult to do any analysis in relation to location.

How do I handle a Closed or withdrawn church record in the Data Hub?

When a church withdraws (or closes) all staff should be removed from the church pastorate tab.

Why do I need to enter latitude and longitude for churches location campus addresses?

Latitude and longitude are required for the church to be posted on Find a Church on www.ucc.org. Do not look up latitude and longitude using just a zip code or city and state. The results will not locate the church appropriately; rather it will locate the center of the geographic area you’ve searched.

Please see the video How to Update the Church Location Address (Latitude/Longitude) for help.

I need to update a church’s website. What format should I use?

Please do not include http:// in a church’s website. This information is automatically populated by the Data Hub.

What is the protocol for updating the name of a church?

A church’s name should be listed using their legal name. A “doing business as” can be added using the following format:
legal name dba functional name. For example, a church with the legal name of “First Congregational UCC of Any City” that does business as ”First Church” can be listed as “First Congregational UCC of Any City dba First Church.”

A church wants to enter their Yearbook data into the Data Hub but they can’t login. What should I do to help them?

The Data Hub is only accessible to churches during the beginning of the year (January to mid-March) to submit their Yearbook data. Please see your Yearbook instructions to help them. If it is not during this timeframe they are not able to access the Data Hub. However, you can update their data.

How can I correct an error in a church’s annual data report?

Click the edit link next to the row of data that needs corrected. Click the Update or Save button to save the data to the Data Hub. This will update all reports within the Data Hub immediately.

Miscellaneous FAQs

I am receiving emails with the subject “UCC data discrepancy report.” Who is sending these and why are they sending them?

All records in the Data Hub contain a button at the top labeled “Report data discrepancy.” When users of the Data Hub use this button an email is automatically generated and sent to the persons who have access to edit this record. You should use this information to update the records in the Data Hub as is appropriate. These emails are sent as a courtesy.

Our return address (yearbook@ucc.org) is used in sending these emails; however CARD does not send these messages nor have access to the contents of the message. Please only respond to these messages if you need assistance in obtaining contact information for the Data Hub user that generated the message.

Can I share my Data Hub Account with my colleague?

No. Each user is required to have their own account to the Data Hub as detailed in the Terms of Use. You are the only person authorized to access your account. If additional colleagues need access we are happy to provide them accounts.

Do you monitor the data I enter? How will I know if I make an error?

CARD regularly performs overall system monitoring. You may receive an email with a list of individuals or churches and their conference and association with an explanation of what the problem might be. We perform a variety of backend data checks on a regular basis to ensure the integrity of data is maintained.

Is there a way to check all of the conference or association data?

There are several reports within the Data Hub that bring all your church or people data together in one place. Please visit http://www.ucc.org/research_data-hub for training videos about reports. We encourage you to check your data periodically and review the Monthly Changes Reports that detail specific types of changes that have been made to your records. These reports are especially helpful if multiple people are working to manage your data.

What types of data changes do the People Change Report and Church Change Report capture?

Church Change Report captures the following changes:

Church staff
Address
Standing
ONA status

People Change Report captures the following changes:

Church position (You can see if one of your clergy has begun serving a church in another conference by reviewing these changes.)
Standing
Conference
Association

Please see the video “How to Generate Monthly Changes Report” at http://www.ucc.org/research_data-hub.