Configuring and Planning

CiviCRM provides powerful and exciting tools for managing events and provides real-time registration forms through your website (CiviEvent). By harnessing the power of CiviCRM you can centralize your registration data process, provide your constituents the ability to register online with credit cards, and even have live access to your data while onsite at the event.

Before diving in to the event creation process, there are several global settings you will need to configure and concepts you should understand.

The chart below demonstrates the basic structure and functions of the event management process.

Global Event Configuration

CiviEvent has three global settings that must be reviewed and configured before you can proceed with the event creation process. In addition, there are three general CiviCRM settings that should be reviewed and configured.

Navigate to Administer CiviCRM and note the CiviEvent block towards the bottom of the page. You will need to review the following settings:

• Event Types: CiviCRM allows you to define different types of events as a categorization mechanism. This is particularly useful when searching through event participants or generating an event listing feed. You should take the time to consider what types of events your organization holds and define them in this interface. You can return at any time to modify or add to the list of types.
  
  
• Participant Roles: When an individual registers for an event, they will be assigned a participant role. This field helps you segment your participants into meaningful categories based on their involvement in the event, such as attendee, volunteer, speaker, staff. You are also able to define custom fields and assign it to a specific role, which can be helpful when you need to collect certain information relevant only to speakers or another role. Participant roles can be searched for using the Find Participant dialogs. When creating a registration page for inclusion on your website, you will select a default participant role assigned to all online registrants.
    
• Participant Status: The participant status field set allows you to track the individual's registration through your system. Depending on the level of detail and tracking you need, this can provide you with the ability to identify cancelled registrants, no-shows, confirmed attendance, or any other status you define. Participant status is also a searchable field in the Find Participants form. 
  
  For organizations that need more of an RSVP workflow, you can rename your statuses to friendly names such as "Yes, I'm Coming; No, I can't make it; and Maybe." Then configure for each of those statuses which ones are for admin use or public use. This allows you to expose the participant status field via a profile on your registration form and only those with public visibility will appear. For more information on this scenario, visit: http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRM/RSVP-style+Event+Registration
  

In many cases you may find that the default options for Participant Roles and Participant Status are sufficient for your needs. But it is important to review them before proceeding to ensure you have structured event management to fit your organisational needs.

There are several core CiviCRM settings that may play an important role in how you use the event tools. It is possible that you have already reviewed and configured them as part of your initial installation process. But it is worth reviewing the following configuration options:

• Administer CiviCRM » Global Settings » Outbound Email (SMTP/Sendmail): CiviEvent makes significant use of the system's email capabilities, providing very valuable functionality. If a contact registers for an event online or an administrator registers a contact through the administrative interface, an email receipt can be sent to the contact with details of their registration transaction. In order for these functions to work, you must complete and test the Outbound Email settings.
• Administer CiviCRM » Global Settings » Payment Processors: While not required, the event registration process is significantly enhanced by allowing individuals to register and pay for the event with a credit card. CiviCRM can be configured to use several payment processors, all configurable through this interface. Please visit the online documentation for more details on using payment processing (http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/CiviContribute+Payment+Processor+Configuration.  Once you have created a payment processor you can select it in the event creation fees page.
  

Planning Event Management

In addition to the configuration steps above, you should familiarize yourself with various tools available in the event creation process. Some of these require you to take steps prior to the actual creation of an event (though if you've already begun creating an event you can always complete the process, address these tools, and return to complete the event configuration).

The two essential tools you should understand are Custom Data/Profiles and Price Sets.

Custom Data/Profiles

CiviCRM provides ample flexibility for you to define and integrate custom fields into your event management process. Custom data are fields that you define and associate with a specific data type. You can then use them to collect information from your contacts as they register for an event, as well as in other ways.

Custom data is managed through Administer CiviCRM » Custom Data. You begin by creating a new group of custom fields, at which point you designate how the set of fields will be used. There are several types of uses available to CiviEvent tools:

• Events (Event Type): This use type will create fields that are connected to the event itself, or to a specific event type. For example, your organization may host a series of training workshops and want to create a custom field to track the topic fields covered by the event from a list of six common topics. You could create a checkbox style field with the list of topic options. When creating an event using the "Workshops" type, this field will be available. Note that you are not required to select a specific event type. Leaving the dropdown set to "Any" indicates the field is available to all events, regardless of the type.
• Participants: The Participant use type attaches to the actual registrant record. For example, you may want to know if a registrant has any dietary restrictions and collect that information at the time they register.
• Participants (Event Name): This use type is identical to the Participants type, with the exception that it allows you to assign a group of custom fields to a specific event. Returning to the example above, you may find that the dietary restrictions field is only applicable to the upcoming full-day workshop where lunch will be served, but not to the afternoon workshop series you are planning for the coming month. You could create the field set and assign it to a single event.
  
• Participants (Role): Additionally, you may create a participants type field and assign it to a single participant role. This is valuable, for example, if you need to collect biographical profile details from your speakers and wish to record it with the event registration. Because that field is applicable to only the Speakers role, you would limit it using this interface.
  

After creating your set of custom fields you begin defining the actual fields to be included. If you are not familiar with the range of options available through the custom fields tool you should investigate that further before creating your actual fields.

Participant custom data groups and fields will be automatically included in their assigned location when accessing the information through the CiviCRM administrative tools. However, they will not be displayed in your online event registration page unless they are first included in a profile, which is then included with the event configuration.

A profile is a collection of fields (both pre-defined and custom) from your database, acting as a "window" into your data. By creating a profile you are able to pull only those fields relevant for a specific purpose and then incorporate them into your event registration or other online tool. If you are not familiar with how profiles are created and configured, please research that before continuing. The diagram below provides a visual explanation of how existing fields are assigned for use in a profile.

Thinking ahead and planning your data needs before you create your event will help streamline the event configuration process. But it is not uncommon for people to begin the event creation process, and perhaps get to a testing stage, before they realize that there is an additional field they need to capture through a custom field and profile. Don't worry—after creating your event you can always return to the configuration and assign a profile(s) at a later stage.

Price Sets

Price sets play a similar role to custom data fields and profiles except that they are used to provide event fee options rather than basic data collection.

When creating a new event, one step in the process involves configuring event fees. The standard fees layout form is a very simple structure, allowing you to create a list of fees and their labels. The resulting layout allows the registrant to select one option from the list. Often times, this single-option format does not meet the complex demands of your event registration structure. Price sets allow you to create multiple registration fee fields and assign the entire set to an event.

Price sets are created and managed through Administer CiviCRM » Price Sets or as an option under CiviEvent in the sidebar menu.

Similar to how custom data sets work, you begin by creating a new price set and then adding specific fields. The field types are similar in structure to custom data fields, with some unique qualities and usage relevant to fee structures.

 

• Text/Numeric Quantity: This field type allows you to set a unit price and displays a text box where the registrant enters a quantity value. The quantity entered is multiplied by the unit value to calculate the fee.
  
• Select: The select field option displays a drop-down box where the registrant selects one option from the list.
  
• Radio: Radio fields display multiple options in a list, allowing the registrant to select one fee choice.
  
• Checkbox: The checkbox fields are displayed in a list, but the registrant can select or unselect any number of options.
  

Using these four field types, the administrator can define any number of registration fees in combination with each other. The result is a robust and flexible system for managing event fees.

As with custom data fields, it is to your advantage to give thought to the structure of your registration fees and build the price set before creating the event. However, if you begin the event creation process and determine that you needed to construct a price set, you can complete the process, create the price set, and then return to the event configuration page to assign the price set.

Also note that price sets can be reused in multiple events. This is particularly helpful for organizations that run multiple events in a series, such as a regional training seminar program.