How Parable works
Understand your organization, connected data, and the tools your team can use.
Parable brings your church's connected data into one place so your team can find people, understand participation, and answer ministry questions. You can start with the application without learning SQL.
Start with your organization
Your organization is the workspace for your church's data, connected apps, reports, and settings. If you belong to more than one organization, check the selected organization before working with people or changing settings.
Your membership and permissions determine what you can view and change. Giving access is controlled separately, so two people in the same organization may see different financial information. If a section or action is unavailable, ask your organization's administrator to check your access.
Connect the data you use
Install Planning Center from Settings → Apps, connect an account, and select the Planning Center apps your church uses. Parable imports the connected data in the background. Open Apps from the workspace menu, select the installed Planning Center app, and review Connections or Activity to follow the import. A first import can still be running while you explore.
The available data depends on the connected apps and their sync progress. A missing result can mean that the source is not connected, the import has not finished, or your permissions do not include that information.
Follow the quickstart to set up your organization and connection.
Find people and understand participation
Use People to find a person and open their profile. Profiles bring together the information available from your connected sources. Saved segments help you return to an audience you use regularly.
Engagement and giving labels describe different aspects of participation. Read the engagement guide and giving stages guide before using a label to decide who needs follow-up. A label is context for your team, rather than a substitute for knowing the person.
Ask questions and return to useful results
If Ask Parable is available to you, start from the home page and ask a specific question about your connected data. Include a time period and the group of people you mean. Review the result and its scope before sharing it.
Reports and dashboards provide places to return to your team's analysis. Access to these tools depends on your permissions and the data available in the selected organization.
Choose your next task
The Using Parable guides collect available guidance by task. Start there for giving and engagement explanations or return to the quickstart for setup.
SQL is optional. When you need a custom query or an external analysis tool, Accessing Your Data explains the database connection, and the Planning Center reference describes the source data.