Get Parable Running
Setting up Parable takes about ten minutes of your time. Most of the elapsed time is the first Planning Center sync, which runs in the background while you explore.Before You Start
Planning Center Access
You’ll authorize with an account that has Organizational Admin
permissions — plus Giving Administrator if you want giving data
No Card Required
The 30-day trial doesn’t ask for payment details
You do not need to bring your own database. Parable hosts the warehouse
and provisions a read-only connection for you once your data has synced.
Setup in Four Steps
Step 1: Create Your Organization
Tell us about your church so we can size and contextualize your data.Organization Details
Organization Details
- Organization Name — your church’s name
- Mailing Address — street, city, state/province, and postal code
Demographics
Demographics
- Denomination
- Average Weekly Attendance
- Age of Organization
- Number of Staff Members
These help benchmark your data against similar churches and set sensible
defaults for engagement scoring and metrics.
Step 2: Connect Planning Center
1
Choose your apps
People is required — it’s the backbone every other module links to.
Then pick any of:
2
Authorize
You’ll be redirected to Planning Center to approve access. Make sure your
account has Organizational Admin, and Giving Administrator if you
selected Giving.
3
Name the connection (optional)
Give the integration a nickname if you’ll connect more than one Planning
Center organization.
Step 3: Start Your Free Trial
Thirty days of full access, no credit card required. You can add billing details later under Settings → Billing.Step 4: Let the First Sync Run
Parable begins importing immediately. The first full sync pulls your complete history and can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours depending on your church’s size — it runs in the background, and you can start exploring as data lands. After the initial import, Parable keeps everything current automatically. Sync status is visible under Settings → Sync.What to Do First
Ask a question
On the Overview page, ask something in plain language — “how many first-time
guests did we have last month?” — and get an answer, chart, or report back
Browse People
Open any person to see their engagement score, giving pattern, attendance
history, and group involvement in one profile
Build a dashboard
Assemble tiles for the metrics your leadership meeting actually needs
Schedule a report
Save a report and have it emailed on a recurring schedule, or export it to
PDF or CSV
Going Deeper With SQL
Two ways to query your data directly:- In-app SQL editor
- Your own tools
Open SQL Editor in the sidebar. It includes schema autocomplete, query
history, saved queries, and CSV export — no setup required.
Your First Queries
Every Planning Center table lives in theplanning_center schema, and
relationships live in separate *_relationships tables rather than foreign-key
columns.
Don’t filter on
tenant_organization_id or system_status — row-level
security applies both automatically, and adding them yourself can hide rows or
slow the query down.Where to Go Next
- Accessing Your Data — connect PGAdmin, TablePlus, Power BI, or Tableau
- Planning Center Overview — how the synced schema is organized
- Engagement Scoring — how scores, tiers, and warning lights work
- Giving Stages — how donor patterns are classified
Need help? Join the
community Slack
or email michael@getparable.io.