Campus Configuration
Whether you just launched your second campus or you're managing ten locations across the city, Vitals makes it easy to see each campus's health individually and as a whole.
Multi-site ministry is one of the most exciting (and complex) things happening in the church today. Whether your second campus meets in a movie theater across town or you have locations in three different states, Vitals is built to handle it. Every campus gets its own set of metrics, its own service times, and its own team members — while your leadership team can always see the full picture across all locations.
Adding a Campus
Adding a new campus is one of the most exciting clicks you will ever make in Vitals — it means your church is growing! You can add a campus at any time, and your existing data is never affected.
- 1Go to Settings → Campuses.
- 2Click Add Campus.
- 3Enter the campus name (e.g., “Downtown,” “North Campus,” or “Westside”).
- 4Enter the city or neighborhood for display purposes.
- 5Select the campus timezone — this is especially important if you have campuses in different time zones.
- 6Click Save.
The new campus appears immediately in the dashboard campus selector. You can start assigning team members and entering data right away.
Single-location churches: You already have one default campus created automatically. You do not need to manage campuses unless you are multi-site. If that day comes, just add your second campus and you are off and running.
Campus-Level Metrics
Each campus tracks its own version of every metric — attendance, giving, online viewers, volunteers, and more. This means your North Campus pastor can see exactly how their location is doing, while your senior pastor can see the big picture across all campuses combined.
- All Campuses view
- Sums every campus's data together. This is what your senior pastor and executive team see on Monday morning — the total health of the whole church.
- Individual campus view
- Shows only that campus's data. Perfect for campus pastors reviewing their location's attendance trends, giving patterns, and volunteer numbers.
Real-world example
Imagine your church has three campuses: North, Downtown, and Eastside. Last Sunday, North had 320 in attendance, Downtown had 450, and Eastside had 180. When your senior pastor opens the "All Campuses" view, they see 950 total. When your Eastside campus pastor opens their campus view, they see 180 and can dig into their own trends without being distracted by numbers from other locations.
When entering data, always make sure you have selected the correct campus in the data entry form so numbers go to the right location.
Service Times Per Campus
Each campus can have its own unique set of service times. This matters because Vitals uses service times to know when to pull data from Planning Center and other connected platforms, and it helps your team enter per-service numbers accurately.
Example: Setting up two very different campuses
Your North Campus runs Saturday at 5pm and Sunday at 10am. Your Downtown Campus runs Sunday at 9am and 11am. Here is how to set that up:
North Campus
Saturday 5:00 PM
Sunday 10:00 AM
Downtown Campus
Sunday 9:00 AM
Sunday 11:00 AM
- 1Go to Settings → Campuses.
- 2Select the campus you want to configure.
- 3Click Service Times.
- 4Click Add Time and enter the day of week and start time.
- 5Repeat for each service at that campus.
- 6Click Save.
If one campus meets on Saturday and another on Sunday, set each campus's service times accordingly and Vitals will handle them correctly — no extra configuration needed.
Update service times whenever your schedule changes — adding a new early service, dropping a summer evening service, or shifting times for a new season should always be reflected here.
Campus Pastors & Team Leads
Every campus needs a point person — someone who owns the data for that location. Designating a campus lead gives them Editor access scoped specifically to their campus. They can enter and edit their location's numbers without seeing other campuses or changing organization-wide settings.
This is perfect for campus pastors, location directors, or whoever is responsible for entering weekend numbers at each site. They can log in Monday morning, enter their headcounts and giving totals, and move on with their day.
- 1Go to Settings → Campuses.
- 2Select the campus.
- 3Click Campus Lead.
- 4Search for the team member by name or email address.
- 5Click Assign. They now have campus-scoped Editor access.
The team member must already have a Vitals account to be assigned as a campus lead. Invite them first in Settings → Team if they have not joined yet.
Merging or Removing Campuses
Sometimes a campus closes. Maybe the lease ended, maybe the congregation merged into another location, or maybe a church plant became its own independent church. Whatever the reason, Vitals makes it easy to gracefully wind down a campus while preserving every piece of data.
- Archive
- Go to Settings → Campuses → select the campus → Archive. The campus is hidden from the dashboard and campus selector, but all historical data is preserved and can still be accessed in reports. Think of it like moving a folder to storage — it is out of sight, but you can always go back and look at it.
- Delete
- Permanent deletion is not available for any campus that has recorded data. This protects the integrity of your historical reports. Use Archive instead — it gives you the clean dashboard you want while keeping the data safe.
Archived campuses can be restored at any time if a location reopens — all the data comes right back.
When you archive a campus, team members who were campus-restricted to that location will lose their access to data entry. Make sure to reassign them to another campus or update their permissions.
Launching a New Campus
Launching a new campus is one of the biggest milestones in a church's life. Whether you are running preview services in a school gym or doing a full grand opening with bouncy houses and a coffee truck, you want to capture every number from the very beginning. Here is our recommended approach:
Add the campus as soon as you know it’s happening
Don’t wait until launch day. Create the campus in Settings → Campuses as soon as the decision is made. This lets you start entering data from preview services, interest meetings, and soft-launch weekends immediately.
Enter historical data from preview services
Had 45 people at your first preview service in the school cafeteria? Log it! Go back and enter attendance, giving, and other metrics from any early gatherings so your trend data tells the full story from day one.
Set the official launch date
Enter the official launch date in the campus settings. Vitals uses this date in reports and year-over-year comparisons to correctly contextualize your early data. Your pre-launch numbers will not skew your post-launch averages.
Assign a campus lead right away
Add the campus pastor or point person as the campus lead so they can start entering data independently. The sooner they are comfortable with Vitals, the smoother launch day will go. Nobody wants to learn new software on the most exciting Sunday of the year.
Set up service times before the first service
Configure your planned service times so that Planning Center integration (if you use it) knows exactly when to pull data. Even if your schedule changes after launch, you can always update it later.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to our data if we close a campus?
Nothing is lost. When you archive a campus, all historical data is preserved and still accessible in reports. Your year-over-year comparisons, giving trends, and attendance history stay intact. The campus simply stops appearing in your active dashboard and campus selector. If the location ever reopens, you can restore it and everything comes right back.
Can two campuses share the same building on different days?
Absolutely. This is more common than you might think — maybe your English-speaking congregation meets Sunday morning and your Spanish-speaking congregation meets Sunday afternoon in the same building. Just create two separate campuses with their own names and service times. Vitals treats them as independent locations, each with their own metrics and team members.
We just became multi-site. Do we need to re-enter all our old data?
No. Your existing data stays with your original (default) campus. When you add a new campus, it starts fresh with no historical data. Your original campus keeps every number you have ever entered. Going forward, just make sure you are selecting the right campus when entering new data.
Can a team member be assigned to more than one campus?
Yes! When setting campus restrictions for an Editor or Viewer, you can select multiple campuses. This is great for a worship director who leads worship at both your North and Downtown campuses, or an executive pastor who oversees two locations.
Our church plant is becoming independent. How do we handle that?
Archive the campus in Vitals once the plant officially launches as its own church. All the historical data from when it was your campus stays in your reports. The new independent church can set up their own Vitals account and start fresh. If you want to give them their historical data, reach out to our support team and we can help with the transition.
Do campuses in different time zones cause any issues?
Not at all — that is exactly why each campus has its own timezone setting. When your East Coast campus enters Sunday morning data and your West Coast campus enters theirs three hours later, Vitals handles the time differences automatically. Reports and dashboards always show the right data for the right day.
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Still have questions? Email us at support@vitals.church — we usually reply within a few hours.