Setting up a workflow takes a few minutes. The thinking up front — what stages, who acts on each — is where the real value lives.
1. Open the Workflows page
In the left sidebar, click Workflows. This is where every pipeline you've created lives. The first time you visit, the list is empty.
2. Create the workflow
Click New Workflow. Give it a name that describes the process clearly — examples that work well:
- Volunteer Application
- Get Baptized
- Pastoral Care Request
- Leadership Pipeline
- Wedding Inquiry
Add a short description so other team members know when to use it. Click Create Workflow.
3. Configure the stages
You'll land on the new workflow's pipeline page — empty for now. Click Configure in the top-right to open the configuration page. It has a sidebar with four sections: Stages, Terminal stages, Views, and Background check.
Open Stages first. Click Add stage and fill in:
- Stage name — what shows on the column header (e.g. "Review", "Background Check", "Onboarding").
- Description (optional) — a one-line note for the team about what happens here.
- What happens at this stage? Pick from:
- Mark complete — the assignee just clicks done when their work is finished.
- Approve / Reject — adds Approve and Reject buttons on the card. Approve advances to the next stage; Reject moves to a rejection stage.
- Background check — when a card lands here, a background check is created automatically. The card advances on its own when the check clears.
- Add to team — when a card lands here, the person is added to a scheduler team you choose.
- Send email — fires a transactional email and auto-advances.
- Who's assigned? Pick how the system picks who's responsible:
- Unassigned — anyone with admin access can pick it up.
- Specific people — type to search and add team members. Selected names show as chips in the field. If you have multiple campuses, you can also set per-campus overrides so cards from each campus route to the right person.
- Workflow owner — whoever created the workflow.
Add stages in the order they should run. For a typical Volunteer Application pipeline:
- Application Received (Approve / Reject — assigned to a leader)
- Background Check (Background check — unassigned)
- Onboarding (Mark complete — assigned to ministry leader)
- Add to Team (Add to team — unassigned)
4. Add terminal stages
Switch to the Terminal stages tab in the sidebar. Terminal stages are the finish line — they close the card out. You'll usually want two:
- Approved (or "Hired", "Baptized", etc.) — the success outcome.
- Rejected (or "Withdrew", "Removed") — check the "This is a rejection stage" box so the card is recorded as rejected, not completed.
5. Pick a default view
Switch to Views. Choose Kanban for low-volume pipelines (Apply to Serve, Get Baptized) or List for high-volume pipelines (Prayer Requests, salvation follow-ups). Each user can flip between them anytime — this just sets the starting point.
6. Set up the background check (optional)
If your pipeline needs a background check, switch to the Background check tab and pick:
- Off — no BG check stage.
- Studio runs it (Checkr) — auto-creates a check, charges the payer, emails the consent link to the volunteer. Studio inserts the BG Check stage automatically.
- Use my own vendor — Studio inserts a manual stage you mark complete after running your own check.
7. Test it
Go back to the workflow's pipeline page (Back to {workflow name}). Click the + button on the first column header and add a test card with your own name. Drag it through the stages to make sure each one feels right. Adjust as needed.