Email Addresses To Replace User IDs

In efforts to make WorshipPlanning more consistent to use between Helpers and Planners, we are eliminating the ability to specify user ids for Planners in release 5.6.2.0 (planned for Oct 22).  Both Planners and Helpers will use their email address and password as their login credentials.  This change should make account maintenance easier for everyone.  Below you'll find answers to a couple of questions you might have. If you have any other questions, please feel free to comment below or submit a support request.

Will my current user ID still work after the update?

Yes, it will.  Those that have user IDs will be able to continue to use them if they want.  They can also use their email address if they'd rather do that.  But if their account is deleted or converted to a Helper, there is no way to recover use of that user id.

How will this make account maintenance easier?

For starters, it will be one less thing that Planners have to remember.  But here are a few less obvious ways this will make use of our web app easier:

1. Converting users from "Planner" to "Helper" (and vice versa) is less confusing for the person being converted.  They can always go to WorshipPlanning.com and log in the email address and password, regardless of the type of user they are.
2. Every time you create a new planner, you will no longer having to waste creative juices figuring out a good user id for that person.  We found this can even be a turn-off for some people creating their new WorshipPlanning.com account. This will also make the process of converting Helpers to Planners much easier.  And we are working on a future update that will make it simpler, yet still!
3. We can give you back a little screen real estate Any place where the user id was visible (which really was very few places), we've eliminated or replaced with the email address.  Our guess is you will hardly notice the change.