Sign in to HoW for the first time

Nobody signs up to HoW on their own: your church invites you, by email. The invitation opens your church’s staff dashboard or member portal, and from then on you sign in there.

Where you sign in

Staff sign in at one address for every church: https://login.how.dcxlogic.com. It opens HoW’s sign-in page. Once you are in, your church’s dashboard is at https://dash.how.dcxlogic.com/<your church>/.

• HoW opens your church’s dashboard. One email has staff access at one church: see One email, one church’s staff access.
• Members sign in at their church’s member portal, https://<your church>.members.how.dcxlogic.com.

Bookmark your church’s dashboard address once you are in. The older addresses (<your church>.dash.how.dcxlogic.com and app.how.dcxlogic.com) still work: they take you to the new ones. After the move you sign in once more, and the sign-in page tells you why: “The staff dashboard has a new address. Sign in once more here.”

If you only volunteer or are a member (you are not on any church’s staff), HoW shows This address is for church staff, with a button to open each of your churches’ member portals. Your serving dates are there, under My schedule: see My schedule.

Move between the staff dashboard and the member portal

If you are on a church’s staff and also a member there, you do not need to sign in again to move between the two.

• In the staff dashboard, open the account menu (your initial, top right) and choose Open my member portal.
• In the member portal, open the account menu and choose Open the staff dashboard.

You only see the choice that applies to you. If your church has chosen its own address as its preferred one and it is working, these buttons open the other site at that address; otherwise at HoW’s address. If you are not already signed in on the other site, it first asks Continue as j***@yourchurch.org (the first letter of your email and its domain). Check that this is you, then choose Continue as …. If it is not you, choose Not you? Cancel: you go to the sign-in page and nobody is signed in. This step is there so a link someone else sent you can never quietly sign you into their account. If you were signed in on that site as someone else, continuing signs that account out there first.

The move works for one minute and one time: if the page says This link has expired or was already used, just sign in on that page. If your church asks for two-step verification, the dashboard may ask for your code once the first time you arrive. If you asked for an emailed sign-in link a moment earlier, ask for a new one after you move, because moving replaces the earlier link. If something does not work, DCX support can check your access at your church, but cannot sign you in on your behalf.

If your church has its own sign-in address

Your church’s owner can connect the church’s own addresses, such as dash.yourchurch.org for staff and members.yourchurch.org for members (Settings, Sign-in addresses). HoW’s addresses keep working too: use whichever you like, and HoW never moves you from the address you opened.

• To switch, open the account menu and choose Open at dash.yourchurch.org (in the member portal, Open at members.yourchurch.org). On your church’s address, choose Open at HoW’s address to go back. You land on the same page. You only see these choices once your church’s address is working.
• You sign in once on each address you use. If your church asks for two-step verification, you enter your code once on each address too.
• Emailed sign-in links and invitations always open at HoW’s address (dash.how.dcxlogic.com/<your church> for staff, <your church>.members.how.dcxlogic.com for members). On your church’s address, the sign-in page says where the link will open.
• Your church’s owner chooses which address HoW’s own links use, such as Open my member portal, Open the staff dashboard and My schedule. If your church’s address stops working, those links use HoW’s address until it is fixed.
• Paying for an event or an order, or setting up payments, brings you back to the address you started from when it is working.

Accept your invitation

1. Open the email from HoW and choose its link. It opens your church’s dashboard or portal.
2. HoW says You are invited to your church’s name. Choose Accept invitation.
3. You are in. Staff see the dashboard’s Home; members see the portal’s Home.

If the link has expired, or the page says You do not have access to this church, ask your church’s office for a new invitation. An invitation is for one email address: sign in with that address.

Sign in after that

On the sign-in page, either:

• type your Email and Password and choose Sign in, or
• type your Email and choose Email me a sign-in link. HoW emails you a link; open it on the same device and you are signed in. No password needed.

To leave, open the account menu (your initial, top right) and choose Sign out.

Two-step verification

Two-step verification asks for a six-digit code from an authenticator app (such as Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator or 1Password) after your password, so a stolen password is not enough to get in.

1. Open the account menu and choose Security.
2. Choose Add authenticator, scan the code with your app, and type the six digits it shows. Choose Confirm.
3. From now on, after signing in, HoW asks you to Enter your verification code. Type the code and choose Verify.

Your church’s owner can make it compulsory for owners and administrators (Settings, Require two-step verification for administrators). If it is, HoW shows Set up two-step verification the first time an owner or administrator signs in, and nothing else opens until it is done.

Working at more than one church

On HoW, one email has staff access at one church. If you work at two churches, sign in with the email you use for each one; HoW opens that church’s dashboard. If you are a member or volunteer at other churches, your one email works for all of them: see One email, one church’s staff access.

Good to know

• Lost your phone? Ask DCX Logic support, through your church’s owner, to remove your authenticator; you then add a new one.
• Members under the portal age are not sent invitations; the church’s office can explain.

What DCX Logic support can do

Resend nothing by itself (invitations come from your church), but support can check whether an invitation went out, remove a lost authenticator, and explain an error reference (E-…) shown on screen.

Coming from Planning Center

In Planning Center, “Each person with permission to access your account will log in using their login method, which can be an email or phone number” (Help people log in). HoW signs in by email only, with a password or an emailed link, and two-step verification by authenticator app.

Planning Center has no church domain for signing in; staff sign in at login.planningcenteronline.com (Log in to Planning Center). HoW also lets your church use its own addresses, beside HoW’s.