Room Capacity and Live Occupancy

The Rooms view on the Check-In Station shows, for every class in your children's ministry, how many people are currently checked in. It is the fastest way for a children's ministry leader to see how full each classroom is during a service. Before a room becomes a fire-code or child-safety problem.

This article explains how to set up rooms with capacity, how to read the live Rooms view, and what to do when a room hits its limit.

Note: The Check-In Station shows the live head count per class (the List / Rooms toggle on the "Checked In" card). It does not show capacity bars or percentages, so compare each class's head count with the capacity you set on its room.

How Rooms Connect to Check-In

The data flows through three things:

1. Room. A physical location in your facility (e.g., "Room 204 - Kindergarten"), set up under Facilities > Rooms. Rooms have a name, a capacity number, and an active flag.
2. Class. A class, such as "Kindergarten," set up under People > Groups (Classes filter). Each class can have one assigned room.
3. Check-In. When a child is checked in, the check-in is linked to a class, which is linked to a room. The room name can print on name tags (the Room/Location label field).

Setting Up Capacity

Before capacity numbers can mean anything, your rooms need them.

1. Set Capacity on Each Room

1. In the left sidebar, open Facilities > Rooms.
2. Open a room (or click Add Room to create one).
3. Enter a number in the Capacity field. This should reflect the maximum safe occupancy, typically dictated by your fire code, your insurance carrier, or your child-to-adult ratio targets.
4. Confirm the Active checkbox is ticked.
5. Save.

Repeat for every room used in children's ministry.

2. Assign Each Class to a Room

1. In the left sidebar, open People > Groups and click the Classes filter.
2. Open a class (e.g., "Kindergarten") and click Edit details. (For a new class, click Add Group, choose Class, and find Room under Class settings.)
3. In the Room dropdown, select the room you want this class to use. Leaving it on No room means the class has no tracked location.
4. Click Save.

3. Verify

On the Check-In Station, open the Checked In card and switch to the Rooms view. You will see one section per active class. Once children check in, their counts appear under the matching class.

Note: A class with no room assigned still appears in the Rooms view by name, but it has no capacity to measure against. A check-in with no class at all lands in the No Room section (see below).

Reading the Rooms View

On the Check-In Station, the Checked In card has two views, toggled at the top right:

• List: a flat list of everyone currently checked in, with their time, class, security code, and a checkout button.
• Rooms: the same check-ins grouped by class, one section per class.

In the Rooms view, each class section shows:

The capacity you set on the assigned room is the number to read this head count against. The capacity itself is not shown on this view, so keep a note of each room's number (it is listed next to each room in the class's Room dropdown).

Color and Indicator Conventions

As a rule of thumb for reading the head counts against capacity:

• Under 70 percent of capacity. Plenty of room; no concern.
• 70-90 percent. Approaching capacity; monitor.
• 90+ percent. At or over capacity; intervene now.

"No Room" Children

Sometimes a child is checked in without a class assigned. These children are not lost. They appear in the No Room section at the bottom of the Rooms view, with a warning indicator and a count.

To fix:

1. Identify which check-ins are missing a class.
2. Make sure the child is checked into a class going forward (and that the class has a room assigned per the setup steps above).

This is a common situation when a new class is added mid-year and check-in volunteers forget to pick it, or when a walk-in is checked in without choosing a class. The No Room warning surfaces it before it causes confusion at pickup.

What to Do When a Room Hits Capacity

When a class's head count approaches or hits its room capacity, the children's ministry leader has several options:

1. Open an Overflow Class

If you have a backup classroom for the same age group, open it and start checking new arrivals into the overflow class. This is the most common response and the reason many churches keep one extra classroom configured but inactive.

2. Move Children Mid-Service

If two adjacent age groups are unbalanced, one full and one half-empty, consider moving a few older children up to the next age class to even out the rooms. This keeps families happy and matches volunteer-to-child ratio targets.

3. Alert the Door

Coordinate with the check-in volunteers to politely route additional families to a different age group, or to ask them to wait while overflow opens up.

4. End-of-Service Lookback

If a room hit capacity once during the service, that's a planning signal. Review your room assignments before next week. Common fixes:

• Move the class to a larger room.
• Increase the capacity number if the room can actually safely hold more (verify with fire code).
• Split the class by age range.

Capacity vs. Volunteer-to-Child Ratio

These are two different measures. Both matter.

A room can be under capacity but over ratio. For example, a 30-capacity room with 12 children and 1 volunteer is at 40 percent capacity but a 12:1 ratio, which exceeds standard targets for that age group.

A room can also be at capacity but under ratio. For example, a 30-capacity room with 30 children and 6 volunteers is at 100 percent capacity (and you should not admit more children) even though the ratio is comfortable.

Watch both signals so you can act on either.

See Volunteer Check-In for common ratio targets.

Keeping Counts Current

The Check-In Station reloads after each check-in or checkout you make on it, but it does not pick up check-ins made on other devices (such as the kiosk) until you reload the page. Reload it before you read the counts. The Classroom Roster refreshes itself every few seconds, so it is the better screen to leave open in a classroom.

Setting Capacity Without Going Over

Some churches set capacity numbers slightly below the fire-code maximum to build in a margin for visitors and walk-ins. For example, a room rated for 30 might be set to 27. The reasoning: when the room fills to 27, you still have 3 spots to absorb the inevitable late arrival without breaking the legal limit.

This is a judgment call. The trade-off is between cushion and apparent capacity utilization. Whichever number you choose, document it in your church's children's ministry policy so volunteers know what "full" means.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why isn't this class showing a head count? Confirm: (1) it is set up as a class under People > Groups (Classes filter), (2) the class is active, and (3) children are actually checked into it. A class with no room assigned still appears by name, but it has no capacity to measure against.

Can I have two classes share one room? Technically yes. Two classes can both link to the same room. Each class shows its own head count, but they both reference the same capacity number, which can be confusing if the room is genuinely shared. Best practice: one class per room, or rethink whether they should be one combined class.

Does the count include children who have already been picked up? No. The head count only counts active check-ins (not yet checked out). Once a child is picked up, the count decreases.

Are visitor / walk-in check-ins included? Yes, as long as they are checked into a class. Visitor check-ins go into the children's class just like everyone else.

What happens if a room's capacity is unset? The head count still shows, but there is no capacity to measure it against. Add a capacity to the room so your team knows what "full" means.

Related Articles

• Check-In Settings. Room capacity and class setup.
• Volunteer Check-In. Common volunteer-to-child ratio targets.
• Check-In Rooms. Running several check-in sessions (rooms) at once.
• Unclaimed Children. End-of-service safety dashboard.