# Where someone starts

> A short check-in in My GiftWell, plus what GiftWell already knows, suggests a starting stage on each track someone hasn't started. Staff confirm it with one click. Nothing moves on its own.

For: Leader, Pastor, Admin, Owner
Canonical: https://giftwell.app/docs/starting-point

![Next steps on a person's page. Become and Lead are not started, and each shows the person's check-in with a Start at button.](/docs-img/starting-point.png)

When someone hasn't started a [track](/docs/pipelines), their page can suggest where they start. GiftWell suggests. Your team decides.

## The check-in

In [My GiftWell](/docs/my-giftwell), a person sees **Where you're starting**: the steps of each track they haven't started, in your church's words. They tick the ones they've already done and send it. They can change or clear their answers at any time.

- Steps GiftWell already knows about, like a result or a group, aren't asked.
- A track they've started isn't asked.
- Ticking a step never marks it done. Their next steps don't change.

## The suggestion

On the person's page, under **Next steps**, each track they haven't started can show a suggested start with a **Start at** button.

- It counts what GiftWell knows (a result, a group, a placement, a role, a ticked step) and what they said in the check-in.
- The suggested stage comes right after the last stage where every step is done or said, counting from the first stage. A stage with no steps stops the count, because nothing can say they're past it.
- If they checked in but ticked nothing on a track, it suggests the first stage.
- With no check-in and nothing known, there's no suggestion.
- The **?** lists what was counted, and marks what they said themselves.

Pressing **Start at** sets the stage, the same as choosing it from the stage menu. You can pick a different stage instead.

## Many at once

On [Tracks](/docs/pipelines), **Suggested starts** shows how many there are. It opens a list of everyone with a suggested start, check-ins first. Start one person with **Start at**, or tick several and start them together. Each start uses the stage suggested at that moment, so a list left open never sets a stage that has changed. A ministry leader sees only their own people.

## Who sees what

- Staff with leader access or above see the suggestion. The person sees only their own answers.
- Nobody is told when someone checks in, and GiftWell sends nothing.
- Their answers never reach Planning Center and are never shown as done steps.
- Erasing the person erases their answers.