Congratulations on setting up a new ChurchMetrics account! Categories are set by each church and should match how you take attendance. Feel free to add categories or delete the default categories. For directions on how to add a category, see Creating a Custom Category.
Keep in mind what metrics you want to track, and what you want to see on reports and charts. Ask yourself "What meaningful decision could I make by tracking this metric?" Try to keep it simple. Your volunteers will thank you.
Typical format
Total Attendance (Attendance, Parent category)
Adults (Attendance)
Nursery (Attendance)
Kids (Attendance)
Teens (Attendance)
Total Contributions (Contributions, Parent category)
Tithes (Contributions)
Offerings (Contributions)
First Time Visitors (Other)
Visitor Follow Ups (Other)
Volunteers (Other)
Salvations (Salvations)
Baptisms (Other)
Life Groups (Other)
Some churches want to know the average tithe by adult. In that case, you may want to exclude kids from your Total Attendance, or use just the "Adults" category. e.g. Average Tithe = Total Contributions / Adults.
Flat Format
LifeChurch uses a format like this.
Adults (Attendance)
Kids (Other)
Tithes (Contributions)
Missions (Contributions)
First Time Visitors (Other)
Return Visitors (Other)
Volunteers (Other)
Salvations (Salvations)
Baptisms (Other)
ChurchMetrics isn't really designed for tracking groups, but you are free to add custom categories for that. See also Tracking Individuals.