Rotunda Volunteer Scheduling Software

The latest update to Ministry Scheduler Pro comes fully loaded with commonly used email templates! Now you can quickly and easily email requests for availability updates, send out the completed schedule, remind volunteers of their login info – and more! To save time and more easily communicate with your volunteers using scheduling software, check the Settings menu in the Emailer for a complete list of templates.

In the new Ministry Scheduler Pro 6.1 update, there’s a handy new token that will help get your empty positions filled in a jiffy! The {{AllAvailablePositions}} token lists all positions that need volunteers – combining pending sub requests and unfilled positions. Use this new token to post a list of available positions on the Web Terminal or in an email. You can even set up an auto email reminder to inform volunteers of the upcoming available positions. This is just one more way to reduce last minute stress and make sure no task gets left unfilled!

Ever wish you could give more access to your ministry leaders? In the latest Ministry Scheduler Pro update, you can now designate Ministry Leaders, which will allow you to give certain people special Web Terminal privileges without needing to give them access to the MSP desktop program. Ministry Leaders can send emails and request subs on behalf of their volunteers, all through a new Admin Tab in the Web Terminal!

The Emailer function in the Admin Tab is just like the one inside the MSP desktop program, complete with tokens, previewing, and filters. Staying powerfully connected to volunteers through ministry scheduling software just got a whole lot easier!

MSP 6.1 has been released! The new version helps get more people on board with effective ministry scheduling at your church! Below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about MSP 6.1. If you still have questions, feel free to contact us!

• What is the Ministry Leaders feature?
• How do I assign a Ministry Leader?
• Why can I only create 5 Ministry Leaders?
• How can I use the “focus on ministries” option?
• How can I add a new ministry to an existing schedule?
• What are Folders?
• How do I use the preconfigured templates for the Emailer?
• What does “cloning a Live Schedule Post” mean?
• How do I clone Live Schedule Posts?
• How do I set my Live Schedule Posts to only display future dates?
• How do I turn on the automatic Available Positions auto-email?
• How can I turn automatic emails or SMS reminders off for volunteers from their profile?
• How can I limit the number of positions volunteers can sign up for through the Web Terminal?
• What happened to the option to “Send login information to new volunteers” in the Web Terminal pane?

What is the Ministry Leaders feature?

The Ministry Leaders feature gives web-based administrative access to your ministry leaders. Through a new Admin tab in the Web Terminal, these leaders can email volunteers in their ministries and request subs on behalf of their volunteers. This feature will make it possible for heads of ministries to stay powerfully connected to the volunteers in their ministries without having to download MSP.

Permissions for Ministry Leaders are granted through the program; Ministry Leaders’ access can be restricted by ministry and/or service time.  As the MSP administrator, you can also restrict a Ministry Leader’s access to the web-based Emailer, the ability to request subs, or both.

How do I assign a Ministry Leader?

To assign someone as a Ministry Leader, they must first be entered as a Volunteer into MSP.  To assign a volunteer as a Ministry Leader:

1. From the Web Terminal pane inside of MSP, click on the “Web Terminal Settings…” button at the top of the window.
2. In the new dialog that opens, click on the Ministry Leaders heading on the left.
3. Click the “Declare leader…” button in this window and select the name of the volunteer who will be a Ministry Leader.  You can narrow that Leader’s access by ministry or service, and control his or her access privileges.

Why can I only create 5 Ministry Leaders?

Using the Online edition, you are limited to 5 Ministry Leaders. You can add an unlimited number of Ministry Leaders using the Plus edition of our software. To learn more about the Plus Edition, visit our site.

In order to keep pricing low for churches that may not require an unlimited number of Ministry Leaders, the Plus edition is an optional upgrade. Due to the additional resources required on our end to host more Ministry Leaders as well as the added support for those leaders, the fees for using more than 5 Ministry Leaders are a little higher.

How can I use the “focus on ministries” option?

The “focus on ministries” option allows you to view just some of your ministries on a schedule instead of all at once, making it easier to manage portions of the schedule at different times.

To use this option, first generate a new schedule skeleton or open an existing schedule.  From the View menu at the top of the schedule window, navigate to the “Focus on ministries” option and select the ministries you wish to view on the schedule.

BONUS: When you click “Commence Scheduling” with this option on, the program will default to run the auto-scheduler only for those ministries being focused on, making it even easier to manage and schedule one or more ministries at a time.

How can I add a new ministry to an existing schedule?

By scheduling more of your ministries with MSP, you make scheduling easier for everyone. Volunteers will be able to easily view all their assignments in a centralized location, and you can rest assured that no volunteer will ever be double booked. You can easily add a new ministry to an existing schedule by following these steps:

1. First, be sure to add the ministry in the Service Times pane of MSP to ensure the positions will appear the next time you run a new schedule.
2. Open the existing schedule by going to the Data Sharing pane (or from a local folder if you are not using a shared database).
3. Click on a date on the calendar and a service time where positions in the new ministry will be needed. Then edit that service by clicking the “Edit Service” button at the top of the window.
4. Click on the new ministry and add the required number of positions.  Once you click OK, MSP will present you with a message asking if you would like to add these new positions to just this one service time or all instances – choose the “All Instances” option.  Repeat for all service times where these positions are needed.
5. You can then click on the calendar icon in the upper right side of the schedule window to run the auto-scheduler for these new empty positions.

What are Folders?

Folders add a higher level of organization for your ministries.  For example, if you have services that occur at several different locations, you can create a folder for each location in the Ministries pane, and then create separate ministries for each folder.  This way you can easily manage volunteers who are only scheduled in one location.  Moreover, folders make it easy to filter email recipients, post and export schedules, and generate rosters for one folder at a time.

To use folders, go to the Ministries pane inside of MSP and click the “New Folder” button.  Once you have created a folder, you can drag and drop your existing ministries into the folder, or with the folder selected, click the “New Ministry” button to add a new ministry to the folder.

How do I use the preconfigured templates for the Emailer?

Preconfigured email templates make contacting your volunteers and setting up a scheduling cycle quick and easy.   If a volunteer forgets his or her username or password, or you want to remind all volunteers of an upcoming schedule, it is now extremely easy to do so using preconfigured email templates.

1. From the Emailer pane inside of MSP, click on the “Settings…” button at the top of the window.
2. Navigate to the “Preconfigured templates” option, and select the template you would like to use.
3. Click the “Preview” button at the top of the window to set the token options for the email and view how the email will look when your volunteers view it.

NOTE: You can modify any of the templates as needed on a per-use basis.

What does “cloning a Live Schedule Post” mean?

When creating a Live Schedule Post, you can now clone – or copy — all Live Schedule Posts from a previous schedule.  This is extremely useful if you create a separate Live Schedule Post for each ministry. You can now choose to “Clone all Live Schedule Posts” from the last scheduling period, and MSP will automatically build each separate Live Schedule Post for you.

How do I clone Live Schedule Posts?

From the Data Sharing pane, or from the File menu of a new open schedule, select “Make this schedule Live…” A pop-up will open asking how you would like to post this to the Web Terminal.  Select the “Clone all Live Schedule Posts from” and then select the past schedule for which you would like MSP to copy all Live Schedule Post settings for.
How do I set my Live Schedule Posts to only display future dates?

In the “Online and layout settings” window for Live Schedule Posts, you can now specify that the Live Schedule Post not display services which took place more than two days prior.

To use this setting for a Live Schedule Post:

1. From the Web Terminal pane inside of MSP, click on the Full Schedules tab at the top.
2. For existing Live Schedule Posts, click on the name of the post from the top section of the window and click the “Settings” button to the right of the list of Live Schedule Posts.  If you are creating a new Live Schedule Post, click the “New” button.
3. In the “Online layout and options” window, click on the Included Services pane and check the option at the bottom of that screen that says, “Don’t include services that took place more than two days ago.”  Click the “Save” button and your existing posts will be updated or your new post will be created.

How do I turn on the automatic Available Positions auto-email?

In addition to automatic email reminders for upcoming scheduled positions, it is also possible to set up automatic email reminders for all open positions in the upcoming week.  This includes any unfilled positions and any unfilled swap-requested positions

To turn on these automatic emails:

1. From the Web Terminal pane inside of MSP, click on the “Web Terminal Settings” button.
2. In the new dialog that opens, click on the Auto Reminders pane on the left, and then click on the “Available Positions” sub-heading which will appear below it.
3. Check the first box to, “Send an automatic email each week advising volunteers of positions and subs yet to be filled.”
4. Select the day of the week that these reminders should be sent out.  Click the “OK” button.

How can I turn automatic emails or SMS reminders off for volunteers from their profile?

You can easily manage requests made by volunteers to not receive automatic emails or SMS reminders right from their profiles inside of MSP.

1. From the Volunteers pane, edit the volunteer in question.
2. To turn off email reminders, click on the arrow to the right of their email address and un-check the email reminder they no longer wish to receive.
3. To turn off automatic SMS reminders, click on the arrow to the right of their cell phone and un-check the corresponding option.

How can I limit the number of positions volunteers can sign up for through the Web Terminal?

To give all volunteers an equal chance to serve, you can set a limit on the number of positions a volunteer can sign up for.

To turn on this option:

1. From the Web Terminal pane inside of MSP, click on the “Web Terminal Settings…” button.
2. In the new dialog that opens, click on the Assignments pane and check the option that says, “Don’t allow assignments that would schedule a volunteer for over 1 week in service labels” where you can change the number 1 to any desired number.
3. Click on the Swap Requests pane on the left and check the option that says, “Don’t allow swaps that would leave a volunteer scheduled for over 1 service in a week” where you can change the number 1 to any desired number.
4. Click OK in this window and then the Commit Changes button.

What happened to the option to “Send login information to new volunteers” in the Web Terminal pane?

The “Send login information to volunteers” button has been removed and the email template itself can now be found in the Emailer pane. From the Emailer in MSP, click on the Settings button at the top of the screen, navigate to the “Preconfigured templates…” section, and select the “Send login information to those that don’t have it” email. This will load the template you are used to seeing and will send to new volunteers, or anyone of your choice.

Non-profits come in all shapes and sizes – and each has its own unique scheduling challenges. For the Mission Inn Foundation in Riverside, California, scheduling 1,365 volunteer hours over the Christmas season was an extremely daunting task.

And the Mission Inn Foundation handled it with ease thanks to scheduling software. They were so impressed with how helpful Volunteer Scheduler Pro proved during the busy holiday season that Paul Bricker of the Mission Inn Foundation awarded VSP the “Overly Efficient Award.” The Foundation gives tours of the historic Mission Inn in Riverside, California, and according to Paul, “Without VSP we would have been hard pressed to manage the scheduling of the docents and Museum Desk personnel during this hectic and dynamic period.” During the Foundation’s annual Festival of Lights this year, volunteer docents gave tours to over 8,200 people!

“I would like to add my appreciation for the help that is always cheerfully provided by the team at Rotunda Software,” said Paul. “You have been great to work with and consistently reaffirm that we made the right choice when we selected VSP for our scheduling package.” We want to thank you too, Paul, for bringing history to life for your visitors and providing a wonderful service to your community!

If you’re one of the few MSP users still calling people to fill sub requests or manually entering volunteers’ service preferences and away dates, check out our recent webinar on how to fully leverage MSP’s scheduling software at your church.

Attendees learned how MSP’s Web Terminal can both save schedulers time and grow ministry participation by reducing data entry work and empowering volunteers to take a more active role in ministry! As one audience member put it, the Webinar helped “verify how easy the Web Terminal could be for our members to use.”

Interested in learning more about the Web Terminal and how to easily get set up at your church? Check out this recording of yesterday’s Webinar! When you see what a difference the Web Terminal can make, you’ll be glad you did.

When it comes to scheduling, there’s no such thing as a stupid question – believe us, we’ve heard ‘em all! Here is a common question asked during our recent webinar. If you’ve got questions of your own, get in touch!

Q: Can multiple people use Ministry Scheduler Pro on different computers?

A: YES! MSP is cloud based, which is a fancy way of saying it gives you the flexibility of accessing your information from anywhere, and the security of knowing your data will always be safely stored on our servers! Multiple people can easily access MSP from different computers with this technology. The Online edition of MSP comes with four computer installations, and the Coordinator edition comes with two (and you can always add more if you need to!). To get started, all you’ll need to do is download MSP on the new computer and enter your license info. Ta da! Keeping multiple ministry schedules coordinated has never been easier.

When it comes to scheduling, there’s no such thing as a stupid question – believe us, we’ve heard ‘em all! Here is a common question asked during our recent webinar. If you’ve got questions of your own, get in touch!

Q: Is there a way to prevent volunteers from making changes to their profile or requesting subs through the Web Terminal?

A: YES! You as an MSP administrator have complete control over what your volunteers can change through the Web Terminal, so if you’re worried about them making unwanted changes, never fear! Don’t want them submitting sub requests? Done! No need for them to update their ministries? Fixed! Controlling what your volunteers can access online is a cinch: you can simply uncheck the box corresponding to each feature in the Web Terminal Settings.

When it comes to scheduling, there’s no such thing as a stupid question – believe us, we’ve heard ‘em all! Here is a common question asked during our recent webinar. If you’ve got questions of your own, get in touch!

Q: How can I schedule Holiday services with Ministry Scheduler Pro? What if I need a different number of volunteers for my special services?

A: Holiday service scheduling is a breeze inside MSP. You can set up Holidays as Yearly services in MSP, and designate the number of volunteers you’ll need in each ministry. You can even ensure that only your most experienced volunteers are scheduled for Holiday services! And if Holiday scheduling is difficult due to unusual service times and people going out of town, many churches use MSP to enable volunteers to sign up online for these special services.

When it comes to scheduling, there’s no such thing as a stupid question – believe us, we’ve heard ‘em all! Here is a common question asked during our recent webinar. If you’ve got questions of your own, get in touch!

Q: Can we place the schedule on our church’s website?

A: YES! Placing the most up to date schedule on your church’s website is easy with MSP. Best of all, the link will automatically reflect the most up-to-date version of your schedule – so there’s no need to update the schedule on the website every time a change is made! Just copy the link to your Live Schedule Post, send it to your church’s webmaster, and voilà! The schedule will be available on your church’s website, keeping all of your volunteers informed and engaged.