Administrator Guide

Introduction

As an administrator, you have full control over your organisation's volunteer scheduling system. This guide covers all admin features, from configuring your organisation settings to managing volunteers, creating services, and using the auto-scheduler.

Administrator access is controlled by user roles. If you have been granted an administrator role, you'll see the admin menu options in the navigation bar.

Organisation Settings

The Organisation Settings page lets you manage your church's details, branding, and admin access configuration.

Accessing Settings

Navigate to Admin → Settings from the navigation menu.

Organisation Details

You can update:

  • Name: Your organisation's full name
  • Address: Physical address details (town/city and country required)
  • Contact information: Email, phone number, website

Branding

Customise your organisation's appearance:

  • Logo: Upload or replace your organisation logo (PNG, JPG, SVG, under 2MB)
  • Colours: Set four brand colours (primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary) used throughout your pages in buttons, headings, and accents

Service Defaults

Service defaults specify how many volunteers from each team are typically needed for a service. These defaults are applied when creating new services but can be overridden for individual services.

Accessing Service Defaults

Service defaults are configured on the Organisation Settings page. Navigate to Admin → Settings to access this configuration.

Setting Defaults

For each team in your organisation, enter the typical number of volunteers needed:

  • Hosting: 2
  • PA: 1
  • Music: 3
  • Children's Work: 2

When you create a new service, these numbers automatically populate the role requirements. You can then adjust them for specific services if needed.

Special Cases

If a team is not required for every service, you can exclude it from new services by default, by setting the number of volunteers required to zero. You can add teams excluded by default back into specific services by Editing Services.

Team Management

Teams represent the different volunteer roles in your services (e.g., Hosting, PA, Music, Children's Work). This section covers how to add, edit, and configure teams.

Accessing Team Management

Navigate to Admin → Teams to access the Team Management page where you can see all your organisation's teams.

Adding a Team

On the Team Management page, you'll see the Add New Team form:

  1. Enter the team name in the form (e.g., "Building Maintenance", "Livestream")
  2. Click Create Team

Compatibility Rules

Compatibility rules define which roles can or cannot be performed by the same person on the same service. There are three compatibility statuses:

  • Compatible: The same person can serve in both roles on the same service (e.g., Welcome team and Locking Up)
  • Discouraged: The combination is possible but not ideal. The auto-scheduler will avoid this pairing if alternatives are available, but won't prevent manual assignments
  • Not compatible (Incompatible): Too demanding for one person (e.g., PA and Preaching). The auto-scheduler will never create this pairing, and you'll see warnings for manual assignments

To manage compatibility:

  1. On the Team Management page, click the Compatibility Matrix tab
  2. Click on cells in the matrix to cycle through compatibility statuses: incompatible → discouraged → compatible
  3. Changes are saved automatically

Auto-Scheduler Behaviour: When assigning roles, the auto-scheduler treats "Discouraged" pairings as a last resort—it will assign other available volunteers first, but will use discouraged combinations if no better options exist. "Incompatible" pairings are never created by the auto-scheduler.

Editing or Deleting Teams

On the Teams List tab, click Edit next to a team to change its name. The form will change to show Edit Team with an Update Team button.

Impact of editing: Changing a team name does not affect volunteer team memberships or existing service assignments. All volunteers assigned to this team remain assigned, and all services requiring this team continue unchanged.

Click Delete to remove a team. Warning: This is a permanent action that:

  • Removes the team from all volunteer profiles
  • Deletes all volunteer assignments for this team across all services
  • Removes the team from existing service requirements

Only delete teams that are truly no longer needed, as this cannot be undone and will affect both current and past services.

Service Management

Services are the events you're scheduling volunteers for (typically Sunday services, but can be any church event requiring volunteers).

Accessing Service Management

Navigate to Admin → Services to access the Service Management page where you can see all upcoming services.

Adding a Single Service

  1. Click Add Service
  2. Set the Date and Time
  3. Optionally add Special Instructions (e.g., "Communion", "Youth Sunday", "Baptism")
  4. Review the Role Requirements (auto-populated from your Service Defaults) and adjust as needed for this specific service
  5. Click Add Service

Bulk Service Creation

To create multiple services at once (e.g., every Sunday for the next quarter):

  1. Click Bulk Create
  2. Set the Start Date and End Date
  3. Choose the Day of Week (e.g., Sunday)
  4. Set the Start Time
  5. Review the preview showing how many services will be created
  6. Click Create [n] Services (where [n] is the number of services)

Important: Bulk-created services all use the Service Defaults for their team requirements and cannot be individually customised during bulk creation. If specific services need different requirements, edit them individually after creation.

Editing Services

On the Services page, click Edit next to a service to change its date, time, special instructions, or role requirements.

Cancelling Services

If a service is cancelled (e.g., due to bad weather), mark it as Cancelled in the edit form. Cancelled services still appear in the admin schedule but are clearly marked. Volunteer assignments to cancelled services are preserved—if you later uncancel the service, the original assignments remain. However, cancelled services do not appear on the public rota or volunteer dashboards.

Deleting Services

Click Delete to permanently remove a service. This also removes all role assignments for that service.

Volunteer Management

Volunteers are the people who can be assigned to roles. Each volunteer has a profile with contact details and team memberships.

Accessing Volunteer Management

Navigate to Admin → Volunteers to access the Volunteer Management page where you can see all volunteers.

Adding a Volunteer Manually

  1. Click Add Volunteer
  2. Enter their details:
    • First and last name
    • Email address (optional but recommended)
    • Phone number (optional)
    • Password: Create an initial password for the volunteer
  3. Select which Teams they're part of (check all that apply)
  4. Click Save

Note: The volunteer can change their password after logging in via their Edit Profile section.

Volunteer Signup & Approval

Volunteers can also sign up themselves via your organisation's signup page. When they do, their account is marked Pending until you approve it. The Pending tab shows how many pending requests there are.

To approve pending volunteers:

  1. Go to Admin → Volunteers
  2. Click the Pending tab to see volunteers awaiting approval
  3. Review each pending volunteer. You can:
    • Click Approve to activate their account with the teams they requested
    • Click Edit to modify their team assignments before approving
    • Click Delete if you don't want to approve the signup

Once approved, the volunteer can log in and access their dashboard. You can modify team assignments for both pending and approved volunteers at any time by clicking Edit.

Volunteer Partnerships

Partnerships allow you to specify that two volunteers prefer to serve together on a specific team. When the auto-scheduler assigns roles, it will try to schedule partnered volunteers for the same service when both are available.

To create a partnership:

  1. On the Volunteer Management page, find the partnership management section
  2. Select the two volunteers who wish to partner
  3. Optionally select a specific team the partnership applies to
  4. Click Save

Team Selection: If you select a specific team, the partnership only applies to that team (e.g., a couple might be partnered for Hosting but serve independently on other teams). If you don't select a team, the partnership applies to all teams that both volunteers are members of.

Editing Volunteers

Click Edit next to a volunteer to update their details or change their team memberships. This is useful when volunteers gain new skills or change roles.

Deleting Volunteers

Click Delete to remove a volunteer from the system. This also removes all their assignments and unavailability records.

Activity

The Activity page is your central hub for managing swap requests and monitoring email communications across your organisation. This page gives you visibility and control over pending swaps that need attention, and provides a complete audit log of all system emails.

Accessing Activity

Navigate to Admin → Activity from the admin menu.

Pending Swap Requests

This section displays all swap requests that volunteers have created but haven't yet been accepted by teammates. Swap requests are grouped by team, making it easy to see which teams have pending swaps.

For each swap request, you can see:

  • Service date and time: When the service takes place
  • Requester: Which volunteer requested the swap
  • Request age: How long ago the swap was requested (e.g., "2 days ago")
  • Special instructions: Any notes about the service (if applicable)

Managing Swap Requests

Click on any swap request card to expand it and see management options. You can take the following actions:

Assign Volunteer

Directly assign a specific volunteer to cover the swap request instead of waiting for someone to accept it. The dropdown shows only eligible volunteers who:

  • Are members of the same team
  • Are not marked as unavailable on that date

Select a volunteer from the dropdown and click Assign. The volunteer and the original requester will both receive email notifications about the assignment (sent regardless of their notification preferences).

Cancel Swap Request

Cancel a swap request and restore the original volunteer to the assignment. Use this when:

  • The service has been cancelled
  • The original volunteer is now available to serve
  • Alternative arrangements have been made outside the system

Click Cancel Swap Request and confirm the action. The original volunteer will receive an email notification explaining the cancellation (sent regardless of their notification preferences).

Resend Notifications

If a swap request has been pending for a while without any responses, you can resend the notification emails to all team members as a reminder. Click Resend Notifications to send fresh emails to all eligible teammates (who have swap request notifications enabled). The system will confirm how many team members received the notification.

Email Communications Log

The Email Communications Log provides a complete audit trail of all emails sent by the system. This helps you:

  • Verify that notifications were sent successfully
  • Track when volunteers were contacted
  • Review the content of automated messages
  • Troubleshoot communication issues
  • Monitor system activity

Filtering Email Logs

Use the filters at the top of the Email Communications Log to narrow down results:

  • Email Type: Filter by notification type (Contact Admin, Swap Request, Swap Accepted, Swap Cancelled, Admin Assigned, Admin Cancelled, Weekly Reminder)
  • Date Range: View emails from the last 7, 30, or 90 days, or all emails
  • Sender (Volunteer): Filter by which volunteer triggered the email
  • Recipient: Filter by recipient email address

The log displays the most recent 200 emails matching your filter criteria. Each entry shows:

  • Date/Time: When the email was sent
  • Type: Category of email (e.g., Swap Request, Weekly Reminder)
  • From: The volunteer who triggered the email (name and email address)
  • To: Recipients (shows first 2 addresses and indicates if there are more)
  • Subject: Email subject line

Using Activity for Proactive Management

Regular monitoring of the Activity page helps you:

  • Intervene early: If swap requests are sitting unfilled for several days, you can directly assign someone or reach out to team members
  • Identify patterns: Notice if certain teams frequently have swap requests, which might indicate scheduling issues or understaffing
  • Verify communications: Confirm that volunteers received important notifications about their assignments or swap status changes
  • Support volunteers: If a volunteer contacts you about not receiving emails, you can check the log to verify what was sent

Managing Unavailability

Volunteers mark their own unavailability (away dates), but admins can view all unavailability across the organisation and add records for volunteers who request it.

Accessing Unavailability

Navigate to Admin → Unavailability to see all volunteer away dates.

Viewing All Unavailability

The page displays all unavailability records with volunteer name, date range, and reason. Use the filters to:

  • Search for a specific volunteer
  • Filter by date range
  • View only upcoming unavailability

Adding Unavailability for a Volunteer

If a volunteer asks you to record their absence:

  1. Click Add Unavailability
  2. Select the volunteer from the dropdown
  3. Choose the method:
    • Mark specific dates as UNAVAILABLE (default) - Select individual date ranges when they cannot serve
    • I'm ONLY available on specific dates - Select the service dates they ARE available, and all other dates will be marked unavailable

Method 1: Mark Specific Dates as Unavailable

  1. Ensure Mark specific dates as UNAVAILABLE is selected
  2. Enter the Start Date and End Date
  3. Optionally add a Reason
  4. Click Add Unavailability

Method 2: Available Dates Only

  1. Select I'm ONLY available on specific dates
  2. You'll see a list of upcoming services
  3. Select all service dates the volunteer IS available to serve on
  4. Use pagination controls to navigate through multiple pages if needed
  5. Click Add Unavailability

All services the volunteer doesn't mark as available will automatically be treated as unavailable.

Deleting Unavailability

Click Delete next to any unavailability record to remove it. Note: Unavailability records cannot be edited; you must delete and recreate them if changes are needed.

Rota Management

The Rota Management page is where you manually assign volunteers to roles for each service. The system provides real-time conflict warnings to help you avoid scheduling issues.

Accessing Rota Management

Navigate to Admin → Rota to access the Rota Management page where you can see all services and role assignments.

Manual Assignment

To assign a volunteer to a role:

  1. Find the service in the list
  2. Locate the role you want to fill (e.g., "Hosting" or "PA")
  3. Click the dropdown and select a volunteer from the list
  4. The assignment is saved automatically

Conflict Warnings

The system provides real-time warnings if an assignment creates a conflict:

  • Double-Booking: The volunteer is already assigned to a non-compatible role on that service (e.g., Music and Hosting)
  • Unavailable: The volunteer has marked themselves as away on that date
  • 3/4 Week Rule Violation: The assignment would cause the volunteer to serve more than 3 weeks out of any 4 consecutive weeks

Warnings appear as coloured alerts next to the assignment. You can still override and make the assignment if needed, but the warnings help you avoid unintentional conflicts.

Removing Assignments

To remove a volunteer from a role, click the dropdown and select (None) or the blank option at the top of the list.

Auto-Scheduling

The auto-scheduler is a powerful tool that automatically fills all empty roles for upcoming services whilst respecting all scheduling rules and volunteer availability.

How Auto-Scheduling Works

The auto-scheduler:

  • Only fills unassigned roles (doesn't change existing assignments)
  • Respects team memberships (only assigns volunteers to teams they're part of)
  • Respects partnerships (tries to schedule partnered volunteers together when both are available)
  • Follows the 3/4 rest rule (no volunteer serves more than 3 weeks in any 4 consecutive weeks)
  • Avoids unavailable dates (never assigns volunteers on their away dates)
  • Prevents double-booking (won't assign incompatible roles on the same service)
  • Treats discouraged pairings as a last resort (will avoid them if other volunteers are available, but will use them if necessary)
  • Distributes roles fairly (tries to balance assignments across all volunteers)

Running the Auto-Scheduler

To use the auto-scheduler:

  1. Navigate to Admin → Rota to access the Rota Management page
  2. Review upcoming services to see which roles are unassigned
  3. Click Auto-Schedule Gaps
  4. The system will automatically fill as many empty roles as possible for future services
  5. Review the assignments and manually adjust any if needed

When to Use Auto-Scheduling

Auto-scheduling is particularly useful:

  • After bulk-creating services (fills all roles for multiple services at once)
  • At the start of a new quarter (quickly populate three months of services)
  • When you have many empty roles and want a quick starting point

Troubleshooting Auto-Scheduling

If the auto-scheduler can't fill a role, common reasons include:

  • No volunteers on that team: Make sure at least one volunteer is assigned to the team
  • All volunteers unavailable: Check volunteer away dates for that period
  • 3/4 rule constraint: All volunteers have already served their maximum frequency for that period

In these cases, you'll need to either manually assign someone (potentially overriding a warning), add more volunteers to that team, or adjust the service requirements.