How to Enter Preferences and Scheduling Exceptions (Administrators only)

As the administrator, you can enter each minister’s individual preferences, family preferences (if applicable), and schedule exceptions into the application yourself. This method is not recommended because the data entry work can be tedious and time consuming—especially if your organization has a large number of ministers—and the likelihood of your making mistakes is increased. This method also requires ministers to communicate changes to you. If you do not receive changes in a timely manner, publication of a schedule can be delayed and a schedule’s accuracy can be impacted.

If you decide to enter the information yourself, do the following:

Obtain the answers to the following questions from each minister in the following categories:

Family Group Preferences

§ Should family members always be scheduled together at the same events? (Yes or No)

§ For each ministry the family is involved in, what is the family’s scheduling preference? For each ministry, choose one of the following: No Preference (the default), Keep Apart, Prefer Together.

Individual Member Preferences (for each family member):

§ Is the minister available for special events? (Yes or No)

§ For recurring events (monthly and weekly), what is the minister’s desired serving frequency (known as “willingness to serve”)? For example, every other week on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays; or every month on the 5th day of the month.

§ Taking into account all of the ministries that the minister is involved in, what is the rank order preference for serving in those ministries? For example, would the minister rather serve as an usher first, then a choir member, followed by a greeter?

§ For each minister, are there any dates or date ranges when he or she is unavailable to serve? Do these dates apply to the entire family? (consider vacation dates and snowbird schedules)

§ For each minister, are there any events for which he or she is unavailable to serve?

Using the information you obtained in Step 1, enter each minister's family group preferences and individual member preferences into the application. To do this, complete the tasks in each of the following steps. Click the link to display the topic containing the instructions. After you complete each task, return to this procedure and continue on to the next step until you complete all steps (2a - 2e).

Enter family scheduling preferences. Go to How to View and Change a Family's Scheduling Preferences.
Enter minister preferences. Go to How to View and Change a Member's Ministry Preferences.
Enter minister and family schedule exceptions. Go to How to Specify a Minister's Schedule Exceptions.
Enter minister's availability. Go to How to Specify a Minister's Availability.
Enter exception dates. Go to How to Specify Exception Dates for Recurring Events.

Return to the schedule creation diagram and follow the directional arrow to continue to the step in the schedule creation process.

How to Enter Preferences and Scheduling Exceptions (Administrators only)

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