Schedule Volunteers

This guide covers the whole scheduling loop: set up teams and positions, decide who can fill each one, fill the weeks, notify the people you scheduled, collect answers, and cover the gaps when someone says no. It works the same on the web app and in Tech Manager.

Step 1: Make sure everyone is in People

Everyone you schedule must be in your people list with an email address. Add or check them on People > People. People with no email address, or with email turned off on their profile, can still be scheduled, but they are never asked: they are marked confirmed straight away. To answer in the app, a volunteer's login must be linked to their person.

Step 2: Set up teams and positions

1. Go to Plan > Teams and click your Service on the left.
2. Click + Team, name it (Band, Vocals, Production), choose Church-wide — every Service or only this Service, and click Create.
3. Click + Position and add each position (Drums, Lead Vocal, Camera 1).

Step 3: Choose who can fill each position, and who to ask first

1. On Plan > Teams, click a position's people count to open its roster.
2. Type names in Add someone… and press Enter.
3. Optionally set each person's Priority: First, Often or When needed.

Rostered people are offered first when you schedule; anyone else shows as Off-team.

Step 4: Add team leaders

On Plan > Teams, click the + next to a team's Leaders and pick a person. Leaders are emailed when someone on their team declines. Leaders who sign in also get in-app notices for declines and for open positions on plans three days away or closer.

Step 5: Fill the weeks

Pick one of two ways. Either way, each person you pick is on the schedule straight away and counts toward the position, marked Not notified yet. Nobody is emailed yet.

• Many weeks at once (recommended): go to Plan > Services and click Matrix on the Service's row. Click "N needed" in each cell and pick a person. Or use the People panel beside the grid: search or filter it by team (All teams) or position (All positions), then drag a name onto a cell, or click a name and press Add here in each cell it should fill, then Done. Drag a chip from one cell to another to move that person.
• One week at a time: open the plan from Plan > Services, click its Teams tab, click + Assign on a position and pick a person.

Warnings appear for people who marked the date Unavailable, are Double-booked, or are Off-team. You can still schedule them after confirming. Moving someone in the Matrix who was already told asks whether to let them know they're no longer scheduled in the old spot (Move and tell them or Move, don't tell them); they hear about the new spot when you press Send.

To change how many people a position needs on one plan, use the number next to the position (on the Teams tab) or People needed (in the Matrix panel). Positions Planning Center staffs on an imported plan have no count to change.

Step 6: Notify the people you scheduled

1. In the Matrix, click the Send button at the top right (for example "Send 5 notifications"). On a plan's Teams tab, the Send button sits at the right of the bar.
2. Read the confirmation (for example "Notify 5 people?") and click Send.

Each person gets one email listing everything new for them: the Matrix sends for the weeks on screen, the Teams tab for that one plan. People already notified aren't emailed again, and the Not notified yet marks go away, with the amber "N not notified" chips on the plan list and the Teams tab. Until you send, the plan does not appear on that person's People > My Schedule and they get no reminders.

Step 7: Volunteers answer

• The email says "You're invited to serve" and has Yes, I can serve and Can't this time buttons, one pair for each assignment it lists. The link works for 30 days.
• In the app, volunteers open People > My Schedule and click Accept or Decline on each request under Upcoming.
• On the same page, volunteers can add Unavailable dates (a start date, an optional end date and reason, then Add). Leaders see a heads-up when scheduling them on those dates; it isn't a hard block.

You see the answers as coloured dots on the plan's Teams tab (green confirmed, yellow waiting, red declined) and as chips in the Matrix.

Step 8: Cover a decline

1. Open the plan from Plan > Services and click its Teams tab. The position shows "N needed" again.
2. Click + Assign and pick someone else, or pick the same person again to ask them again.
3. Click the Send button on the bar to notify them.

Or click the "N needed" cell in the Matrix (or drag someone onto it from the People panel), then click Send. In the Matrix the person who declined is still offered for that cell, marked Declined, if you want to ask them again. The plan list on Plan > Services shows a red "N needed" chip, and Needs attention lists plans still short.

Step 9: Reminders before Sunday

People who accepted get a reminder email before they serve. Out of the box it is one email one day before. Change the church's timing in Settings > Organization under Serve reminders (Send serve reminders, Remind volunteers, Add reminder), or give one team its own timing with the bell chip on its header on Plan > Teams. People who turned off email on their profile get no reminders, and neither does anyone still marked Not notified yet.

Troubleshooting

A volunteer says they never got the request

If they show Not notified yet on the plan's Teams tab (an amber dot in the Matrix), nobody has emailed them yet: press Send. If they were notified and haven't answered, click Send again next to their name on the Teams tab. Check their email address on People > People; if it was missing, they were marked confirmed without an email. Ask them to check spam, or to answer on People > My Schedule.

My Schedule says "Your login isn't linked to a person yet"

The volunteer's login isn't connected to their entry in People. Invite them from their person profile on People > People; accepting that invite links the login.

A request on My Schedule shows "Expired — never answered"

The plan's date has passed without an answer. It can't be answered any more.

I removed someone and they got an email

Removing someone who was already told they're serving asks "Let them know they're no longer scheduled?". Remove and tell them sends the email; Remove, don't tell them does not. Removing someone never notified, or someone who declined, never sends an email.

Can I ask someone again after they declined?

Yes. On the plan's Teams tab, click + Assign on the position and pick them again; they go back on the schedule as Not notified yet and are asked again when you press Send. In the Matrix, open the cell's "N needed" button (or its +) and pick them: they are listed with a Declined mark. You can also drag them onto that cell from the People panel. There is no need to remove the declined chip first. Someone who declined in Planning Center (a PCO mark) is asked again in Planning Center, not here.

What does "N not notified" mean?

The amber "N not notified" chip, on the plan list on Plan > Services and on a plan's Teams tab bar, counts people who are on the schedule but haven't been told yet. They fill their positions, but nobody has emailed them. Press Send on the plan's Teams tab or in the Matrix. "N pending" counts only people who were told and haven't answered.

Good to know

• Scheduling is about serving teams only; a team is never a login or permission group.
• Teams and positions imported from Planning Center work the same way. Assignments Planning Center made carry a small PCO mark ("Scheduled in Planning Center"): Planning Center sends their requests and reminders and takes their answers, and WorshipMetrics sends them nothing. People you schedule here get WorshipMetrics emails as described above.
• On a plan imported from Planning Center, positions Planning Center staffs show only the people it scheduled: no "N needed" count on the Teams tab, in the Matrix or in the plan list on Plan > Services.