Specific Volunteers
If you would like to see when a particular volunteer was scheduled, choose “Show services given to…” from the Mode menu on the right side of the schedule window and select the volunteer from the list. The days on which the volunteer you select has been scheduled will appear as green in the calendar pane as will the volunteer’s name on the schedule.
Overall Coverage
You can also see at a glance how many total positions were filled and how many are still open by going to the Schedule menu at the top of the open schedule, and selecting “Show coverage only.” When this option is selected, the schedule will show the ministries scheduled at each service and the number of positions that were filled out of the total number of positions needed.
Distribution Report
MSP can also display a report that shows the ministry distribution of the current schedule – or multiple schedules. This report makes it easy to see at a glance the number of times each volunteer has been scheduled and in what ministries. You can view this report from the Reports menu of an open schedule by choosing “View Ministry Distribution…” You can choose to view numbers for just the open schedule, or for a particular range of dates that extends into past scheduling periods using the options at the top of this report. You can also filter the report to show all ministries or just particular ministries.
To sort the data in this window:
- Click on the word Volunteer to sort the volunteers in this list alphabetically.
- Click on the title of any column of numbers to sort volunteers by the numbers in that column from greatest to least.
To set what is displayed in the window:
Show numbers for this schedule only
When checked, you will see all hours scheduled for the schedule from which you opened the report.
Show numbers from [date] to [date] – Calc now
To view a larger or smaller date range, you can view the number of hours scheduled for each volunteer for a set date range. Once you set the dates, you must click “Calc now” to update the numbers in the report. This date range can include any dates covered by the saved schedules in your program.
Show totals only
This option will only show the total number of services a volunteer is scheduled over all of their ministries.
Show individual ministries
This option will show all of the ministries and how many services a volunteer is scheduled in each ministry. The total column will appear in the far right column in this view, as well.
Show only [ministry]
This option will allow you to show only the ministries you select, along with the total column. To select more than one ministry or to remove a ministry from this list, click where it says and select or deselect the desired ministry.
Show subdivisions
Checking this option will additionally show how a volunteer is scheduled in subdivisions within the ministries you have shown.
“i” icon (volunteer info)
When a single volunteer is selected in the list of volunteers, click this button to bring up the Edit Volunteer window for the selected volunteer. When multiple volunteers are selected, click to bring up the Edit Multiple Volunteers window.
Filter list | with…
Select this to limit the type of volunteers that appear in this list to only those who pass a specific filter. These options are covered in more detail in Appendix B – Guide to Filtering.
Export…
Click here to save a .csv (spreadsheet) copy of this report to your computer. You may then open the saved report to print a copy, if desired.
Done
Click here to close the window.
If you right-click on any volunteer in this window, you will get the following options:
Add an additional Assignment (double click)
If you would like to increase the number of assignments that a volunteer is given:
- Either right click and choose this option or double click on the number of assignments a volunteer is given in a particular position to add another assignment to that volunteer. This will take you to the open schedule and highlight a position the volunteer could fill.
- Now, on the right (under “Auto Schedule” and the list of volunteers), you will see text that indicates a suggested replacement.
- You can either click “More>>” to see another option or “OK” to make the replacement.
- Once a replacement is made, you can look in the lower right corner and ask for the program to make another suggested assignment for that volunteer.
Remove an assignment (double click while holding Ctrl/⌘ key)
If you would like to decrease the number of assignments that a volunteer is given:
- Either right click and choose this option or hold the Ctrl/⌘ key while double-clicking their name. This will take you to one of their assignments in the open schedule.
- If you would like to pick a different date they are scheduled, you will see their other scheduled dates in blue on the calendar. Just click on one of those dates and you can choose to make a change there, instead.
- Now, on the right (under “Commence Scheduling”), you will see a list of volunteers who can fill this position. Make sure the checkbox is selected for “Sort by load.” This will allow you to see information for volunteers in the pane on the right so you know how often they are scheduled in this ministry and overall in the schedule you are working on. You can also see when each volunteer is scheduled by clicking on their name and looking at the dates on the calendar highlighted in green.
- To swap the over-scheduled volunteer for a new one, simply double-click the name of the new volunteer in the pane on the right. Now they will appear in the schedule instead of the original volunteer.
Edit [volunteer] profile
Clicking here will bring you into the Edit Profile window for this volunteer. This way you can check their current settings, or update them if necessary. Please remember changing a volunteer’s profile information will not change their assignments in the current schedule and a new schedule may need to be run to change their assignments.
Understanding the Distribution
The ministries a volunteer is scheduled for are carefully picked by the scheduling engine in order to distribute the services in each ministry (and subdivision) fairly among all volunteers in the ministry. If you notice that some volunteers are being scheduled more or less often than other volunteers in their same ministries, some common causes of such imbalances are:
- The two volunteers being compared are qualified for different ministries and as a result of their differing loads in their other ministries they are being given a different number of services in the ministry or ministries which they share. By default, MSP gives more services in a ministry to volunteers who have a smaller load in other ministries for which they are qualified to serve. You may override this behavior and indicate that each qualified volunteer should be scheduled exactly the same number of times in a particular ministry by checking the “Schedule this ministry autonomously” option for the ministry (see page 5).
- The two volunteers being compared have different service time preferences. If one service time is in particularly high demand, volunteers with that service time preference may not be scheduled as often as those who have selected a service preference that not many other volunteers have selected, especially if the volunteer’s “Schedule only at these times” option is turned on. This imbalance is a natural result of needing to fill all the positions in the low-demand services with a limited number of volunteers while having too many volunteers to fill the positions in the high-demand services.
- One of the volunteers has a single-date-range “can’t serve time” that spans a significant portion of the schedule, or many smaller can’t serve times. When a volunteer has “can’t serve” times during the schedule, the scheduler will give that volunteer fewer services to account for this “vacation” time.
- One of the volunteers belongs to a family which has its “Never schedule this family without all of its members” option turned on. Turning this option on can cause a volunteer to be scheduled much less often than he otherwise would be because he can only be scheduled with his family members and his family members may not be available as often as he is.
- One of the volunteers was scheduled more or less often in past schedules and the scheduler is compensating by scheduling him less or more often in this schedule. These slight imbalances that occur between schedules are normal. You can view a cumulative total of assignments given, including any number of past schedules, by using the appropriate controls in the View Ministry Distribution dialog (on the Reports menu in an open schedule). Any imbalances caused by this item will become negligible over time.
Preference Distribution
The Preference Distribution report, available by choosing “View Preference Distribution” from the same Reports menu, shows how successful MSP was in scheduling volunteers for their service preferences. Usually the scheduling engine is able to give out mostly first and second preferences. If you see that a large number of low preferences (“Third” and “Other”) have been given, it is likely that some of your services are in very high demand while others are in low demand. If this is the case, it is impossible to give all the servers with the high demand preferences those services. Note also that one- time-only services count in the “Other” column of this table, which can add significantly to the apparent number of “low preferences” given.
To sort the data in this window:
- Click on the word Volunteer to sort the volunteers in this list alphabetically.
- Click on the title of any column of numbers to sort volunteers by the numbers in that column from greatest to least.
“i” icon (volunteer info)
When a single volunteer is selected in the list of volunteers, click this button to bring up the Edit Volunteer window for the selected volunteer. When multiple volunteers are selected, click to bring up the Edit Multiple Volunteers window.
Filter list | with…
Select this to limit the type of volunteers that appear in this list to only those who pass a specific filter. These options are covered in more detail in Appendix B – Guide to Filtering.
Export…
Click here to save a .csv (spreadsheet) copy of this report to your computer. You may then open the saved report to print a copy, if desired.
Done
Click here to close the window.
Scheduling Conflicts
The Scheduling Conflicts report will show any discrepancies between your schedule and a volunteer’s preferences. This report can be run:
- before making a schedule live to help reduce issues once the schedule is sent to volunteers,
- if you need to make changes to a volunteer’s scheduling parameters after a schedule has been run and you want to see what conflicts those changes might imply,
- or at any time during the scheduling process.
To sort the data in this window, click on the title of any column to sort the volunteers alphabetically or chronologically by that column.
Show all conflicts
Selecting this option will show every conflict in the schedule.
Only show these types of conflicts
To limit the list of conflicts to those you want to focus on, choose this option. You can show one or more of any of the following types of conflicts:
- This volunteer has a can’t serve time that covers the service
- The service is not one of the volunteer’s preferences
- The volunteer scheduled is at another service too close to this one
- The assignment breaks the title rules for the ministry
- The assignment exceeds the volunteer’s preferred serving frequency
- The volunteer is inactive
- The volunteer is not scheduled in a required “combo” ministry
- The volunteer’s family is split up
- The volunteer’s family is split up in this ministry
- The volunteer’s family is scheduled at another service this weekend
- There are no babysitters left unscheduled in this family
- The volunteer’s team members are not scheduled
- The volunteer’s team is attached to another service
“i” icon (volunteer info)
When a single volunteer is selected in the list of volunteers, click this button to bring up the Edit Volunteer window for the selected volunteer. When multiple volunteers are selected, click to bring up the Edit Multiple Volunteers window.
Filter list | with…
Select this to limit the type of volunteers that appear in this list to only those who pass a specific filter. These options are covered in more detail in Appendix B – Guide to Filtering.
Refresh
Click here to refresh the results in this list.
Export…
Click here to save a .csv (spreadsheet) copy of this report to your computer. You may then open the saved report to print a copy, if desired.
Done
Click here to close the window.
Requesting Help in Analyzing Schedules
If there is an imbalance occurring in your schedules that you do not understand and none of the causes above seem to fit the situation, choose “Send data files to tech support” from the Help menu at the top of the schedule that contains the imbalance. We will review your database, configuration, and schedule in our lab, determine what is causing the imbalance, and then respond with an explanation and most likely a quick solution. Please note that it is important when you send us your files to describe the problem in as much detail as possible. At a minimum your message should state which volunteers are involved, how you would expect them to be scheduled, and how they are actually being scheduled.
