Scheduler

The Scheduler is the core scheduling engine in Ministry Steward. It automatically generates optimized volunteer rosters based on availability, qualifications, and preferences.

Who Can Access This

• Owners and Administrators only.

How It Works

The Scheduler takes into account:

• Ministry qualifications — only assigns volunteers to ministries they're qualified for.
• Unavailable dates — respects dates volunteers have marked as unavailable.
• Event preferences — considers whether volunteers prefer, are available for, or want to avoid specific events.
• Standing assignments — includes volunteers who have standing (recurring) assignments.
• Event Groups — avoids assigning a volunteer to more than one linked event in the same group occurrence.
• Family groups — avoids splitting family members across different services in the same Event Group occurrence.
• Active status — only schedules volunteers who are active and have auto-schedule enabled.

Event Groups are useful when related services should be treated as one scheduling obligation. For example, if multiple services belong to the same weekend group, the scheduler avoids assigning the same volunteer to more than one of those services for that shared occurrence. The same volunteer can still be scheduled for a linked event in a different occurrence when their availability and other rules allow it.

Family groups are also considered inside Event Groups. If one family member is scheduled for a service in a shared Event Group occurrence, the auto-scheduler will not assign another member of that family to a different service in the same occurrence. It is okay if only part of the family serves. Family members can still serve together in the same service, and administrators can make manual overrides when needed.

Generating a Schedule

Step 1: Select a Date Range

Choose the period you want to schedule using preset buttons or a custom date picker:

• Next Week — the upcoming 7 days.
• Next Two Weeks — the upcoming 14 days.
• Next Month — the upcoming 30 days.
• Custom — pick your own start and end dates.

The selected range includes every event occurrence whose date falls within that range in your organization's timezone, including events later in the evening on the end date.

Step 2: Select Events

Choose which events to include:

• All Events — schedule all active events in the date range.
• Specific Events — toggle individual events on or off.

Step 3: Optional Ministries

Toggle whether to include optional ministry requirements in the schedule. Optional requirements are positions marked as nice-to-have in the event setup.

On Premium plans, you can also turn on Assign positions. When enabled, the scheduler uses the position counts from each event requirement and tries to fill each position without duplicates. If no event-specific counts are set yet, it falls back to the ministry's position list and assigns one of each position up to the needed count. If you leave this off, assignments start with No position, but you can still choose positions manually in the preview.

Step 4: Generate

Click Generate to create a preview roster. The system will calculate optimal assignments and present them for review.

Reviewing the Preview

After generating, you'll see a preview with:

Roster Summary

The Roster Summary panel stays visible while you review the schedule. Its KPI groups are collapsible, with Coverage open by default. It shows:

• Total Occurrences — how many event occurrences are in the schedule.
• Filled Slots — how many positions have been assigned.
• Unfilled Slots — how many positions still need volunteers.
• Standing Assignments — how many slots are filled by standing (recurring) volunteers.
• Pre-Assigned — how many slots were already assigned in the database.
• Auto — how many assignments were created by the scheduler.
• Manual — how many assignments were manually added or swapped in the preview.
• Preference Fit — the percentage of filled assignments that match a volunteer's Preferred, Available, No Preference, or Unavailable event preference.
• Avg / Available Volunteer — the average number of assignments per available auto-scheduled volunteer, adjusted for volunteers who are unavailable during part of the schedule.
• Avg / Available Ministry Volunteer — the same availability-adjusted average broken down by ministry, using auto-scheduled volunteers qualified for each ministry.

If the preview has warnings, they appear in the Roster Summary panel. Expand a warning to read what needs review before publishing. Repeated affected volunteers or family groups are combined with a count, and family split warnings show the family group name when it is available. If a volunteer is manually assigned to more than one ministry in the same service, the summary shows that as a double-booked volunteer warning.

Assignment View

Each event occurrence shows its ministry requirements and assigned volunteers. Within each day, events are listed by start time so the preview follows the same order as the calendar and events list. Assignments are color-coded by status:

• Pre-Assigned — already existed in the database before this scheduling run.
• Standing — recurring volunteer for this event.
• Auto-Assigned — generated by the scheduling algorithm.
• Manual — manually assigned by you during the preview.

If positions were included, each filled assignment shows a position dropdown. Use it to adjust generated or pre-assigned positions before publishing. Manual changes can use duplicate positions when that is what you need for the event. When you publish, the reviewed roster is saved exactly as shown, including any swapped volunteers, removed assignments, and position changes.

Making Adjustments

You can modify the preview before publishing:

• Swap a Volunteer — click the swap icon to replace an assigned volunteer with another available person. The picker shows qualified volunteers. If someone is already serving in another ministry for the same service, they stay visible with an Already serving warning so you can still choose them when the duties do not overlap.
• Remove a Volunteer — delete an assignment to create an unfilled slot.
• Fill an Unfilled Slot — click on an open position to manually assign a volunteer. New manual fills start with No position. After the volunteer is added, use the position dropdown on that assignment if a specific position is needed.

The volunteer picker includes quick filters that stay active while you work on the scheduler page. Use Preference or Best fit to change the sort order, turn on No warnings when you only want clean options, and turn off Hide unavailable if you need to review volunteers who marked the event as unavailable.

If a volunteer is already scheduled for another service in the same Event Group occurrence, the picker shows a warning. You can still select the volunteer when you intentionally want to override the warning. If a volunteer is already serving in a different ministry for the same service, the picker shows an Already serving warning and the assignment will show a roles badge after you add them.

If a manual change would split a family group across different services in the same Event Group occurrence, the preview shows a warning. You can still publish the roster when that override is intentional.

Volunteer names appear on the first line in the picker. Warnings and preference labels appear beneath the name so long names stay easier to read. When a warned volunteer is added to the roster, the warning icons stay visible beside their name. Hover over an icon to see whether the warning is for that volunteer, their family group, or another role in the same service before publishing. The Roster Summary panel also shows expandable warnings when the preview includes Event Group conflicts, family split warnings, or volunteers assigned to multiple ministries in one service.

Publishing

When you're satisfied with the preview:

• Publish — finalizes the schedule. A confirmation dialog will appear. Once published, volunteers can see their assignments on the Calendar and My Events pages.

If you publish a date range that already has assignments, the reviewed preview replaces the existing published roster for those occurrences. Assignments that still appear in the preview stay in place, removed assignments are cleared, and new assignments are added.

Tips

• Run the scheduler regularly (e.g., monthly) to keep schedules up to date.
• Encourage volunteers to set their availability before you generate schedules.
• Use standing assignments for volunteers who serve every week to reduce manual work.
• Review the Reports page after publishing to verify staffing levels.