We have some new features deployed that should make using the Rapid Scheduler even better!
With Rapid Scheduling, you can now preview the assignments it plans to make for a specific date range. This is helpful if you want to see what the Rapid Scheduler will do, before it does it.
Our suggestion to get the most out of the feature is to use the following strategy:
In addition to being able to preview Rapid Scheduling, you can request that the Rapid Scheduler create assignment requests and notify assignees immediately. This can be done whether the scheduler is activated or deactivated. Using it while the Rapid Scheduler is deactivated allows you to benefit from the mass assignments it will perform, while making the assignments when you want instead of on a nightly basis for the upcoming month.
Finally, you can use this manual control to schedule for multiple months in the future, a highly sought-after feature. One of our customers likes to schedule 3 months in advance, then provide a printed report for posting on a bulletin board or fridge.
Want a better way to create printable reports for your team? You got it!
The screenshot above demonstrates using the Firefox print-preview feature (File->Print Preview from the Firefox menu) to set the scaling percentage to make it fit on 1 page in landscape mode prior to printing it out for you and your team.
Enjoy the new features and thanks for all of the questions, feedback, and ideas you have been providing!
Church Director has been taken offline tonight to repair our database. We should have the system back up soon. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
UPDATE: The system is now restored. We used the latest database backup possible, but a few hours of data may have been lost. We apologize for any problems while we work out the final wrinkles in this beta release.
We’ve been hard at work making some behind-the-scenes changes to help get these new features rolled out, and it was worth it! Here is a short list of what is new:
This has been the most requested feature, by far and now we have it! When you activate Rapid Scheduling, we will now create 8 teams that you can use as needed:
So, if your team rotates every other week, use the first three groups. If your team rotates on a monthly basis, you one or more of the last five groups. Here is a screenshot of what the new groups listing looks like within Rapid Scheduling (click to view the full size image):
Also note that the preview calendar button has been moved to each group in the list, so that it is easier to view the occurrences of a specific group for the next three months.
A new report is now available from within the Team Reports and Church Reports that display each member of your church, along with their contact details and their team memberships. Print a report just for your team as a contact sheet, or print a church-wide report of everyone within Church Director!
Request emails now have new subject lines and use better terminology. This has been another request recently, as the term ‘assignment’ has been deemed “not PC”. We now prevent reminder emails from being sent if the user has declined the assignment - something we should have done some time ago.
Enjoy!
Tim Bednar wrote a terrific walk-through on how to setup Google Apps for your church or non-profit:
Google extends its free offer to educational institutions to registered nonprofits. Basically, your nonprofit can use Google’s office applications and Gmail for free. The reason this makes life easier for most nonprofits is that:
1. Managing all your organizations email accounts is web based and maintained by Google
2. Users can send and receive email via Gmail that is available to them anywhere
3. Gmail virtually eliminates the need to put storage restrictions on email accounts
4. Gmail makes spam manageable without being complicated
I use Google Apps for Church Director and my software consulting company, Blue Jazz Consulting. It takes a load of work off of my plate, along with less to manage and maintain.
Read the full article: http://digital.leadnet.org/2007/10/how-to-set-up-g.html
This is a notice that a website update is planned for Sun 12/23/2007. The site may be down at various times during the day as we upgrade the site to the latest version. While most upgrades are minimal, this upgrade is larger in scope due to the large amount of changes to the design, various enhancements, and bug fixes. I will post an update once everything is complete.
Update: The site has been updated, and now includes some updates to the ‘Getting Started’ section of your team planner, along with the updates outlined in previous posts on this blog and various bug fixes.
If you see something out of the ordinary as a result of this upgrade, please let us know using the feedback form on the website.
Have a Merry Christmas!
For those of you who use the assignment screen to drag-and-drop your team members to specific job roles for an event, there are some great changes coming.
Have a look at the preview below (click the image to view the full size screenshot):
There will now be a warning icon and pop-up notification if a team member has a possible conflict for the same day. This should prevent you from sending an assignment request, then getting a declined response due to the conflict. Of course, you will not be prevented from assigning them a job assignment if they have a possible conflict.
Other enhancements include moving the quick assignment group box so that it no longer take away valuable screen space from your team member list. Also, the new design offers a much needed cleanup of this screen and will make it easier to read.
We are getting close to releasing this new design and recently previewed features - stay subscribed!
It will soon be possible to view conflicts on the assignment request screen (the screen that an assignee sees when clicking the link in their assignment request email). Below is an example:
It is now easier than ever to know when and where you are being requested, see your current response (or if you haven’t responded yet), and view any possible conflicts you may have on that same day. Clicking on a possible conflict will take you to the same assignment confirmation screen for the conflicting event, allowing you to see details and change your response, if desired. This should make it even easier to prevent double-bookings and remind assignees of forgotten assignments for the same day.
Stay tuned - more previews coming soon as we near the last stretch of this major site upgrade!
I’ve had quite a few of you ask me what is coming up for the next major release of Church Director. Here is a sneak preview of the new look and feel:
As you can tell, there is a new site theme that we think makes it look even better! The navigation bar has also been remodeled, with often-used features readily available.
In addition, the table listings have been cleaned up and the links converted to buttons to make them easier to find. Some tables also have filters on the upper-right corner, allowing you to switch between active and previously deleted items (think of the recycle bin on Windows or OS X).
Here is one more sneak preview:
Within each area, you are automatically taken to the most commonly needed function (in this example, your team member list) but other options are just a click away (e.g. Job Roles from the Manage My Team section).
There is more room on a screen now as well, using our new navigation tool bars. Combined with a wider screen layout to match your monitor size (1024×768 and above are common now), this release will make a huge improvement in how you use Church Director!
More previews coming soon…
Our hosting provider is experiencing an outage across their entire network, impacting your ability to reach Church Director (and other websites hosted at the same location). I’ll keep you updated as things get repaired, but for now it may be spotty access, as their connectivity fluctuates.
Update: It seems that our hosting provider was losing network traffic due to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack on their upstream network provider. The offenders have since been blocked and all service has returned to normal.
We’ve been busy working on some recent upgrades for the website. In fact, we’ve experienced so much great response that we had to add a new server to our hosting plan already! While the previous setup was adequate, this new setup gives us some great flexibility and plenty of room to grow. Here is a quick summary of what is new on the website:
As always, thanks to everyone currently participating in the closed beta program! If you aren’t part of the closed beta program, signup today and get early access to Church Director!
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