Church Director Product Blog

One of the biggest requests we’ve had for Church Director is to support reoccurring assignments. Rather than create a very complicated setup, we’ve opted to keep it simple (like the rest of the application) through a new feature called “Rapid Scheduling”. Here is how it works:

As a planner admin, click the “Rapid Scheduling” link on your planner:

Next, Church Director will ask you a single question: how do you want to start Rapid Scheduling?

You will then be able to view the groups that were created, and if you click the “Members” link, you can add your team members to the group:

Finally, your Rapid Scheduling groups list will show you the coverage percentage for each group:

After setting up groups and group members, Church Director will check every night for new assignments and schedule them up to one month in the future. Assignees will receive the same notification email they usually would, but without any more work from you! This should be a great timesaver for larger teams, such as children’s ministries, and teams that have set schedules, such as small groups.

If you try out the new feature, drop us a note using the Feedback link at the top of any page and let us know how you like it!

Technorati Tags: volunteer scheduling, rapid scheduling, children’s ministry, small groups, church director

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No, this isn’t an April Fools joke. In fact, this feature has been in the works for some time but hasn’t made it into production until now. Every planner now has a custom RSS feed that allows leaders and team members to track planner activity through their favorite feed reader. It is simple to get started:

Just click on the “Subscribe to Team Alerts” link from the menu on your planner. You will be given information about how to subscribe, in case you are new to RSS or feed readers. I’ve been trying out Blerts and they seem to be a nice Windows-based desktop feed reader. Here is a screenshot of what Blerts looks like when new Team Alerts are available for your planner:

Blerts also provides an option for viewing a summary of recent alerts:

Click on the image above to view an example of what kind of alerts you can receive. Of course, you can use any feed reader you like to keep track of your Team Alerts. I use Bloglines (click to see what it looks like).
Also, we are taking signups for our next round of beta testers. If you want to see if Church Director may be a fit for your church, fill out the (very short) beta test application form today!

Technorati Tags: volunteer management, church management, volunteer scheduling, church software

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