Schedule Grid — Visual Volunteer Scheduling
The Schedule Grid ("Who's serving when") is a single screen that shows every volunteer down the side and the upcoming Sundays across the top, so you can see — and fill — your whole serving rota at a glance. Instead of opening each event one at a time, you click any cell to invite, confirm, remind, reassign, or block a person on that date, right in place.
It's the visual companion to the per-event Serving tab covered in Event Volunteer Scheduling. Use the Serving tab to set up a single event in detail; use the Schedule Grid to plan weeks ahead across everyone at once.
Opening the Schedule Grid
- Go to Events in the admin sidebar.
- Open the Schedule Grid tab (also reachable from the ⋮ More → Schedule Grid menu).
Reading the Grid
Each row is a team member; each column is an upcoming Sunday. A small badge in a cell shows that person's status for that week:
| Badge | Status | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ✓ | Confirmed | The volunteer accepted. |
| ? | Pending | Invited — waiting for their reply. |
| ✕ | Declined | The volunteer turned it down. |
| – | Unavailable | You blocked that date for them. |
| · | Available | Open — nobody scheduled yet. Click to schedule. |
The header shows a live count of people and open slots, and recalculates instantly as you make changes.
Controls
- Week pager (
‹/›) moves the visible window backward/forward; Today jumps back to this week. - Window length — show 4 / 8 / 12 weeks at a time.
- Team filter — narrow the grid to one serving team.
Click a Cell to Schedule
Click any cell to open a small popover anchored to it. What it offers depends on that cell's current status.
An open (·) cell
- The service already needs this person's role → Invite to serve. If there are several open positions that day, you'll pick which one. The slot becomes Pending and the volunteer is notified to confirm.
- The service has no open slot for this person yet → Add to this service. This is the flexible path: it creates a serving slot for that person in their own team role (for example, James on the Nursery team is added as "Nursery Worker") on the existing service, then invites them — no need to set up positions first.
- If that Sunday has more than one service, you'll choose which service to add them to.
- If that Sunday has no service scheduled at all, the popover tells you so ("No service scheduled for this date") rather than leaving you stuck — plan a service first, then come back.
- Mark unavailable is always available as a secondary action to block the date for that person.
A Pending (?) cell
- Send reminder — nudge the volunteer to respond.
- Cancel invite — withdraw the invitation.
A Confirmed (✓) cell
- Message the volunteer, or Unassign them (this sends them an "off the schedule" notice).
A Declined (✕) cell
- Re-invite the same person, or Clear slot.
An Unavailable (–) cell
- Make available to lift the block.
Tip: "Add to this service" only appears on a date that actually has a planned service. The recurring event is what makes a Sunday schedulable; a serving template just pre-fills the positions so you can pick instead of add. Either way, you can always schedule your team.
Header Actions
- Remind N — send a reminder to everyone with a pending response in the visible window.
- Auto-fill N open — let TimelyChurch fill the open slots in view from available, qualified volunteers (they land as Pending for confirmation). See Auto-Scheduling.
- Export PDF — a printable serving sheet for the current window and team. See Event PDF Export.
What the Volunteer Sees
Inviting or adding someone sends them a notification (in-app, email, and Telegram if connected). They confirm or decline from their own device, and the result streams back to flip the cell to Confirmed or Declined — you don't have to chase a reply. Unassigning a confirmed volunteer sends them a courtesy "you're off the schedule" notice.
Who Can Use It
- Church admins see and manage the whole grid.
- Team leaders manage their own team's people, and can only add to services their team serves (or church-wide services). They won't be offered events hosted by other teams.
Related Articles
- Event Volunteer Scheduling — the per-event Serving tab, serving needs, auto-scheduling, reminders.
- Managing Event Series — recurring services and series-wide volunteer workflows.
- Event PDF Export — printable schedules.
- Volunteer Scheduling (Member Portal) — how volunteers confirm, decline, and set availability.