Service Orders (Service Plans)

A Service Order is a detailed run-of-show plan for a worship service. It lets you arrange every element of the service -- songs, scripture readings, prayers, the sermon, announcements, and more -- in the exact sequence they will occur, with timing estimates and team assignments.

How Service Orders Work

Service Orders are connected to events in the Events Hub. When you create a worship event (such as a Sunday morning service), you can add a Service Order to it as a tab within the event. This keeps your service plan linked to the calendar and makes it easy for your team to find.

Accessing Service Orders

1. Navigate to the Events Hub from the admin sidebar.
2. Open any worship event.
3. Select the Service Plan tab on the event.

If you navigate directly to the Service Plans section in the sidebar, you will be redirected to the Events Hub with instructions to manage service plans from within events.

Creating a Service Order

When creating a service order (either from an event or directly), you provide:

Service Order Statuses

Adding Items to a Service Order

A service order is made up of individual items. Each item has a type that determines its appearance and default duration.

Item Types

The system supports 16 item types. Each type has a default duration (here shown in minutes for readability) and a default color:

The last three types -- Section Header, Reader Assignment, and Note -- have a default duration of zero and are treated as labels: they show up in the order but do not consume any of the calculated runtime for the service. Each type is also color-coded for easy visual scanning.

Adding a Song Item

When you add a "Song" item, you can:

• Search and select a song from your Song Library.
• Choose a specific arrangement.
• Set the key for this service (which may differ from the song's default key).
• Override the duration.
• Assign it to a team member.
• Add notes.

Customizing Items

For every item, you can set:

• Title -- Auto-filled for songs, manually entered for other types.
• Description -- Additional details.
• Duration -- Override the default duration in seconds.
• Assigned To -- Assign a team member responsible for this item.
• Notes -- Internal notes visible only to planners.
• Color -- Override the default color coding.

Ordering Items

Items appear in the order you arrange them. You can reorder items using drag-and-drop, and the new order is saved automatically. Any open shared setlists are refreshed so they stay in sync. The system also automatically calculates:

• Start time offset for each item based on preceding durations.
• Total service duration from the sum of all items.

Timing and Duration

The service order provides timing information:

• Each item shows its expected duration (from the item's setting, the linked song's duration, or the type's default).
• A running total shows the full estimated service length.
• Individual items show their calculated start-time offset (e.g., "Starts at 22:30" meaning 22 minutes and 30 seconds into the service).

Song Usage Tracking

Whenever you add a Song-type item to a service order, the system immediately records that song as used. This updates the song's:

• Use Count -- Incremented by one.
• Last Used Date -- Set to the current date.
• Usage History -- A new record is added linking the song to this service order.

Tracking happens at the time the item is added (not when the service-order status flips to "Completed"), so the Song Library's "recently used" and "not used in 30 days" metrics reflect plans even before the actual service date.

This data helps you on the Song Library page by showing which songs are frequently used, recently used, or have not been used in over 30 days.

Duplicating a Service Order

You can duplicate an existing service order to use as a template. The duplicate:

• Copies all items (songs, readings, prayers, etc.) in the same order.
• Sets the status to Draft.
• Appends "(Copy)" to the title.
• Optionally allows you to set a new service date.

This is useful for recurring services with a similar structure.

Sharing a Setlist

From a service order, you can generate a Shared Setlist link for your worship team. Clicking the Share Setlist button on the service order page:

1. Creates a shared setlist (with optional name, description, password, theme, and expiration date).
2. Copies every Song-type item from the service order into the setlist, preserving order, key, and arrangement.
3. Gives you both a full link and a short link to distribute to your team.

If you no longer want a setlist to be accessible, click Delete next to the share in the service order's Sharing panel; this tears down the public link. The system does not currently offer a "regenerate link" or "re-sync from service order" action -- to refresh a setlist, delete the existing share and create a new one.

See the Worship Team View article for what your team sees when they open the link.

Exporting to PDF

Service orders can be exported to PDF format for printing or offline reference. The PDF includes all items, their types, assigned team members, timing, and notes.

Related Articles

• Song Library
• Chord Charts and Key Transposition
• Worship Team View