Tutorial: Need Attention Sub-Invite Walkthrough

Audience: Church admin or team leader handling a last-minute substitute request Time needed: About 5 minutes (in real life, on a real Saturday night) You'll need: Admin or team-leader permissions on the team that's missing a volunteer

What You'll Learn

By the end of this walkthrough, you will know how to:

• Open the Need Attention dashboard and find Open Sub Requests
• Use the Invite Teachers modal to send a substitute invitation to multiple potential subs at once
• Trust the auto-filter that hides anyone already scheduled that day (no double-booking)
• Confirm the invitations went out via email and in-app notifications

This is the tutorial you'll thank yourself for reading the first Saturday night you get a "I can't make it tomorrow" text. Five minutes start to finish.

Step 1: Open the Need Attention Dashboard

Time: 30 seconds

1. Log in to your TimelyChurch admin panel.
2. In the sidebar, click Need Attention. (It usually has a small badge with a number, indicating how many items need a human eye.)

The dashboard is organized into sections, including Open Sub Requests, Unfilled Positions, Pending Invites, and Prep Tasks. The whole point of this page is to be your single "what needs me right now" view -- nothing else.

Tip: Bookmark this URL on your phone. The first thing to do every Saturday morning is check it. Most weeks it'll be empty -- which is the whole point.

For the full feature breakdown, see Need Attention Overview.

Step 2: Find the Open Sub Request

Time: 30 seconds

1. Scroll to the Open Sub Requests section. (If you don't see it, click the Settings gear at the top of the dashboard and make sure Show Open Sub Requests is toggled on.)
2. The section lists every active sub request with:
   • Who asked for the sub (e.g., Sarah M., Vocalist)
   • What event they're scheduled for (e.g., Sunday Worship, Aug 11, 10:00 AM)
   • When they made the request
   • The reason they gave (e.g., "Family emergency")
3. Find the row for the position you need to fill. Click the row to expand details.

Tip: Sub requests come from two sources -- a volunteer hitting Decline on their own assignment, or a team leader marking a position open. Both end up here.

Step 3: Click "Invite Teachers"

Time: 15 seconds

1. On the expanded sub-request row, click the Invite Teachers button (it's labeled this way for both teaching teams and serving teams -- the function is identical).
2. A modal slides in from the right.

Note: The button is labeled "Invite Teachers" but applies to every team type — worship, sound, kids, greeters, and so on. The function is identical regardless of label.

Step 4: Review the Auto-Filtered Available List

Time: 1-2 minutes

The modal does the hard part for you. It shows every member of the same team except:

• People already scheduled to serve elsewhere that same day (no double-booking)
• People who marked themselves unavailable for that date (Out-of-Office + recurring patterns both apply)
• People who've already declined this specific request (so you don't pester them again)
• People who've hit their Max Times Per Month cap

What's left is a list of legitimate, available subs.

Each candidate row shows:

• Their name and primary positions
• A green dot if they're a strong fit (covers this exact position)
• A small "Last served: [date]" timestamp so you can prefer someone who hasn't served recently
• A phone-icon link if you want to text them directly first

Sort the list by Last served (oldest first) if you want to spread the load fairly.

Step 5: Select Subs and Send

Time: 1 minute

1. Check the box next to each person you want to invite. You can pick more than one. First-come-first-serve wins -- whoever accepts first gets the slot, and the rest get a polite "no longer needed" notice.
2. Optionally add a personal note in the Message field -- one or two sentences works well: "Hey team, Sarah's out tomorrow. First yes wins. Thanks!"
3. Click Send Invitations.
4. The modal closes and a green confirmation banner appears: Invitations sent to N people.

Tip: Selecting 2-3 people is the sweet spot. Selecting only 1 risks them not seeing it in time. Selecting 8 makes everyone's phone buzz unnecessarily.

Step 6: Confirm Notifications Went Out

Time: 30 seconds

The system delivers each invite two ways simultaneously:

• Email -- to the address on their profile, with a one-click Accept button
• In-app notification -- the bell icon in their portal header, with the same Accept button

To verify it's working:

1. Refresh the Need Attention page.
2. The sub request now shows N pending invites instead of "Open."
3. Click the row to expand -- you'll see each invitee's status (Pending, Accepted, Declined).
4. As people respond, the status updates in real time. The first Accept locks in the sub and auto-cancels everyone else's invite.

You'll get a notification yourself the moment someone accepts -- so you can stop refreshing.

For deeper info, see Volunteer Notifications.

Step 7: What If No One Accepts?

Time: Varies

If 6 hours pass and nobody has said yes, you've got two options:

1. Widen the net. Open the request again, click Invite Teachers a second time, and pick a few more people.
2. Phone-tree it. Click the phone-icon next to a likely candidate and call them directly. Once they verbally agree, click Mark Confirmed in the modal to log it manually.

If the position genuinely cannot be filled, click Mark Position Unfilled to clear it from Need Attention -- the event will show "1 of 2" coverage instead of staying flagged forever.

What to Do Next

• Walk your team leaders through this tutorial too -- they have the same Invite Teachers powers on their own teams. (Tutorial 02: Manage Your Team)
• Make sure every volunteer has set their availability so the auto-filter actually works. (Tutorial 03: Set Your Availability)
• Read Substitute Requests for the full reference on every option in this flow.
• Configure Auto-pick replacement on each team so most declines are filled by the system before they ever reach your Need Attention page. (Tutorial 01, Step 4)

The dream is a Need Attention dashboard that's empty most of the time. Now you know how to get there.