Below are tips on improving spacing and answering common spacing issues.
Too Few Ministers
Take a look at your ministers page and sort by the role and Mass Time. You may just very well have too few ministers. If those ministers also have other roles, then they may be getting scheduled for those other roles first and thus not available for the role in question. You can adjust the sort order on the roles page to adjust the order in which roles get filled. This can sometimes help with scheduling.
Take a look at your ministers page and sort by the role and Mass Time. You may just very well have too few ministers. If those ministers also have other roles, then they may be getting scheduled for those other roles first and thus not available for the role in question. You can adjust the sort order on the roles page to adjust the order in which roles get filled. This can sometimes help with scheduling.
Vacation Dates
Vacation Dates and busy vacation times can often result in unfilled spots. For families, the head of family determines the vacation dates for the entire family. Sometimes ministers accidentally enter vacation dates for months when they meant to enter for just a few days. You can see who has a vacation date active by the umbrella next to the minister name on the minister list.
Vacation Dates and busy vacation times can often result in unfilled spots. For families, the head of family determines the vacation dates for the entire family. Sometimes ministers accidentally enter vacation dates for months when they meant to enter for just a few days. You can see who has a vacation date active by the umbrella next to the minister name on the minister list.
Family Matching Scheduling
The system first schedules families. The system counts how many weeks are in the schedule, how many spots are needed for the role, and then looks at how many total ministers are available. It then calculates, on average, how many times each minister should serve.
Example: A dad named Bill is a lector and has a child named Sarah, who is an altar server. Bill is the head of family and Sarah is "connected" to Bill. Here is what the system does. The system does a calculation based on the head of family role, in this case, lector. The system figures the lectors will serve, on average, every 2 weeks.
The system then puts Bill on week 1, week 3, week 5, etc. When it puts Bill on the schedule as lector, it also puts Sarah on the schedule as an altar server, which is the whole purpose of connecting families.
But, because the spacing is based on the head of family's role, lector, the spacing may not be perfect for Sarah, the altar server. So, while Bill got spaced perfectly as a lector, the connected altar server, Sarah, may be serving too frequently or too little. Her fair spacing is dependent on how many altar servers are available for her Mass Time.
If Sarah is serving way too much, a solution is to make Sarah the head of family and Bill, the connected ministers. Perhaps in the altar server calculation, Sarah is only needed every 3 weeks. If Sarah is made the head of family, she will get scheduled Week 1, Week 4, Week 7, etc. Bill will get scheduled with her. Bill will be serving a little less than a typical lector, but Sarah will be spaced perfectly. You can decide who is the head of family to help improve spacing.
Family Boost (only do Family Boost after making above observations and changes)
If in general, families seem to be under serving or over a particular Mass Time, you can go to Mass Times and click the edit icon next to the Mass Time. On the edit page is a Family Boost setting. You can use this to boost up or decrease the family frequency calculation. In the above example, we said Bill, the head of family lector, was calculated to be needed every other week. But, the real calculation probably calculate bill was needed every 2.2 weeks. Because 2.2 doesn't exist, the system rounded to every two weeks. By adjusting the Family Boost, you affect the pre rounding number. Use Family Boost cautiously. You can also run several tests with different boost levels.
Empty Spots and Head of Family
After the system assigns all the families, it then inserts all the non family members. If there is a shortage of non family members, the system will grab a head of family and schedule the head of family to fill that empty spot. When the system does this, it only schedules the head of family, not the connected members. At this filling in stage, the schedule is almost full. The head of family is just being pulled to fill in some gaps.
One Family Member without a connation
Anne is a Lector for 6:30am by herself with no connection.
Daniel is a 9:00am Lector and a head of family. He is connected to Anne who is also a Lector at 9:00am.
It is possible, with this arrangement, for Anne to get scheduled at 6:30am (as an individual) and Daniel to get scheduled at 9:00am by himself (as a Head of Family getting pulled to fill an open spot).
The fix to this possibility is to make Anne the Head of family.
The system first schedules families. The system counts how many weeks are in the schedule, how many spots are needed for the role, and then looks at how many total ministers are available. It then calculates, on average, how many times each minister should serve.
Example: A dad named Bill is a lector and has a child named Sarah, who is an altar server. Bill is the head of family and Sarah is "connected" to Bill. Here is what the system does. The system does a calculation based on the head of family role, in this case, lector. The system figures the lectors will serve, on average, every 2 weeks.
The system then puts Bill on week 1, week 3, week 5, etc. When it puts Bill on the schedule as lector, it also puts Sarah on the schedule as an altar server, which is the whole purpose of connecting families.
But, because the spacing is based on the head of family's role, lector, the spacing may not be perfect for Sarah, the altar server. So, while Bill got spaced perfectly as a lector, the connected altar server, Sarah, may be serving too frequently or too little. Her fair spacing is dependent on how many altar servers are available for her Mass Time.
If Sarah is serving way too much, a solution is to make Sarah the head of family and Bill, the connected ministers. Perhaps in the altar server calculation, Sarah is only needed every 3 weeks. If Sarah is made the head of family, she will get scheduled Week 1, Week 4, Week 7, etc. Bill will get scheduled with her. Bill will be serving a little less than a typical lector, but Sarah will be spaced perfectly. You can decide who is the head of family to help improve spacing.
Family Boost (only do Family Boost after making above observations and changes)
If in general, families seem to be under serving or over a particular Mass Time, you can go to Mass Times and click the edit icon next to the Mass Time. On the edit page is a Family Boost setting. You can use this to boost up or decrease the family frequency calculation. In the above example, we said Bill, the head of family lector, was calculated to be needed every other week. But, the real calculation probably calculate bill was needed every 2.2 weeks. Because 2.2 doesn't exist, the system rounded to every two weeks. By adjusting the Family Boost, you affect the pre rounding number. Use Family Boost cautiously. You can also run several tests with different boost levels.
Empty Spots and Head of Family
After the system assigns all the families, it then inserts all the non family members. If there is a shortage of non family members, the system will grab a head of family and schedule the head of family to fill that empty spot. When the system does this, it only schedules the head of family, not the connected members. At this filling in stage, the schedule is almost full. The head of family is just being pulled to fill in some gaps.
One Family Member without a connation
Anne is a Lector for 6:30am by herself with no connection.
Daniel is a 9:00am Lector and a head of family. He is connected to Anne who is also a Lector at 9:00am.
It is possible, with this arrangement, for Anne to get scheduled at 6:30am (as an individual) and Daniel to get scheduled at 9:00am by himself (as a Head of Family getting pulled to fill an open spot).
The fix to this possibility is to make Anne the Head of family.
