Below are tips on improving spacing and answering common spacing issues.
How the Schedule is Made
Spots Needed
The system counts how many "spots" are needed. For example, if require 2 lectors for Sunday 9:00am Mass and you build a 10 week schedule, there are 20 "spots" to be filled.
Random Minister Pool
The system then gets all the lectors for 9:00am Mass and puts them in a randomized list order. The system starts pulling from that list, one by one to fill the empty "spots" on the schedule. If the pool runs out of ministers, the system begins again at the top of the list. So, if you only have 10 lectors for 9:00am, then will each get to server twice as the system will have to loop through the list two times. If you have 15 ministers, 10 of them will serve once and 5 will be needed twice. If you have 30 ministers, only 20 were needed, so 10 won't get scheduled at all.
Duplicate Blocks
The system knows not to schedule someone two times in a weekend, so if a name comes up the random pool that name is already on the schedule, that name will get skipped for the given role being scheduled. Vacation Dates are also checked before a minister is scheduled.
Spots Needed
The system counts how many "spots" are needed. For example, if require 2 lectors for Sunday 9:00am Mass and you build a 10 week schedule, there are 20 "spots" to be filled.
Random Minister Pool
The system then gets all the lectors for 9:00am Mass and puts them in a randomized list order. The system starts pulling from that list, one by one to fill the empty "spots" on the schedule. If the pool runs out of ministers, the system begins again at the top of the list. So, if you only have 10 lectors for 9:00am, then will each get to server twice as the system will have to loop through the list two times. If you have 15 ministers, 10 of them will serve once and 5 will be needed twice. If you have 30 ministers, only 20 were needed, so 10 won't get scheduled at all.
Duplicate Blocks
The system knows not to schedule someone two times in a weekend, so if a name comes up the random pool that name is already on the schedule, that name will get skipped for the given role being scheduled. Vacation Dates are also checked before a minister is scheduled.
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 for some roles / times. 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 for some roles / times. 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.
Too Many Ministers | Too Short of a Schedule
If you have too many ministers for a short schedule, then some ministers will not get scheduled.
Example: You have 30 lectors for Sunday 9:00am Mass. You require 2 lectors at that Mass. You build a 4 week schedule. The 4 week schedule will only need 8 lectors for 9:00am Mass. But, you have 30 lectors available. As such, 22 lectors will not get scheduled. The fix is to create a longer schedule or to move some of those lectors to a more needed Mass Time.
If you have too many ministers for a short schedule, then some ministers will not get scheduled.
Example: You have 30 lectors for Sunday 9:00am Mass. You require 2 lectors at that Mass. You build a 4 week schedule. The 4 week schedule will only need 8 lectors for 9:00am Mass. But, you have 30 lectors available. As such, 22 lectors will not get scheduled. The fix is to create a longer schedule or to move some of those lectors to a more needed Mass Time.
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.
Weekend Blocks
Ministers can choose to not serve certain weekends. If a minister has blocked one or more weekends, they will likely serve less often.
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.
Weekend Blocks
Ministers can choose to not serve certain weekends. If a minister has blocked one or more weekends, they will likely serve less often.
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.
