Problem: A particular person never gets scheduled to serve.
Possible Cause #1: The ministry is not required at the designated Service.
Example: Margaret is a greeter who signed up for the 7:30 AM Service. However, no greeter slots were assigned for the 7:30 Service because it is so early in the morning. Thus, Margaret can never be scheduled to serve.
Solution: Assign Margaret to a different Service, or assign greeter slots for 7:30.
Possible Cause #2: See “Problems Related to Groups” in Section 17.5.
Problem: A particular person is scheduled at the wrong Service or in the wrong ministry.
Possible Cause: The wrong Time or Ministry was entered in the Personnel Database.
Example: Lisa is a greeter for the 10:00 AM Service, but was scheduled for the 7:30 AM Service instead because of a typing error.
Solution: Whenever there is a scheduling problem with a particular person, first check that all information was entered correctly in his/her page of the Personnel Database.
Problem: A particular person or family gets scheduled more or less often than others do.
Possible Cause #1: See “Problems with Families” in Section 17.2.
Possible Cause #2: The person is serving multiple Ministries.
Example: Doug, a very active volunteer, is an usher, lector and Eucharistic Minister. Looking at the Ushers’ Schedule, Doug is only scheduled about every 6 weeks while other ushers serve about every 2 weeks. Doug is actually serving every 2 weeks, but is alternating among his 3 ministries.
Solution: This is not a problem, per se. To schedule Doug more often, add the + suffix to his Scheduling code and optional suffix in the Personnel Database. (See Section 12.7.)
Possible Cause #3: The person has a partner in a ministry that repeats at a different rate.
Example: Mike is an usher and his wife, Lisa, is a lector. They are scheduled to always serve together with Scheduling Code A. Ushers usually serve about every 2 weeks, but Mike is only scheduled about every 5 weeks. There are a lot of lectors and only 2 lector slots per Service. As a result, lectors normally get scheduled about every 5 weeks. Since Mike can only serve when Lisa does, he will end up serving less often than other ushers.
Solution: In the Personnel Database, delete Mike’s and Lisa’s Partners fields so they are no longer a partner group, or change their Scheduling codes to B.
Possible Cause #4: There are more or fewer volunteers signed up for a particular Service.
Example: Altar servers at the 9:00 AM Service serve about every 3 weeks while those at the 11:30 AM Service are scheduled almost every week. The reason is that there are more altar servers signed up for the 9:00 AM Service, so they will each be scheduled less often.
Solution: Convince altar servers to be more flexible in their choices of which Service to serve. You might also adjust the number of altar server slots available at the different Services.
Problem: A particular family never gets scheduled to serve.
Possible Cause #1: There are not enough slots available for the family ministry.
Example: Robert and Barbara and their children Mark, Lauren and Peter serve a family ministry at the 7:30 AM Service. The parents are Eucharistic Ministers and the children are altar servers. The five of them are designated as partners and have Scheduling Code “A” which requires all five to serve at the same Service. Unfortunately, there are only 2 slots for altars servers at that Service. Thus, the 3 children can never be scheduled at the same Service. Since the parents must serve at the same Service as the children, they can never be scheduled either.
Solution: Change the Scheduling Code to “B” for all family members. That way as many of the family as fit in the available slots will be scheduled and everyone will get scheduled sometime. Or, you could increase the number of altar server slots at the 7:30 AM Service to 3.
Possible Cause #2: Different family members have different time preferences.
Example: Al and Susan are both Eucharistic Ministers and are scheduled as partners with Scheduling Code to “A” . However, Al’s time preference is the 7:30 AM Service while Susan is willing to work only at 10:00 AM or 11:30 AM. Since Scheduling Code “A” requires them to serve together but there is no one Service they are both willing to work, they can never be scheduled.
Solution: Partners who have Scheduling Code “A” should always have identical time preferences checked in the Personnel Database. Use Scheduling Code “B” or “C” if the Partners really do have different time preferences.
Problem: Families get “split up” into two or more Services on one weekend.
Possible Cause #1: The Family # section was left blank or typed incorrectly in the Personnel Database.
Example: Joe is an usher, his wife Peggy is a lector, and their daughter Danielle is an altar server. One Sunday, Joe gets scheduled at 10:00 AM, Peggy gets scheduled at 8:30 AM and Danielle gets scheduled at 11:30 AM. The scheduler did not coordinate their schedules because the Family # section of the Personnel Database was left blank for this family.
Solution: It is recommended that all families (even if it is only one person) be given a unique Family #. Frequently, this number is the same as the offering envelope number from the Church Member Database, but it can be any numbers or letters you want. Don’t give the same number to two different families unless there is a special reason to do so; CV-Schedule will try to coordinate their schedules and may not be able to fill all slots as a result.
Possible Cause #2: CV-Schedule does not coordinate families across different days.
Example: Rick is an usher and his wife Jean is a lector. One Sunday, Rick gets scheduled for Saturday Vigil and Jean gets scheduled the next day on Sunday. CV-Schedule did not coordinate their schedules because the Saturday Vigil and Sunday Services are scheduled on different days.
Solution: It is recommended that a Saturday Vigil Service be entered in the Regular Services Database as if it were on Sunday (Day 1). There will be no confusion as long as the Times are different, and it takes up less room on the printed schedule.
Possible Cause #3: The Scheduling code is C.
Example: Barb is a lector and her son, Matt, is an altar server. One Sunday, Barb gets scheduled at 8:00 AM and Matt is scheduled at 10:00 AM. The CV-Schedule did not coordinate their schedules because Scheduling code C operates as if they were in different families.
Solution: Change the Scheduling code to A or B, even if Barb and Matt are not in a Partner Group.
Problem: After running CV-Schedule, I get a message saying there are unfilled slots.
Possible Cause : There are not enough volunteers signed up for the particular Service, or they are shared with other Services or Ministries, or there are impossible scheduling conflicts.
Example: Sometimes there are unfilled usher slots at the 7:30 AM Service. There are 4 slots and 6 ushers willing to work at 7:30. Of those 6, 3 are also signed up for other Services and 2 are shared with another ministry. Sometimes 3 of the 6 will be assigned to their other Services or ministries, leaving an empty slot at 7:30.
Solution: The solution to this problem requires recruiting new ushers and/or convincing some of your ushers to accept less restrictive scheduling options such as: 1) Make 7:30 the first choice Service instead of a second choice, 2) Make 7:30 a second choice instead of an unavailable Service, 3) Schedule their ministries “as needed” instead of alternating (leave the Alternate Min box blank), 4) Make ushers their only ministry, 5) Make 7:30 their only Service time.
Problem: Even with the solutions above we do not have enough volunteers to fill all slots. We need some people to serve at more than one Service per weekend and/or more than one ministry at a Service. Even though the people are willing, CV-Schedule will not schedule them twice on any date.
Possible Cause: Because of the way CV-Schedule is designed and the schedules are printed, it is impossible to schedule any person for more than one Service on any given date.
Example: We have two Services on Saturday and four on Sunday. We are short of lectors and Eucharistic Ministers and need some of them to work at more than one Service per weekend.
Solution: There are two possible solutions:
1) If you are scheduling Saturday Vigil and Sunday Services as if they were both on Sunday (to save space on the Schedule), you can separate them to be scheduled on their actual days. That will allow CV-Schedule to schedule any particular person on Saturday evening and again on Sunday.
2) Put the same person in the Personnel Database twice with different family numbers. That way CV-Schedule will treat the two as if they were two completely separate persons and schedule him/her twice on any given date. (If the family number is “543”, for example, give the “clone” a family number of “543A”.) Be sure the two “clones” have ministry or Service options that do not overlap; otherwise you will end up with the same person being scheduled to do the same job twice at the same time!
Example 1: Put Mary Jones in the Personnel Database twice with different family numbers. For the first Mary Jones, type “1” (first choice) in the Service preferences boxes for 7:30 and 8:30 and leave the other boxes blank. For the second Mary Jones, type “1” (first choice) in the Service preferences boxes for 10:00 and 11:30 and leave the other boxes blank. Now Mary Jones can be scheduled at 7:30 or 8:30 and again at 10:00 or 11:30 for her designated ministry.
Example 2: Put John Johnson in the Personnel Database twice with different family numbers. For the first John Johnson, type “X” in the Lectors box and leave the other boxes blank. For the second John Johnson, type “X” in the Eucharistic Ministers box and leave the other boxes blank. Now John can be scheduled to do both jobs concurrently at his preferred Service.
Problem: A particular person is never scheduled for one of his/her ministries.
Possible Cause: There may be an impossible scheduling conflict with one of the ministries.
Example: Dan, his wife, Connie, and their daughter, Ann, are all lectors. Dan is also an usher. They are all linked as partners with Scheduling code “A” and scheduled at the 10:00 AM Service. Connie and Ann get scheduled as lectors, but Dan is always assigned as an usher because there are only two lector slots available. Scheduling code “A” requires that all three serve together, but the only possible combination is for Connie and Ann to be lectors and Dan to be an usher.
Solution: Check for any impossible scheduling requirements in the problem ministry, the same as for someone in a single ministry.
Problem: A particular person is scheduled predominantly for just one of his/her ministries.
Possible Cause: There may be more availabilities in one ministry than the other.
Example: Dave is both an usher and a Eucharistic Minister. He wants to serve in both but ends up being scheduled as an usher 4 out of 5 times. His problem occurs because there is an excess number of Eucharistic Ministers signed up for his preferred Service but a shortage of ushers.
Solution: In the Personnel Database, put an X in Dave’s Alternate Min field. That will force him to be scheduled alternately for the two ministries. The total number of times he serves may decrease, though, because this is another constraint that must be satisfied before he can be scheduled.
Problem: A particular person is not scheduled as often as other persons in the same ministry.
Possible Cause: Dual ministers serve about as often as others, but share their service between their two ministries.
Example: Cathy is both a lector and a Eucharistic Minister. Most lectors are scheduled about every 3 weeks, but Cathy is scheduled as a lector about every 6 weeks. Cathy is actually serving about every 3 weeks but alternates between the two ministries.
Solution: There are two possible solutions: 1) In the Personnel Database, leave Cathy’s Alternate Min field blank. That will allow her to be scheduled more often on the average and more often in the ministry that is shortest on volunteers. 2) Add the “+” suffix to Cathy’s Scheduling code. That will cause her to be scheduled about twice as often as she otherwise would.
Problem: Partners who serve two ministries get scheduled at the same Service, but not to the same Ministry.
Possible Cause: CV-Schedule can force Partners to serve together but not necessarily in the same ministry.
Example: Gary and Teresa are both in two ministries -- Eucharistic Ministers and lectors. They are Partners with Scheduling Code “A”. They wanted to be lectors as a team, but they ended up scheduled for different ministries at some Services.
Solution: The only solution would be to “clone” Gary and Teresa into two different families -- one for each ministry. The first Gary and Teresa could be scheduled as lectors at one Service. The second Gary and Teresa could be scheduled as Eucharistic Ministers at a different Service.
Problem: A particular person never gets scheduled.
Possible Cause #1: There are no slots assigned to his/her group.
Example: Joe, an usher, is assigned to Group 1, which is designated as the “Head Usher" position. However, the Service that Joe works at has 4 group 2 slots (Regular Usher) and no group 1 slots (Head Usher). Therefore, Joe can never be assigned to serve as a Head Usher.
Solution: Mark Joe’s Ministry field with an X. Then he can be assigned to either a Head or Regular Usher position.
Possible Cause #2: There are not enough slots for all partners.
Example: Bob and Mary are lectors who are designated as partners and scheduled to serve together with Scheduling code “A”. They are also assigned to Group “1” which is for the first lector. Each Service requires only one First Lector, so there is never an opportunity for Bob and Mary to read together.
Solution: Mark Bob’s and Mary’s Ministry fields with an X so they can serve together as first and second reader; or, set their Scheduling code to “C” so they can be scheduled at different Services.
Problem: A particular Regular or Special Service is omitted from the Schedule.
Possible Cause : The Time field was left blank.
Example: The 9:30 AM Service did not appear on the schedule because the Time field was accidentally left blank.
Solution: Check that the Time field in the Regular and Special Service Databases is filled in for all Services that you want to be scheduled.
Problem: A particular Regular Service is omitted from the Schedule or was scheduled on the wrong day of the week, or an extra Service appears on the schedule.
Possible Cause : The Day(s) field has the wrong information.
Example: The 10:00 AM Sunday Service was scheduled on Monday instead of Sunday because, by accident, “2” was typed in the Day(s) field instead “1.”
Solution: Check and correct Day(s) field on all pages of the Regular Service Database.
Problem: A particular Special Service is omitted from the Schedule or was scheduled on the wrong date.
Possible Cause : The Date field has the wrong information.
Example: The 9:00 AM Christmas Day Service was scheduled on December 15 instead of December 25 because, by accident, 12/15/07 was typed in the Date field instead of 12/25/07.
Solution: Check and correct the Date field on all pages of the Special Service Database.
Problem: No volunteers, too few volunteers, or the wrong volunteers were assigned to serve at a particular Special Service.
Possible Cause #1: The Category field was typed incorrectly in the Special Service Database.
Example: No one was assigned to serve at the 11:00 AM Easter overflow Service. The Category was supposed to be “F,” but it was accidentally typed as “R” instead. There are no volunteers with Specials Categories “R,” so no one was scheduled.
Solution: Check and correct the Category field on all pages of the Special Service Database.
Possible Cause #2: The Category did not match the Specials Categories of enough eligible volunteers.
Example: No one was assigned to serve at the 11:00 AM Christmas Day Service. The Category was set to “F,” and there were 10 volunteers with matching Specials Categories in the Personnel Database. Unfortunately, those 10 had already been assigned to the earlier Christmas Day Services and were not eligible to serve again.
Solution: Recruit some additional volunteers to serve in Category “F.” (See Chapter 11.)
Problem: A particular Ministry is omitted from the Schedule.
Possible Cause : The Ministry Abbrev field was left blank.
Example: No schedule was made for altar servers because the Ministry Abbrev field was accidentally left blank in the Ministry Database.
Solution: Check that the Ministry Abbrev field in the Ministry Database is filled in for all ministries that you want to be scheduled.