Contents

Introduction

The Volunteer Teams feature provides a reusable volunteer organization structure for recurring volunteer teams and roles within Worship Planning.

Instead of recreating the same volunteer structure for every event, you can create teams once, define volunteer roles, and specify the members who usually serve in each role. These teams can then be used when setting up volunteers for future events.

You can find your Volunteer Teams under Worship Planning > Teams as well as under the Volunteer Schedule > Roles area of your events. The Teams page displays the team name, number of roles, total volunteers needed, number of volunteers associated with the team, and team leader.

Teams are specific to the ministry where they are created.

Add a Team

To add a new Volunteer Teams, follow the steps below:

Go to Worship Planning > Teams.
Click Add Team.
Edit Team Details:
1. Add a Team Name.
2. Select a Leader for the entire team.
3. Configure Team Roles:
  1. Name the Role.
  2. Select the Role Leader.
  3. Enter the number of Needed Volunteers.
  4. For Usually Served By, click Add People and select one or multiple people who usually serve in this role. This does not schedule people for any event whatsoever. It just adds them to a list of suggestions called Served By, which shows up when you assign volunteers to a role within an event. You can schedule them from that list, or schedule someone else. See how.
    
    The role name, leader, and number of needed volunteers will be automatically added to an event if you choose to select the team. No people will be added, but you will see the Served By suggestion list when assigning volunteers for the role.
    
    You can remove a role by clicking the red bin icon next to it.
    
    To add multiple roles, just click Add Role. You will then see a new set of fields where you can enter role information. All roles you add to the same team will be added in order to events for which you select that team.
  5. You do not have to save separate role entries. Everything gets saved when you click the Save button at the bottom of the window.

Once your team is added, you will see it listed in your main Teams list. Clicking the Context Menu (⠇) next to each team lets you access the Edit or Delete options. Note that you must confirm your decision to delete a team, and once deleted, it cannot be restored.

Volunteer Team Setup for Events

You can assign volunteer teams to events by going to Events > Add/Select Event > Volunteers > Configure Roles > Turn on Team Organization.

Team Organization is ON

When Team Organization is enabled, volunteer roles are organized under teams. For this scenario, the following process applies:

If the selected team's structure does not already exist on the event, it is created as part of the event setup.
Volunteer assignments are not copied. Members are assigned separately for each event.
The assigned team and roles become part of the event's own volunteer setup and can be edited independently. This means that changes to the Volunteer Team structure under Worship Planning > Teams do not automatically change events where its roles were previously added. So, the Team and the events you assign it to do not sync.
Previously added roles are identified so the same role from the same Volunteer Team is not added to the event multiple times.
The Usually Served By list syncs between the Team and the events it’s assigned to. So if you add someone to this field in Worship Planning > Teams, you will see them listed under the Served By suggestion list under the events you assign the team to.
Team Organization cannot be switched off while event teams are present. Existing teams must first be removed before returning the event to the flat role structure.

Team Organization is OFF

When Team Organization is disabled, the event uses a flat list of volunteer roles without grouping them into teams. In this mode, roles are created directly using Add Role, and Add From Teams is not available.

When opening the volunteer role configuration for an event, team organization is turned on by default. You can use the toggle to turn it off, if you choose to. When teams are turned off, you will be able to add standalone event roles only. Learn more.

Add Volunteer Teams to an Event

You can create volunteer teams manually for your events and assign roles within the team, independently of the Teams you predefine. You can also Add from Teams, which means you do not have to add manually and you can reuse the same team / role structure for multiple events.

Add From Predefined Teams

Once you have created your teams under Worship Planning > Teams, you can add them to events. Here’s what you need to do:

Go to Events > Add/Select Event > Volunteers > Configure Roles. Learn more.
In your Volunteer Scheduling window, click Configure Roles.
At the top of the Roles window, you will see that Team Organization is ON by default
Once team organization is on, team fields are also opened by default. These are useful if you want to add a team manually, but if you do not, then just delete the manual team from the red bin next to it.
Next, click Add from Teams to select a predefined team. You can then select the team you want to add to the event, and click Add.
Your team is now added to the event, along with its team leader, and roles - including role order, name, leader, and needed volunteers.
You can add further roles manually if you like, by using the Add Role option. These will not be added to the predefined team, just to the event.
Click Save to save your team structure. You can then assign volunteers based on it.

Create Teams Manually

You can create volunteer teams manually if team organization is turned on. Otherwise, you can create standalone roles, without teams.

Here is how to create teams manually:

Go to Events > Add/Select Event > Volunteers > Configure Roles. Learn More..
In your Volunteer Scheduling window, click Configure Roles.
At the top of the Roles window, you will see that Team Organization is ON by default
Once team organization is on, team fields are also opened by default, so you can configure the Team Name, and Leader; and then assign Roles within the team.
To add more roles within a team, click Add Role. You can drag and drop roles to change their order or move them to a different team.
To add more teams, click Add Team.
If you would like to manage volunteer teams, you can click Manage Teans right from the role configuration area. This will take you to Worship Planning > Teams, where you can edit the team information.

Click Save when done.

Note that every team must have at least one role to be saved. Also, when enabling teams, you can no longer have standalone roles and all of them must be included in a team, regardless of whether it was created manually or added from the list of Teams.

Notes on Team Configuration

Once your teams are saved (regardless of whether you added them from your predefined Teams list or manually, just for this event), you can start assigning volunteers to each role. Assignments work the same regardless of whether you have teams set up or not. If you do configure teams, your assignment window will show volunteers grouped by team and role.
Once you have created your teams, regardless of method, you will also be able to see them in the Volunteer Calendar.
Members who volunteer can see them in their accounts as well, under the Volunteering section.

Assign Volunteers Based On Teams

Once your teams are done, you can assign volunteers to each role. See how.. The assignment process is the same regardless of whether you have teams or not. The only thing to keep in mind when you do have teams added from your Teams list under Worship Plan, is that this type of team, which is predefined, contains people who usually serve within a specific role - under the Usually Served By field. This field syncs between Worship Plans > Teams and the events to which the respective team is assigned. This means that you will see the person listed under the Served By list of suggestions.

The Served By list does not mean the people in it are scheduled for the event. They are just suggested for your consideration, as potential volunteers for the role. You can choose to schedule them or select someone else from under the list of Members, Groups, Recent, or Registered Members (if the event has registration enabled).

Of course, you can assign people from the Served By list along with others.

Recurring Events Behavior

For recurring events, roles added from Volunteer Teams are added to the existing event occurrences.

Volunteer assignments remain specific to each occurrence, allowing different people to serve in the same role on different dates.