New Schedules are coming to the Church Community Builder software, and we need YOU to help us make them great! In a few months, we'll be releasing this brand new scheduling solution, Schedules: Reimagined, but before we can do that, we need more churches beta testing these changes to make sure it's an amazing solution to your scheduling woes. Read more to learn about this new Schedules release and how to sign up to become a beta tester. Want to see it in action before making a decision about beta testing? We'll be demoing this feature in our Quarterly Software Update Webinar on Wednesday, July 11. Watch the Recording Here!
Schedules: Reimagined
In mid-August, we will be releasing a brand new Scheduling solution, aimed at making it easier than ever for you to create and manage your schedules, while maintaining the health of your volunteers. And yes, we're making all of these experiences mobile-friendly so you can manage your scheduling experience from whatever device suits you. Here's a sneak peek of what's to come:
Intuitive Schedule Building
Our new Create Schedule workflow lets you build a schedule that matches the way you do church:
- Flexible serving times that let you build a schedule with the frequency you want
- Build templates to use over and over again to speed up the process
- New Serving Teams let you build your Dream Team of Volunteers... without needing to create a Group
Ditch the Spreadsheets
You shouldn't have to keep a separate paper spreadsheet to be able to fill in the right volunteers in the right places. Our new scheduling tool will give you the tools you need, in the format you expect, to be able to quickly fill in your people:
- The Grid gives you an easy drag-and-drop interface to fill in your people
- Serving Rotations let you quickly populate your grid with your regular volunteer squad
- Clearly see conflicts to avoid volunteer burnout
- See volunteer status so you know where your gaps are
Easier For Your Volunteers
Technology shouldn't be a barrier that prevents your people from serving in your church. Our improved Volunteer experience will make it easier than ever for them to get on your schedules and have all the information they need:
- More communication options to keep your volunteers informed and engaged
- Mobile-friendly interface for volunteers to accept requests and manage their schedules... without having to log in
- Can't Serve? More options to help you get your spot covered
This new Schedules tool will be released independent of the old schedules area of the software, so you can try it out and get it set up without disrupting any current schedules you already have running.
Become a Beta Tester
NOTE: We are not currently accepting any new Beta Testers.
In mid-July, we will be sending all of these schedule improvements to our Beta Testers. Beta Testers help provide us feedback about what works and what doesn't to help us create a great solution to give to all of our churches.
When you sign up to join beta, your whole church site is added to the beta code branch, and you are added to a community forum where you can discuss your experiences and questions with other beta testers, as well as our Software Design staff. We are looking for about 200 new churches who would be willing to join this program and give feedback about this new scheduling tool.
Still on the fence? This blog post answers some of the Frequently Asked Questions you might have about beta testing. Hear what a current Beta Tester has to say about the process:
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Early Adopters
NOTE: We are not currently accepting any new Early Adopters.
Maybe Beta Testing feels like too much of a commitment, but you are still interested in getting your hands on the new Schedules as soon as possible. You're in luck! Our Early Adopters program will allow your church to get the new Schedules feature turned on in late July Early August.
This is the perfect opportunity for you if you're eager to try out the Schedules but are nervous about beta testing:
- Your church can stay on the Stable code branch, so the only changes you experience will be around Schedules
- You'll get the feature a few weeks after it goes to beta, so most of the initial quirks and bugs will be worked out already
- You get all the bragging rights of getting the feature a few weeks before the rest of our church partners
If this sounds like a good fit for your church, sign up today! We only have space for 300 churches in our Early Adopters program!
Whichever method works best for you, we are excited to get the new Schedules into your hands so you can start experiencing all the happiness they have to offer for your schedulers and volunteers!
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