The rota in the ChurchDesk calendar is a powerful tool for organizing services in the Parish. It helps you stay organized and facilitates communication with everyone involved.

Advantages of the rota:

Introduction

• Create rotas for different areas.
• Keep an eye on the staffing status.
• Share the link with the people involved.
• See at a glance which services are still unassigned.

Ways to assign people to a service

1. There is the possibility for people to self-assign to services in their own groups (Read more here)

1. User with "Book and Plan" permission can add other users to services (Read more here)

1. For recurring events, User can be added for future dates via bulk assignment (Read more here)

Rights & Roles

• All User with access to the calendar can access the rotas and sign up for their services.

• User with the permission to book and plan can create new rotas and also assign other User to a service.

• Behavior in Multiparish: In a Multiparish, User by default only see the services of their own Parish and can only sign up there. However, if a rota contains events from several Parish (e.g., A and B), administrators or people with the permission to book and plan in Parish A and B can still assign User from Parish A to the service in Parish B. This is possible because groups are designed for collaboration across Parish boundaries. The roles of individual members simultaneously limit the insight into Parish-specific information in a targeted manner.

Using the rota:

Create new services/ Create service types

• Services are controlled via groups.
• If you want to create a new service, create a new group.
• In the creation window, check the box "This group has a service".
• Below that, assign a name for the service, which will then appear as such in the rota.
• Now add the people who should be part of this service to the group.
• These User can then be booked for the corresponding service.
• For existing groups, you as "Group Leader" can subsequently adjust the settings for a service.
• As an organization administrator, you can appoint yourself as group leader. Become a member of the group, go to "Members", and change your status to group leader under "Actions". Then reload the page and edit the settings in the group under "More" (top right).

You can access the rota as an overview in the...

Calendar via the dropdown menu next to the name of your Parish, rectory, or installation. Select "Calendar" there and then select "Rotas" in the black bar on the left side.

Creating a new rota:

1. Navigate to the rota module.
2. Click on "New Rota" at the top right.
3. Select the appropriate filters for the desired services and people.
4. After saving, you can go back to the rota overview.
5. Via "More" → "Settings" you can adjust the name and further details.

Changing a service

• Events in the rota itself cannot be edited.
• To change an event, click on the event in the "Date" column in the rota, edit it, and you will automatically return to the rota afterwards.

Add new calendar events to the rota

• Events are added via the calendar.
• When you create or edit an event in the calendar, there is a "Service" tab under "More Options". There you can create services for the event or the series.

• Set a minimum number of group members for the service.
• More people can be entered than the minimum number, but the service is only considered open if this minimum is not reached.
• The minimum number can be changed at any time for an individual service or an entire series of services.

Assigning helpers to services & making individual changes in recurring events

For recurring events, individual events can be edited separately.

• In the series, click on > Services > the service of the date you want to edit.

You can

• change the number of helpers needed,
• assign helpers,
• select: "External parties will take over the entire service" (example: an external choir or an external preacher),
• add notes. These can be seen by the group and everyone who has "Book and Plan" permission.
• The service can be deleted for a specific date.

Notifications

• 3 days before the start of the service, the assigned people receive a reminder email.
• Under "My Services" in the browser or in the mobile app, all of your own services can be viewed.

Easy assignment via the mobile app

Assign people to services now also via our mobile app.

• Go into a calendar event > click on Edit at the top right and then you can add or change helpers for individual events.

Bulk assignments in recurring events

Limitations:

• Only open services: Only services that are not yet filled will be entered.
• Manual changes: Services already assigned or changed manually will not be overwritten and must continue to be managed manually.
• People pool: The logic only considers the people who were initially selected for this pool.

To open the bulk assignment setting, click on the small arrow next to the title of the service.

The logic of bulk assignment for a service series:

1. Availability check: The system checks the availability of the group members in the calendar.

2. Automatic entry:

• If a person is available, they are automatically entered for the open service.
• If the person is not available, the next person in the selected group moves up. (see Prioritization)
• If none of the selected people are available, the service remains open/empty.

3. Prioritization:

• The order of checking and entry corresponds to the order in which the people were originally selected in the bulk assignment (the first person selected is checked first).

4. Tip: If you want all services to be filled, select more people than are actually needed (e.g., suggest 5 people to fill 2 slots).

5. Note the limitations mentioned above.

Accepting or declining shifts yourself

• User can sign up for free services or cancel already assigned services under "My Services".
• In the reminder email, there is a "Cancel" button to cancel the service.

Subscribe to "My Services"

• You have the option to add or subscribe to the services assigned to you in your private calendar via Calendar -> My Services.

Edit "My Services" via mobile app

• In the mobile app, you can accept or decline services from your groups.

Export & Sharing

• No Excel export possible – to avoid inconsistencies.
• Rotas can be saved as a PDF using the print function.
• Rotas are easy to share with everyone via a link. Click on "Link to share".
• Please note that this link can only show events whose visibility setting is "public".
• People see the selection of columns that you see. If you want to limit the display, simply apply filters or remove columns. -> To do this, use the column manager: the book icon on the far right of the toolbar.

• BUT: If you deselect all columns, all services will be displayed in columns in the link. As soon as you select one, the specific one will be displayed.

Updated on: 09/03/2026