Rotas
With Rotas from ChurchDesk it is now much easier to assign and manage recurring work between staff and volunteer teams. With a single click, you can print your Rota. In the following we will answer some important questions.
How do I create a new rota duty and assign it to a group?
How do I add a rota to an event?
How do I manage the Rota Scheme as a rota coordinator
How do I easily share the rota scheme with everyone on the Rotas?
How about important reminders & notifications?
Where can I see what rotas I'm assigned to?
Rotas: A rota in the church is _recurring_ work or a duty that is frequently carried out in connection with church activities or events. You define your rotas for your church. Examples could be Welcoming, Reading or Coffee at a service. If you are part of Church of England typical rotas would be Sides people, Intercession, etc.
Groups: In order to know who're able to serve for which rota, every rota is represented by a group – a rota group. That could be "Hospitality team", "Readers", "Choir", "Sides people" – it's up to you to create the groups fitting to your church's needs. To be a member of rota group and thereby able to be assigned to a rota one need to be a user on ChurchDesk. Users can request to join a group, but the request needs to be a approved by a group admin.
Who can join a Rota? If you want to add someone to a rota - then make sure to invite them to become a user of ChurchDesk and add them to the appropriate rota group.
In order to create a new rota duty, which you can add to events, then go to "Manage Rotas". Simply choose "New rota duty". Here you can name the new rota duty as well as specify which group is responsible for the rota. If the group isn't already created, then you can create a new group to be responsible for the rota.
Note: A rota group can only be assigned to one rota.
Go to the event in the calendar and choose edit. Then select the third tab "Add to rotas".
Choose a rota from the "Add a rota" dropdown that you want to add to the event. You can specify how many people you would need for the event.
We have created a new and simple interface to easily manage and plan your rota scheme. You'll find it in the ChurchDesk Calendar through "Manage Rotas" in the sidemenu.
In the Rota Scheme you get a complete overview of your rotas. You can easily see who're assigned and how many are still needed (in red). Simply click in the cells of the rota with people missing to assign someone.
Now a pop-up will appear. Here you can assign more users to the rota or remove any if needed. You're also able to easily leave a relevant note for everyone assigned to the rota for the given event.
Rotas are easy to share with everyone. As you're planning your rotas in the scheme all you need to do is click get sharable link. We'll generate a link for you that shares the rota as you're currently looking at it.
People will be able to see what you're seeing. If you want to limit what they see, simply apply filters or remove columns, using the column manager to the far right of the toolbar.
Example:
Select your 'Worship' event category in the event filter
Select one of your locations, i.e. 'St. Johns Church' in the resource filter
Click the column manager and select the relevant rotas to display, i.e. Intercessors, Organist, Choir, Readers, Prayers, etc.
Now click the "Get sharable link" and share the link
People will now only see events matching your filters and the rota columns you selected.
You can share the link in e-mails, on your website or social media. When getting your sharable link you'll have the option to either display full names or only show initials for privacy reasons.
When you assign a person to a rota you have the option to send them a notification automatically per e-mail. The person will always receive a reminder three days before the event start. In case a person is unavailable and cancels on a rota duty a notification is sent to the group administrator. This ensures that you're not missing people for your events.
All your rota duties are in your ChurchDesk Calendar
All events where you have been assigned to your rota will appear in your ChurchDesk Calendar (also on mobile).
My Rotas - assign/unassign yourself, add to your personal calendar & print scheme
In "My Rotas" in the Churchdesk Calendar sidemenu, you have a plan overview of all your forthcoming rota duties. Here you have some important options
You can unassign yourself from a rota should you be unavailable (click "cancel" on the rota duty"
You can assign yourself to open rotas where help is still needed (choose "Assign me")
You can add your rota duties to your personal calendar (choose the option "Add to personal calendar"
Easily print your personal rota scheme (choose the option "Printable rota scheme")
How do I create a new rota duty and assign it to a group?
How do I add a rota to an event?
How do I manage the Rota Scheme as a rota coordinator
How do I easily share the rota scheme with everyone on the Rotas?
How about important reminders & notifications?
Where can I see what rotas I'm assigned to?
But first, some good things to know:
Rotas: A rota in the church is _recurring_ work or a duty that is frequently carried out in connection with church activities or events. You define your rotas for your church. Examples could be Welcoming, Reading or Coffee at a service. If you are part of Church of England typical rotas would be Sides people, Intercession, etc.
Groups: In order to know who're able to serve for which rota, every rota is represented by a group – a rota group. That could be "Hospitality team", "Readers", "Choir", "Sides people" – it's up to you to create the groups fitting to your church's needs. To be a member of rota group and thereby able to be assigned to a rota one need to be a user on ChurchDesk. Users can request to join a group, but the request needs to be a approved by a group admin.
Who can join a Rota? If you want to add someone to a rota - then make sure to invite them to become a user of ChurchDesk and add them to the appropriate rota group.
How do I create a new rota duty and assign it to a group?
In order to create a new rota duty, which you can add to events, then go to "Manage Rotas". Simply choose "New rota duty". Here you can name the new rota duty as well as specify which group is responsible for the rota. If the group isn't already created, then you can create a new group to be responsible for the rota.
Note: A rota group can only be assigned to one rota.
How do I add a rota to an event?
Go to the event in the calendar and choose edit. Then select the third tab "Add to rotas".
Choose a rota from the "Add a rota" dropdown that you want to add to the event. You can specify how many people you would need for the event.
How do I manage the Rota Scheme as a rota coordinator?
We have created a new and simple interface to easily manage and plan your rota scheme. You'll find it in the ChurchDesk Calendar through "Manage Rotas" in the sidemenu.
In the Rota Scheme you get a complete overview of your rotas. You can easily see who're assigned and how many are still needed (in red). Simply click in the cells of the rota with people missing to assign someone.
Now a pop-up will appear. Here you can assign more users to the rota or remove any if needed. You're also able to easily leave a relevant note for everyone assigned to the rota for the given event.
How do I easily share the rota scheme with everyone on the Rotas?
Rotas are easy to share with everyone. As you're planning your rotas in the scheme all you need to do is click get sharable link. We'll generate a link for you that shares the rota as you're currently looking at it.
People will be able to see what you're seeing. If you want to limit what they see, simply apply filters or remove columns, using the column manager to the far right of the toolbar.
Example:
Select your 'Worship' event category in the event filter
Select one of your locations, i.e. 'St. Johns Church' in the resource filter
Click the column manager and select the relevant rotas to display, i.e. Intercessors, Organist, Choir, Readers, Prayers, etc.
Now click the "Get sharable link" and share the link
People will now only see events matching your filters and the rota columns you selected.
You can share the link in e-mails, on your website or social media. When getting your sharable link you'll have the option to either display full names or only show initials for privacy reasons.
How about Important Reminders & Notifications?
When you assign a person to a rota you have the option to send them a notification automatically per e-mail. The person will always receive a reminder three days before the event start. In case a person is unavailable and cancels on a rota duty a notification is sent to the group administrator. This ensures that you're not missing people for your events.
Where can I see what rotas I'm assigned to?
All your rota duties are in your ChurchDesk Calendar
All events where you have been assigned to your rota will appear in your ChurchDesk Calendar (also on mobile).
My Rotas - assign/unassign yourself, add to your personal calendar & print scheme
In "My Rotas" in the Churchdesk Calendar sidemenu, you have a plan overview of all your forthcoming rota duties. Here you have some important options
You can unassign yourself from a rota should you be unavailable (click "cancel" on the rota duty"
You can assign yourself to open rotas where help is still needed (choose "Assign me")
You can add your rota duties to your personal calendar (choose the option "Add to personal calendar"
Easily print your personal rota scheme (choose the option "Printable rota scheme")
Updated on: 02/05/2023
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