Great scheduling tool

We allow our church members to sign themselves up for volunteer positions. We don't assign them. Other systems expect you to assign your volunteers, so they didn't work for us. With MSP, we send an email early in the week with the full schedule of open positions and people pick the job they want. On Friday we print the schedule, usually with a few unfilled positions. We post a paper schedule so that on Sunday, people can see what is not filled and volunteer on the spot. They can sign up on the paper schedule for coming weeks. On Monday we add those paper signups online, then send another email, starting the whole process again. It has worked very well for us.

Pros

It allows us to schedule volunteer positions for Sunday worship. Our members began using it without too steep of a learning curve. It is very reliable. In over 4 years, I cannot think of a time that it was unavailable. It is stable and hasn't made changes that force us to change our procedures. It is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of schedules and positions. Volunteers can request substitutes automatically, without a staff member needed.

Cons

Administrators must have the software loaded locally - it is not fully web based. It does its functions well, but doesn't integrate with our church database. Our database system also has a scheduler, but MSP filled our need better until recently when the database system redid their scheduling. We will be moving from MSP to the database, only because of the advantages of one system. But, we have benefited greatly by having MSP, so we still recommend it.

Best scheduling program for our parish

This program allows ministers to be responsible for entering their own information and eliminates the problems that a middle man can cause; misreading information, failing to add information etc. They are also responsible for requesting a sub and then helping their fellow ministers by filling in for them. It is working extremely well.

Pros

The integration process was easy, almost instant. Ministers reacted very positively to the interactivity of the program, appreciating the ease of requesting and sub and filling a position. The program tracks the times that ministers have been scheduled in the past and schedules appropriately going forward.

Cons

I can't thing of anything I don't like about the software.

Doesn't compare to other scheduling software

Ministry Scheduler Pro didn't meet the needs of my ministry team. The features allow for scheduling and it's certainly better than using paper or a personal spreadsheet because it allows users to receive and respond to requests, but other softwares have allowed my organization to put more (and prettier) features right in an app on their phones for ease of access, and we won't ever go back.

Pros

It's affordable and simple for ministries with only a few volunteers.

Cons

It's far too simplistic and doesn't give volunteers/users the integrated experience to find all the resources needed in one place.

Excellent Calendar system for End User Volunteers and Administrators

Excellent. Since the system is highly customizable, we needed consulting help to get to the most efficient setup in place and ongoing help while learning all of the features. Every interaction with the Support team was great. Our issues were always solved in a timely manner and they took the time to understand our setup and provide sustainable solutions. One example, we had an Administrator (our staff) error on a holiday that required the retrieval of a backup calendar and the VSP Support team got us back up and running quickly and smoothly.

Pros

We used VSP (Volunteer Scheduler Pro); same system - this software allowed our volunteers to schedule themselves for pet therapy visits (computer or phone capabilities). The job criteria allows only more advanced teams have the ability to sign up for more advanced level visits. If a volunteer is marked inactive, they remain a team, but they cannot schedule a visit. Un-checking the Inactive status allows them to schedule again - quick & easy! It's highly customizable with Custom Fields and screen layout options. All data can be exported to a .csv file for future analysis. There are also standard reports that are available with a click of a button.

Cons

The phone app was not great for our setup, but this may have been improved - we did not have many Volunteers using it, so we paid less attention to it. Since our setup allowed 3 months of signup, the phone app required scrolling through all the days. An Admin could change it each month to only show one month, but when nearing the of the month, you are still scrolling through 20+ days. A big advantage of the phone app was the online Team Directory, so while the Volunteer is out in the field, they could contact any other volunteers in the directory.

St. Gerald Church Loves MSP

I have been scheduling for my parish for over 11 years. The first software product we used was cumbersome and required me to input all of our ministers' preferences and info. I love that MSP allows each minister control over their account. The sub request function and volunteer opportunities are great. Being able to see updates in real time is a wonderful change from our old system. MSP it is overall a great product.

Pros

I really appreciate the new functionality with Announcements. It is very helpful to know who reads my emails or responds to my polls. We have used the poll and RSVP functions a lot during this pandemic to easily get a feel for our ministers willingness to serve. It has been invaluable to me as an administrator.

Cons

I dislike it when a schedule does not include all available ministers and I have to rearrange assignments.