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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

A great time saver and communicator.

Easy to use, highly intuitive. Tech team great!!

More flexibility in Mass Preference. Add "sub only" to Mass time time that is not preferred. Only ONE preferred time required, additional times should automatically be sub only.

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.

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

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

Was first exposed to it in 2013 and have now brought it with me to two other churches. LOVE IT>

This software is easy to use, easy to teach, allows for flexibility in how people are scheduled (auto or manual or a combination of them) and getting subs is as easy as a click. There is so much to love about this software.

Some of the rosterizing/reporting pieces are not as easy or intuitive. I cannot always get the information I really want in a straightforward manner.

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.

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.

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.

Overall this is so great! Volunteers may choose to ask for a sub or volunteer for someone else who needs a sub. The first come first serve issue was a bit confusing to my volunteers, but I think they understand now how it will work. Also, scheduling ahead of time, printing, and emailing/texting are so wonderful to have available.

I really enjoy how easy this program is to learn and be familiar with. I have previously been on the user side of things, so it is nice to understand now, as an admin, how it all really can work so easily. I am improving the usage of my volunteers, just by knowing more about both sides of the program!

There were some issues I had with familiarizing myself with "web terminal" and "web forms" but I understand now. I am using Chrome which is not compatible with pieces of it. This means I should be in my office and not "remote" to administer fully all of the great pieces involved with this program.

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.

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.

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

The product works very well and is intuitively simple to use. I especially want to compliment the support organization. When I first started as an administrator, I had questions on the best way to se up the system. Everyone I worked with at MSP support was friendly, patient, professional and extremely helpful. Further, they promptly answered my questions so that i could set up an optimal system for our parish. I highly recommend MSP from a product and support aspect. I can't say enough to express my pleasure with the support organization, especially [SENSITIVE CONTENT]. They have been wonderful in providing excellent support.

The automatic reminders and the ease of use are critical. MSP offers an integrated solution where you can either auto schedule or use the simple to use phone app. Most people use the phone app since it was designed to be easy to use for even the computer challenged users. As an administrator, it offers all the features I need under one roof. I can set up schedules, assign volunteers, send reminders, use the built in email function to send out reminders. Do statistics to see who volunteers the most, etc. I honestly can't think of anything else I need to run the volunteer scheduling at our parish.

I don't have any complaints. It functions as described and is always available, i.e. I have never had an occurrence where the software was not available for use nor have I ever had a crash.

We've worked with MSP since 2009 or 2010 and have 500 volunteers in seven ministries to schedule. It has been excellent in scheduling and communicating with our volunteers.

Overall this is a great resource. Some specifics include: 1. Easy to create and manage our bimonthly liturgical ministries and St. Vincent DePaul volunteers 2. Volunteers appreciate the simplicity, ability to request subs, and communications about their scheduled service times. 3. Online app for volunteers to check on their schedules

Our usher ministry uses a team approach and dealing with individual sub requests and cross team assignments is not particularly easy

The support team is incredibly responsive and they work very hard to resolve any issues

Mobile App and self maintenance by users

Complete scheduling from the Mobile App would be great

So far everyone has been impressed with the features. When the first schedule was published, those who realized that they had conflicts started using the feature to find substitutes and were so impressed with how easy it was.

This software is easy to use. The developers have thought of everything. The ability for volunteers to indicate their preferences and availability before a schedule is generated is a key feature. If a scheduling conflict does arise the software provides a mechanism to request a substitute. Additionally since all ministries are scheduled by the software the loading on volunteers can be kept more equitable than when it is being done by individual ministry leaders working with only their ministry.

For administrators it has to be installed on a particular computer.

One of my favorite things is the IT support. The team always gets back to me in a timely manner and they are very patient with me!!!!

All you have to do to create a 3 month schedule is click on create schedule and there it is in about 25 seconds! I used to do this manually and it took many hours.

Once I deleted a 3 month schedule and since we did not have MSP Pro they were not able to get it back for me. They told me to be sure to save it right away and I have not had any problems since.

Customer support is key to administration of the software.

Customer support availability to understanding upgrades and special needs when they arise.

No comment at this time. Perhaps this survey as it is not allowing me to submit.

This has saved us a lot of time trying to schedule volunteers for our various ministries. We love this app!

Ministry Scheduler Pro is a great application to organize and keep our ministries focused. It is easy to use and user friendly. Our ministry teams have become more effective using this software.

The pro edition is great, but if you don't need all the features the basic is good too. The price is a little steep for a smaller congregation, but the monthly fees seem relatively reasonable.