Volunteers have started to signup, and you've begun to accept applications - now what? You will want to start reviewing and managing their shifts. The schedule has three views: Shifts, People, and List. The views can be formatted according to three calendar types: Day, Week, or Month. You can toggle the view and calendar for your schedule using the dropdowns at the top of the schedule. Learn more about all of the schedule views here.
The schedule opens to the Shift view by default. To start managing shifts, you can click on a shift and select 'Manage Volunteers', or switch to the People view using the dropdown at the top of the schedule.
To review a volunteer's application while scheduling, click on their name to open the profile card, and navigate to the 'Forms' tab.
To view a volunteer's requested and confirmed shifts while you're scheduling, open their profile card. The profile card will automatically open to the the 'Activity' tab, listing the volunteer's shifts. If the volunteer selected shifts during the signup process, those will appear in green. You can confirm, waitlist, and cancel shifts directly on the profile card or in the schedule.
You can also change the status of a shift by clicking on the shift in the schedule to open the status options.
Not Needed: If a volunteer isn't needed or selected for a shift, you can designate them as 'Not Needed'. Not Needed shifts are filtered out of the default schedule views, but can be seen by toggling the schedule filters. We recommend you designate volunteers as 'Not Needed' instead of removing them from the shift, in order to preserve the record that those volunteers signed up for those shifts.
Wait List: When creating or editing a shift, you have the option to 'start a waitlist' for the shift when it's full. With the waitlist activated, all volunteers who select the shift will listed in your schedule with a green 'Waitlist' shift. You can also manually add someone to the waitlist for a shift. There is no order to the waitlist.
Remove from Shift: This completely removes the volunteer's shift from the schedule, and the record of the shift from the volunteer's profile card. We recommend you only use 'Remove from Shift' if you're testing the schedule or accidentally manually assigned the wrong person. See 'Not Needed' as an alternative above.
Assign Shifts
You can also assign people directly to shifts, by clicking on a shift in the Shift view and selecting the 'Assign People' button in the pop-up.
All changes made in the schedule will appear in the Status Updates tab, where you can notify volunteers of their shifts and shift changes.
Filter the Schedule
If you're organizing a large event or month-long assignment schedule, it might make sense to filter the schedule to only show specific kinds of shifts or volunteers. Click here to learn more about filtering.
Scheduling Tips
The easiest way to review shift requests is by looking at one shift at a time in the People Day View. Click on a shift in the shift list, and confirm requested shifts as needed. If you need to review an individual's form responses while scheduling, click on their name in the schedule and their profile card will appear. Form responses are listed under the 'Forms' tab of the profile card.
You can also manage shifts directly in each volunteer's profile card throughout Timecounts. If you're in the event schedule, just click on a volunteer's name to pull up their shifts in their profile card. Everywhere else in Timecounts, you can click on a volunteers name and select the 'Activity' tab of the profile card. Click the event you're interested in to see their shifts and availability.