Hi, not sure if you still need input on this but I will explain how our church does it. First of all we use the checkin system, usid rapid with only one assisted machine. Basically we setup all our classrooms that the children check into each weekend as participants and then our volunteers checkin to those same classrooms as volunteers, our volunteers are actually able to checkin on the same kiosk as the kids.
What we ask is for our volunteers to pick a consistant schedule instead of it fluctuating each month. Obviously things come up but for the most part they serve the same schedule each weekend. We have 2 campuses with a total of 4 services between the two so allot of our volunteers have more then one assignment.
So, within our Childrens Ministry we have our Activity Schedule which is when the kids services/classrooms are open. Then the next step is to have a Staffing Schedule, this will reflect the volunteers schedule.
I created a list of various schedule "possibilities", because there are a handful of scenarios, not everyone follows the same serving patter. Below are a few examples.
Schedule Title: Team A-D (this represent weeks 1-4)
So, when you have someone who serves the entire weekend at all services we give them this type of assignment. So this volunteer would have 3 different Assignments. One would be Team A at 6pm Sat Service, then Team A 8:45am Sun, and then Team A 11:30AM. The reason we do it this way is because when a department prints off thier schedule for the month they want to see who is specifically serving at each service that weekend because we have some volunteers who may serve that weekend but can only do the 1st Sunday service and not the 2nd. So, in order for the calendar to be clear and detailed we had to do it this way. I wish there was an easier way but there isn't.
Schedule Title: 2nd & 4th Sat (also have a 2nd & 4th Sunday)
This schedule was built with 2 recurrences first one reflects 2nd Sat of each month, second reflects 4th Sat of each month. So, two recurrences wrapped up into one schedule. So, someone with this schedule would have 1 assignment because this assignment is linked to the schedule that has built into it 2 occurrences. This way you don't have to go in and do one assignment for the 2nd Sat and one for the 4th.
So, once you have your activity schedule and staffing schedules setup then you assign your volunteers based on their preference. Now, for the reporting, We use report M3741E, this report pulls the above schedules or whatever schedules you have setup. So, what I suggested for our Childrens Ministry because we have so many different classrooms is that they take the time in the beginning to setup the report and save it for each classroom. Once you have saved your report, if you set the date range filter to report on "next month" then you never have to go in and adjust the date range. You just go into your report library and click on the run button. It will produce a calendar that shows by date and service time who is serving. It will also show you their assignment location and their job.
I hope this is helpful and not too confusing. If you have any additional questions just let me know.
Kim Ludwick
Database Manager
Champions Centre
"One Church, Two Locations"
Tacoma/Bellevue, WA