Core Docs - Engagement - Configure Group Schedule

Rock Version: v19.0
Last Modified: 2026-02-17 2:21 PM

This article delves into the administrative setup and management capabilities of the Group Scheduling feature. We’ll show you how that all gets set up, and what Group Scheduling looks like on the administrative side.

Before starting to scheduling volunteers, you’ll need to configure things like locations and schedules. Locations ensure volunteers know where they're needed, while Schedules pinpoint when their help is required. Then, the Group Scheduler is used to place volunteers into those positions at those times.

Configuring Group Scheduling

There are two critical pieces of the puzzle you need before starting to schedule volunteers. It’s simple to get these pieces because when it comes to asking for help, people are hardwired to know when and where they are needed. So, we are going to make sure our Named Locations and Schedules are configured.

Be sure to check out the Check-In user guide for more detail about adding locations. For Group Scheduler, however, you will be adding more than rooms. Perhaps you’ll be adding sections, areas or positions. These might be used to schedule specific areas of your lobby for the greeters to be stationed. Or, if you’ll be using Rock to schedule your band and technical teams, add a location named ‘Audio’ or ‘Piano’ and change the location type to be a position.

Adding Location Types
Location Types (Campus, Building, Room, etc.) are Defined Types. To add more, open the Defined Type Location Type associated with the Location category and click the ti ti-circle-plus button.  

Next up: schedules, also known as times. This is found in Admin Tools > Settings > General > Schedules. You should have a few parent groups for different types of schedules. For group scheduling, we want to make sure the times are accurate since, you guessed it, location and time are critical aspects of scheduling volunteers.

One Schedule
It is best practice to have one schedule for each time. If you have multiple sites with the same start times, you will only need one schedule for that time.

Lastly, make sure scheduling is enabled on the Group Type. Navigate to Admin Tools > Settings > General > Group Types > Serving Team | Scheduling. There are additional settings you can configure for your organization. To enable, check the Scheduling Enabled box as pictured below.

Changing Schedule Confirmation Logic
Keeping in mind it should happen rarely, use caution when changing the Schedule Confirmation Logic setting. In some scenarios, changing this setting could result in a person who is not confirmed receiving a confirmation email with only a Decline button and no way to Accept the assignment. This typically happens when changing from Ask to Auto Accept before the person receives their confirmation email.  

In the Group Type configuration pictured above, note the Schedule Confirmation Email and Schedule Reminder Email settings. These communications can be sent via email or SMS messaging.

To send these as SMS messages you'll need to be sure to have SMS messaging configured (see the Communication guide for details) and the person needs to have an SMS enabled phone number. You'll also need to make sure the System Communications for these are configured for SMS. With all that in place, the communication medium will be decided based on the person's group member communication preference or, if not specified there, the person's personal profile communication preference.