Reviews of Ministry Scheduler Pro

"Goodbye Excel and Manual Scheduling, Hello MSP!"

Overall: As with anything new, a little overwhelming with the 2 different methods of setting up the software on both the computer and Web version. But we quickly setup our ministries, services and imported the volunteers and started scheduling. A few mistakes (as expected) and I'm still learning alot after 6 months of use. I joined a Google Group "Using Ministry Schedular Pro" - super helpful as users have shared their tips and [sensitive content hidden] provides guidance and asks the group for feedback. We have started training our volunteers as Leaders in the software to help staff manage the volunteers. We looked at several different options, and we kept returning to MSP as the solution. You might wonder if the cost is worth it, but consider your methods currently, especially if you are manually scheduling. Each weekend, we have 88 volunteers for 3 Mass services. We have cut back our time/efforts by 75% utilizing MSP.

Pros: Once you have your ministries and services set up, it is easy to schedule the volunteers. Volunteers can ask for SUBS, manage much of their schedule, along with automatic email of needing SUBS, open positions, commitments, and if you'd like text messages to notify your volunteers of their commitments.

Cons: It was confusing at first because the software must first be loaded on a computer before you can use the Web Version. All of the auto emails/texts are controlled from the computer that has the software loaded. Hope they can get to a point where the software is all web based.

"MSP is the place to be!"

Overall: The transition from our old scheduler to our new one has been seamless with very minimal bumps in the road and most all ministers coming on board with ease (and few complaints!).

Pros: Some highlights are its ease of use, the ability to auto-schedule volunteers, and for ministers to take initiative of their ministry area by signing up for roles or requesting substitutes, cutting out myself as the middle man.

Cons: It's lack of bilingual support (Spanish).

"Great scheduling tool"

Overall: 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.

"I love MSP"

Pros: Volunteers being able to easily and intuitively edit and manage preferences, the ease of me creating initial mass templates and then simply creating detailed, correctly balanced schedules in seconds! And the ability for volunteers to easily go to their handheld device and request a sub for a Mass they cannot make is invaluable!

Cons: I still struggle with yearly/ seasonal Mass schedule templates before creating schedule.

"Overall Asessment "

Overall: Some of the Help-desk Techs are great [sensitive content hidden] in particular - [sensitive content hidden] has given me good stuff but has also was not able to resolve another ticket

Pros: I am still learning the full capabilities of the system , the overall comment from the individual ministers (volunteers) are positive . Am slowly changing the culture and getting the use users to appreciate the full self service capability ( of the mobile and home computer applications)

Cons: I worked at a two companies , the latter was for 8 years (2014-2022) and we used Zendesk . This system is lacking in many ways + can not attach screen shots to a ticket submission + lack of a remote access ( even for a single session) to enable the helpdesk to see the end user screen + Some helpdesk support personnel have told me they have time limits to help resolve my issue + One of my tickets was deemed unsolvable /unable to resolve

"How does MSP work for our parish?"

Pros: ease of communication with and between ministers; empowerment of ministers to be their own schedulers; good access to the schedule on a variety of platforms; doesn't leave those who are not internet-connected out of the equation,

Cons: sometimes ministers get confused by the 'positions assigned' emails and they click on sub req thinking they are confirming their schedule... issue goes away over time.

"Ministry Scheduler Pro has been a game changer!"

Overall: The benefit of a seamless and intuitive product. While not all of our volunteers use it - I still have to email some people - the overall ease of use for me and the volunteers has been life-saving. The volunteers really like it. And having an online page that reflects changes as they happen is so necessary. Thank you. And if problems arise, I know you will be there, and I know you will continue to improve the product for your customers. I wish all products had your business model.

Pros: The developers of this software clearly know church and volunteer behavior. The tech support is superb - beyond superb.

Cons: Quite frankly, the fact that I had not known about it sooner. I spent over a year hand-scheduling volunteers and creating spreadsheets based on volunteer availability and preferences. Emailing people each week and then learning their plans had changed - and I had to then email a group to determine who might be able to fill in was time-consuming and frustrating.

"Ministry Scheduler Pro Review"

Pros: I love that I do not have to manually create a schedule.

Cons: I wish the kiosk feature was not an add-on that you have to upgrade your subscription.

"Best ever! "

Overall: A great time saver and communicator.

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

Cons: 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.

"MSP Administrator"

Overall: 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.

Pros: 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.

Cons: 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.

"A User’s Experience with MSP"

Overall: I have a very positive experience in using this software. It’s easy to learn and use once you figure out how it works. It’s a well-designed system that meets the ministers’ scheduling needs of our parish.

Pros: 1. The ease of learning and using MSP; 2. The customer-service support is excellent. I normally email MSP-Support my questions and I always get a prompt, quick, and clear answers with the MSP screen or pane with illustration on how to address the issue. 3. All the Support staff I’ve dealt with are very professional and know their product well to guide me in using the software effectively. 4. The software has many great features which allow me to customize or taylor it to our particular needs and requirements.

Cons: I haven’t found anything yet that i don’t like about this software.

"Excellent Calendar system for End User Volunteers and Administrators"

Overall: 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.