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Add/Edit Time Schedule and Recurrence

The second step in creating an ActivityActivities are a central part of Fellowship One. They allow you to create assignments for participants and volunteers for reporting purposes, track attendance, determine staffing needs and track activity requirements. is to create the Activity ScheduleDefines the time frame in which your activity occurs. All schedules must include a recurrence.. An activity schedule is the key step in creating the dates that you can use to assign participants and volunteers and the dates for which you will take attendance.

Every activity you create should have a schedule and a recurrence for the schedule—even activities that occur one time. For activities, such as weekend services and children's services, that may meet more than one time per day/week, you will create one schedule for every time the activity meets. For example, if you have three children's services on Sunday mornings, you will have three activity schedules for your children's service activity. If you have a women's bible study that meets twice on Wednesday (once in the morning and once in the evening), you will have two schedules for the women's bible study activity.

Creating and maintaining activity schedules

Creating and maintaining activity schedules is a two-step process. Step 1 is to create the schedule - the start and end dates/times for each time the activity occurs. Step 2 is to create the recurrence pattern for your schedule (i.e., how often the activity occurs).

This page allows you to:

• Create new activity schedules and recurrences
• Edit existing activity schedules and recurrences

Create a new activity schedule (step 1)

1. Click Ministry > Activity/Room Setup > Activity Schedules. Ensure the correct ministry is displayed in the ministry box at the top of the page and the correct activity is displayed in the Show activity drop-down list at the bottom of the page.
2. Type the schedule name in the Activity schedule name field. Choose a name that is descriptive of the time. For one-time activities, the name of the activity is sufficient; however, if you are expecting to hold the activity again the next year, you might consider adding the year to the schedule name. For other activities that occur weekly or monthly, try something like Sunday 10:15 a.m. or Wednesday 6:30 p.m.
3. Type the date and time the activity will begin in the Start time fields.

   Tip! If your activity has already begun, you may backdate your schedule. This will allow you to record past attendance.

4. Type the date and time the activity will end in the End time fields. If the activity has no end date, leave today's date in the date field. Enter the time the activity is set to end.
5. Click Create new activity schedule name. Your new schedule appears in the activity schedules grid at the bottom of the page.

Create a schedule recurrence (step 2)

1. Click Edit beside the schedule you just created. The schedule will appear in the form at the top of the page.
2. Click the Recurrence button. The Recurrence dialog box appears. This is where you will define how often the activity occurs.
3. In the Recurrence Pattern box, select one of the following:
   • Daily—this option is great for one-time events.
   • Weekly—select this option and then select the day or days of week the activity occurs.
   • Monthly—perfect option for activities that occur the same week or day of every month. For example, membership classes or dinner with the pastor.
   • Yearly—this option is great for activities that occur the same day every year. For example, a Thanksgiving dinner event.
4. In the Range of Recurrence box, leave the Start date field with the start date you created when the schedule was created. Then select one of the following:
   • No end date—perfect option for activities that you plan to continue until well into the future. For example, worship services and children's services.
   • End after X occurrences—great for activities that last a specific number of months/weeks/days. For example, a 6-week Giftedness class or a 4-week Membership class.
   • End by—this is the default selection and is the most typical option selected. This should be the last day of your activity if you choose to use this option.
5. Click Save. The recurrence appears with your activity schedule. Click Save again to save your schedule.

Though it is less common, there may be occasions where you have an activity that doesn't occur based on any pattern. If that happens, you can create multiple recurrences. Simply use the procedure above to add a separate daily recurrence for each instance the activity will occur.

Note: There may be a time when you need to delete an activity schedule. If you are unable to delete it, check to see if that activity schedule is part of a Super Check-in. If so, remove the schedule from Super Check-in and then it can be deleted from the activity.

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Adding a recurrence to verify Check-in

Before attempting to use Check-in for the first time with a new activity, the recommendation is to practice before the date of the activity. Typically, this is not possible since your activity schedule is in the future and Check-in will only display activities for the current date.

There is a way you can work around this! Add a recurrence to your activity schedule for one or two days so that your volunteers have the opportunity to practice and to see how the activity will look in Check-in.

Use the procedure above to edit your existing activity schedule and add a recurrence. Select the Daily option and make sure the start and end dates are well before the date the activity will occur. For example, if you want to test the activity on the Thursday before the activity occurs, simply select the Daily option and type Thursday's date in the Start date field. Type Thursday's date again in the End by date field.

Once you have done this, you should have two recurrences for your schedule. The activity will be available for Check-in on the date you select all day long (from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.).

Note: If you want to test Self Check-in, remember that you must do so before the end time of the activity. Self Check-in will not allow you to check into an activity that has already ended.