🛠️ How do you keep MSP profiles up-to-date? (Sharing my template too!)

[Krista Kutz]

Hi MSP Community!

Just wanted to share a quick win that worked well at our church!

We've been dealing with no-shows in our Altar Server ministry. So, before creating our fall schedule, I sent a targeted Announcement to all Servers to make sure their info in MSP was still accurate—and I’m so glad I did!

With 8th graders graduating and families moving, it turns out we had quite a bit of turnover that wasn’t yet reflected in MSP. Several parents replied to let me know their child was no longer serving (so we marked them inactive), and many took the opportunity to update their family's Service Time Preferences.

It was a simple step, but it saved us from building a schedule that might have led to more no-shows.

I’d love to hear from you:

• What’s helped you maintain accurate volunteer preferences?
• Do you send "profile maintenance" reminders at certain times of the year? 

If it’s helpful, below is the Announcement we sent to our Servers. I saved it as a template for the future—feel free to copy and adapt it for your own use!

Looking forward to hearing your tips, too!

Warmly,
Krista Kutz, MDiv
Rotunda Software

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Sample "Profile Upkeep" Announcement

• Dear {{FirstName}},

  
  

  I’m reaching out to all Altar Servers to make sure we have the correct information in MSP before we prepare the next ministry schedule, which will cover {{NextScheduleStartDate}} through {{NextScheduleEndDate}}.

  
  

  By taking just a few seconds to review and update your availability, you’ll help us create an accurate schedule and minimize the need for substitutes. Please make any necessary updates before {{NextScheduleCutoffDate}}. 

  
  Here's what's listed in MSP in your ministry profile, {{FirstName}}:
  
  {{FullName}}'s Service Preferences:
  {{ServicePreferences}}

  If you are open to serving at multiple service times, please list in order of preference.
  
  {{FullName}}'s Unavailable Dates:
  {{CantServeTimes}}

  If you have travel plans or scheduling conflicts coming up, please block out those dates now.

  
  

  Use this link to review and update your profile:
  {{WebTerminalMyProfilePageLink}}
  
  If you have an iOS or Android device, you can also use the free MSP mobile app! After downloading, you'll need the following to sign in...

  Organization ID: {{ChurchWebIdentifier}}

  Username: {{WebTerminalUsername}}
  Password: {{WebTerminalPassword}}
  
  If you have any questions, just reply to this email. Happy to help!
  
  Thank you for serving!
  

[patti...@gmail.com]

Hi Krista, 

I think that is a great idea and will definitely keep that letter in mind. 

My usual strategy is to add a sentence to the request for availability email to encourage the ministers to let me know if anything has changed with their serving status.  I also do something that is a bit time consuming but has actually helped me catch some situations - I manually process my web forms.  I suppose that I could let the forms automatically process and then go through them everyday, but by manually processing the forms I am forced to look at each one and MSP lets me know that the forms are waiting for processing.  I have had forms come in where the minister enters away dates for a whole schedule and even a whole year instead of just letting us know that they no longer want to serve.  

Processing the forms manually allows me to reply right from the web form to ask if we need to address anything in their settings.  Then when the minister replies, I can address the issue, offer prayers for an illness, or thank them for their service if they are choosing to retire from serving.  

Patti Such

Ministry Scheduler for St Bernadette

Prospect