Ministry Scheduler Pro Reviews

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.

It's lack of bilingual support (Spanish).

It did the tasks at my previous job until we got a better system. Honestly the only pro I can give it. Not a good program in any sense of modern software.

It is difficult to step into as a new person on staff. Web functionality is minimal - can't even send a message to volunteers, or at least I haven't figured out how yet. (Should be easy to find, and a basic function should be accessible in online version.)

The program is bulky, has a dated look and interface, and is difficult to set up on the computer. Only a certain number of devices are licensed to use it, so if you are starting at a new job (as I am), and one of the quota limit is connected with someone's profile who is no longer on staff, it is a headache to get it unregistered.

At a previous job, they were also using this program until we upgraded to a much better one. Was going to mention the specific program but don't want this review to be taken down.

My guess is that the people who find it helpful either 1. think entirely different from myself and others I have talked with, or 2. simply haven't experienced a better program. If MSP is the best you've seen, compared to a spreadsheet it's going to be great. But we don't live in 1994 anymore. There is better software out there.

Bottom line:
Don't waste your time with MSP - it is clunky and unintuitive. Web version hardly does anything. Not worth the effort or the money. I find it entirely uninspiring, and a chore to even look at, much less use.

This software is easy to use, easy to teach, allows for flexibility in how people are scheduled (auto or manual or a combination of them) and getting subs is as easy as a click. There is so much to love about this software.

Some of the rosterizing/reporting pieces are not as easy or intuitive. I cannot always get the information I really want in a straightforward manner.

Overall, the ability to schedule volunteers for our weekend Masses through autoscheduling makes all the difference. Additionally, using the app in Kisok-mode has streamlined our check-in process and reduced volumes of paper. Lastly, the service we have received is the best I have seen, and I was in IT for 40+ years. The support team is very knowledgeable, extremely helpful, and always very timely with their responses. Two thumbs way up for the tool and the team.

Nothing that I have run across to this point. Everything that we use is critical to our operation and the tool is easy to use and intuitive. No cons to note at this time.

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!

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

MSP organizes all the data about my volunteers across all the ministries and I don't have to keep track of it myself. Most volunteers are tech-savvy and can update their information each time I send a request for updates. For those who can't, it is easy for me to quickly input the information and the system does the rest!

Our parish has used the program for so long that some of the initial setup is outdated and it is not intuitive to figure out what I can delete without harming what does work.

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)

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

Your customer service support is OUTSTANDING, most especially by way of [sensitive content hidden]. I'm the new Administrator of the Ministry Scheduler for Saint Rose Parish in Perrysburg, [sensitive content hidden] has been invaluable in assisting me with my new role.

Nothing I can think of at this time. I'm still new at the role of administrator, so as I continue in this role, I might then have more to say.

Scheduling with Ministry Scheduler Pro has saved a lot of time that I am able to dedicate elsewhere. Our volunteers love that they can set up their service times and black out dates that they may be away from their home parish, as well as automatically scheduling with their families. It has also made finding subs and making trades more convenient - just click a button and the operation handles itself.

I wish the app was more comparable to the web terminal as far as features go. Most of our volunteers solely use the mobile app and things like having the roster available in the app or having the parish FAQ I posted on the web terminal landing page would be helpful.

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,

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.

Hands-down the support team!!! They are always willing to help, friendly, and patient.

Not always intuitive where to find how to do something.

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

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

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

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.

Overall this is a great resource. Some specifics include:
1. Easy to create and manage our bimonthly liturgical ministries and St. Vincent DePaul volunteers
2. Volunteers appreciate the simplicity, ability to request subs, and communications about their scheduled service times.
3. Online app for volunteers to check on their schedules

Our usher ministry uses a team approach and dealing with individual sub requests and cross team assignments is not particularly easy