Requests, answers, and auto-replace
Nobody is asked to serve until you select Send on the Schedule, Plan Weeks, or a plan, or Ask in Find someone. Until then, they’re drafts only you can see.
What volunteers get
Each request goes out at once, in every way we can reach them:
- A push notification in the Teams app, if they have it, with buttons to answer.
- An email with Accept, Tentative, and Decline buttons, and Yes or No for each of the plan’s times.
- A text with a link to answer, if your church texts people, they have a phone number on file, and they haven’t opted out.
- A notification in their notification list in the app.
The buttons and links in emails and texts work without signing in.
Someone asked for several dates at once gets one message instead, like “You’re scheduled 3 times in November”, listing each date with Accept all or an answer for each.
How they answer
| Answer | What it means | Counts as filled? |
|---|---|---|
| Accepted | They’ll be there. | Yes |
| Tentative | Probably. They can add a note, like “waiting on my work schedule”. | No |
| Declined | They can’t. Any reason they give is shown to leaders only. | No |
| No answer | They haven’t answered yet. | No |
Someone who accepted can still back out later. That shows as Canceled.
When a plan has several times, they also say Yes or No to each one.
Deadlines and reminders
- Answer by: requests need an answer by the team’s Answer by time, 4 days before the plan unless you change it in the team’s settings. A request sent later than that gets 24 hours, and one sent within 2 days of the plan gets 4 hours.
- A nudge: if someone hasn’t answered after 2 days, we ask them once more. You can also select Remind on a plan or the Overview any time.
- No answer in time: anyone who still hasn’t answered, or is still tentative, at the deadline is treated like a decline.
- Before they serve: people who accepted get a reminder 2 days before, with a link if they can’t make it after all.
Auto-replace
When someone declines, cancels, or doesn’t answer in time, the team’s leaders are told. If the spot still needs someone and the team has Auto-replace on (it’s on by default):
- More than 3 days before the plan: we ask the best eligible person, one at a time.
- 3 days or less: we ask the top 3 at once (the team’s Urgent asks setting). The first to accept gets the spot, and the others’ requests close.
- Nobody left to ask: the spot is marked Unfilled, and leaders get an urgent alert so they can find someone themselves.
“Eligible” means they serve in that position, are cleared, are old enough, aren’t blacked out or already serving then, and are under their monthly limit. People who served least recently come first.
The same happens when someone’s clearance expires: their future spots that need it are released and auto-replace looks for cover.
Swaps
Volunteers can ask teammates in the same position to cover a date, or trade dates with one, right from the Teams app. Only people who could be scheduled are offered. The first to say yes takes it, and leaders are told. Turn this off with Volunteers can ask a teammate to cover or trade a date in the team’s settings.
Who gets told
Alerts go to the team’s leaders and admins, plus the admins of its parent team.
| Moment | Example | Urgent? |
|---|---|---|
| Someone declines | “Jordan Lee declined Vocals” | No |
| Someone cancels | “Late cancel: Jordan Lee can’t make Vocals” | Within 2 days of the plan |
| No answer in time | “Jordan Lee didn’t answer for Vocals” | No |
| Auto-replace asked someone | “Asked Kayla Shaw to cover Vocals” | No |
| Cover found | “Kayla Shaw will cover Vocals” | No |
| Can’t make a required time | “Jordan Lee can’t make Thursday rehearsal” | No |
| A swap | “Kayla Shaw is covering Vocals for Jordan Lee” | No |
| Can’t be filled | “Can’t fill Vocals” | Yes |
| Not checked in | “3 on Worship haven’t checked in” | Yes |
Every alert goes to the Teams app and their notification list. Urgent ones also go by email and text. The rest are gathered in a daily email at 7 AM for each leader.
If you take someone off a spot they were asked for, they get “You’re off the schedule” so they know not to come.
Check-in and no-shows
Volunteers check in when they arrive, from 2 hours before they serve. They can:
- Tap check-in in the Teams app or on teams.culminate.life.
- Scan the check-in poster.
- Be checked in by a leader, in the Teams app or with Check in on the plan.
15 minutes after the plan starts, leaders get one alert listing who on their team hasn’t checked in. 2 hours after the plan ends, anyone who accepted but never checked in is recorded as a no-show. See them in the Attendance & no-shows report.