Once you have a completed schedule in VSP, you’re ready to make your schedule live. Making it live shows volunteers their scheduled dates on the My Schedule tab of the Web Terminal, and allows the information from the schedule to be used in emails as tokens. To make your schedule live:

• Open your completed schedule
• Go to the File menu
• Choose Make Schedule Live

After you make the schedule live, VSP will ask you if you want to customize the online layout and options of the Live Schedule Post. The Live Schedule Post is how the full schedule will look on the Web Terminal. (For more information on the difference between a live schedule and a Live Schedule Post, click here.) To create your Live Schedule Post:

• Open your completed schedule
• Go to the File menu
• Choose Make Schedule Live
• In the window that opens when you make the schedule live, choose either “Customize the Online Layout and Options” or “Use the default layout and options for now”
• If you choose the first option, you can select the layout of your Live Schedule Post, as well as choose which jobs, shifts, and volunteers will be included
• If you choose the second option, the default layout settings will be applied to your post, and you can change them later

Next, you can create one or more Live Roster Posts to make it easy for your volunteers to connect with one another. You can choose to create a roster with one long list of volunteers, or a separate roster for each job or location. You can even set your rosters to be viewable only by individuals in the corresponding jobs. To create a Live Roster Post:

• Go to the Web Terminal pane of VSP and click the Rosters tab at the top
• Click the New button
• Choose which jobs and volunteers you want to include (Included Jobs and Included Volunteers)
• Specify what information you want to include in the roster (Included Fields)
• Click Save Live Roster Post

For a detailed look at the different settings available when making a roster, click here to watch a video tutorial. 

You can customize each tab of the Web Terminal with the text of your choosing. To do so:

• Go to the Web Terminal pane
• Click on the tab you wish to customize
• Add, edit, or remove text from the text box on the screen to add announcements or custom messages
• Learn how to use the Web Terminal Settings to customize the items volunteers can see and request changes to in the My Profile tab.

Using Tokens, you can personalize the Web Terminal even further and display volunteer-specific information. For instance, if you use a Token for {{All Available Positions }}, volunteers will just see the positions available that they qualify for. To add a Token to a tab of the Web Terminal:

• Put your cursor where you want the Token to appear
• Click the Token menu directly above the text box
• Choose the Token you wish to add and click on it

With the Standard Edition, you can further customize the Web Terminal by adding an image, such as a banner or logo, to the top of the Web Terminal. By adding your organization's emblem to the Web Terminal, you can brand the space and make your volunteers feel at home while viewing and updating their schedules online.

• Begin in the Web Terminal pane of VSP
• From the Home tab, click on the "Web Terminal Settings" button at the top of the window
• In the new dialog that opens, under the General heading, check the option that says "Show a header image at the top of the Web Terminal (for custom branding)"
• VSP will then open the folders on your computer so you can browse and select the image you wish to upload. You can use images in .jpg, .gif, or .png format

Web Forms are the virtual records that are created any time volunteers make changes using the Web Terminal. These include sub requests, changes to a volunteer’s shift preferences, signing up for an unfilled position, and more. Before introducing VSP to the volunteers, you’ll want to decide how VSP will handle any changes made on the Web Terminal. You can set Web Forms to be processed automatically, or processed manually.

Manual Web Form Processing The default setting in VSP is to process Web Forms manually. This means that you as the administrator must OK any changes made online before they go into effect. To manually process your Web Forms:

• Go to the Web Forms pane
• Click on a Web Form you wish to process
• Click Process form

To see all the Web Forms you have processed in the past, click the Show all processed forms bubble at the top of the window.

Automatic Web Form Processing You can optionally choose to have VSP automatically process your Web Forms. If you choose this method, changes made on the Web Terminal by volunteers will go into effect instantly. You can choose to set automatic processing for the following Web Forms: Enrollments (when new volunteers sign up online), Assignments (when existing volunteers sign up for an unfilled position), Swap Requests/Accepts (when volunteers request a substitute/when volunteers fill a substitute request), and Profile Changes (when volunteers change their contact info, shift preferences, can’t serve times). To tell VSP to process Web Forms automatically:

• Go to the Web Terminal pane and click the Web Terminal Settings button
• Click on the heading on the left side of the window that corresponds to the Web Form you want to process automatically
• Check the box that says “Automatically process Web Forms”

VSP’s Sign-in Kiosk allows volunteers to sign in when they arrive, fill empty positions, or even sub for a volunteer who is unable to serve. The Kiosk can run on any computer or tablet and doesn’t require purchasing special equipment. Using the Kiosk, attendance data is transferred automatically to VSP for simple reporting and follow up.

• Go to the Web Terminal pane and click the Web Terminal Settings button
• Click on the heading on the left side of the window that reads Sign-in Kiosk
• Check the box that says “Enable the Sign-in Kiosk (to track attendance)”
• Copy the Kiosk URL and send it to yourself so you can access the Kiosk from any device with internet capabilities

After setting up the Web Terminal in the steps above, preview what the Web Terminal will look like when volunteers log in. To do so:

• Go to the Web Terminal pane
• Click the Login As button
• Choose a volunteer’s name in the list
• Log in to view the Web Terminal from the perspective of the volunteer
• Click through each of the tabs to see how it will look for volunteers
• Any changes that you need to make can be done by going back to VSP and editing the corresponding tab
• After updating, make sure to click the “Commit Changes” button before previewing again

Looking for web-based and mobile access to VSP?

Declare yourself and any other schedulers as a Web Admin so you can leave the computer behind and make changes to your schedule, edit volunteer profiles, and send announcements no matter where you are.

To grant people more limited admin access, declare a volunteer as a Leader. You can designate which shifts, jobs, and specific privileges Leaders can access (such as adding notes and resources to a shift, emailing their jobs, requesting subs, and scheduling volunteers).

• Go to the Administrators pane inside of VSP.
• Click the + button and follow the prompts to set up a Web Admin or Leader.
• If declaring a Leader, you can then click on the lines for Jobs, Shifts, and Privileges to manage the access each Leader has.

You can quickly set up automatic email or SMS (text message) reminders to be sent to your volunteers before their scheduled shifts. To set up automatic email or text reminders:

• Go to the Web Terminal pane
• From the Home tab, click the Web Terminal Settings button
• Click the Auto-Reminders heading on the left
• Set up when you want your automatic email reminders to go out
• Log in to our website to begin sending SMS reminders

When you are ready to introduce the Web Terminal to your volunteers, you will send them an email that includes their Web Terminal usernames and passwords and a link to the Web Terminal. To introduce the Web Terminal to your volunteers:

• Go to the Announcements pane and load one of the following Preconfigured Templates:
  • Intro Email: Update Request: this template is best used if you have not yet completed a schedule and wish to collect availability before creating and posting one online
  • Intro Email: First Schedule: this template is best used if you have just created and posted a completed schedule online
• Make any manual edits to the template
• Preview the email before sending it by clicking the Preview button
• Send the email to all your volunteers