Hey PCO users! We have an exciting release for you. The most exciting part is a feature that people have been asking for, and that we are FINALLY adding for you! Yes, it's about "time" these features were added. Let me explain:
Block Out Dates by the Hour/ Conflicts by the Hour:
Until now, users were only able to block out dates a whole day at a time. We realized this did not meet everyone's needs, especially since there are some weekend services that have something happening in the morning and evening. So now, you are able to block out your dates one hour at a time. As a result, when a scheduler is scheduling and conflicts come up, they will only show as a conflict if their block-out time actually conflicts with the plan time and/or rehearsal time. The new dialog box will look like the picture on the right, and it's rather self-explanatory. Just choose the date/s and time/s you want to block out. It's as easy as that!
Change The Date Of A Plan You Are Creating
When you click on the "Create A New Plan" link, the dialog box that comes up will now look different. Here you will have an option to set the date of this plan. Something we were running into a lot is if someone had accidentally deleted a plan that wasn't the last one in the list, and had to add that back in, the system would automatically create it for the next date past the last dated plan in the service (as it should), but it wasn't very intuitive or easy to change the date. So now if you are in a situation like this, you can set the proper date before the plan is even created. It will also automatically update any times you have, according to that new date. If you choose to not set a date, it will add a date depending on the frequency you have set (just like normal).
New Time Options
The "edit a time" dialog box looks different now as well. Since block-out dates and conflicts are now by the hour, we've added end times to all your times. When you enter in a Plan, Rehearsal, or Other time (which is a new type), you will be able to designate when it will end. This will make any conflicts more accurate.
The default end time has been set to one hour after the start time, but we've added a great new option to help you change your times for multiple plans at once. When you edit a time, just check the new "Update in Future Plans" box at the bottom, and whatever changes you made to the time in that plan will be applied to that same time in any existing future plans!
Simplified Pages for Viewers
You can now specify that scheduled viewers should see the full plan, the song list, or their schedule only. The full plan is how it's always been. The song list lets them view the plan, but omits any non-song items and only shows headers and songs in the flow. The schedule only option doesn't even let them go to plan view, but takes them to the "my schedule" page which just shows them the plan dates, times, and positions they've been scheduled for. This is great way to simplify the experience for your users who don't need to see plan details. You can see what the schedule view looks like by clicking "my schedule" underneath the calendar on the main plans page.
To specify this new view option, click "properties" at the bottom of the plans list on the main plans page, and then click the pencil to edit any of the people categories you want to change the view options for.
We hope you enjoy these timely updates and are able to be even more efficient with the way you plan your worship services!
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