Successful hierarchy of stake / ward callings for calendar/scheduling?

Can you share a successful hierarchy of stake to ward callings for calendar/scheduling on Lds.org? We all can reference the help file "Calendar Rights and Roles," to understand the calling terminology and tasks associated with them, so we don't need to talk about that in this thread, but I'd like to see Organizational charts from anyone operating successfully for the past year, integrated from the stake presidency down to the ward level.

Who oversees who, (Example: Is the High Council involved?) and where does your oversight and training from stake to ward happen when new people are called? Do you have one main Stake Building Scheduler that oversees ward level building schedulers? Do you have one scheduler per building, or allow each ward to have it's own (if possible) when wards share the building? Do these rotate yearly? Has the stake mandated/suggested a ward structure? What would you change in your organizational chart now that some of us are a year into this and you had the opportunity to start fresh?

Thanks!

kisaac wrote:Can you share a successful hierarchy of stake to ward callings for calendar/scheduling on Lds.org?

I don't know if I'd label our experience as entirely "successful," but I'll share what we are doing.

Stake Level:

1. At the stake level, our calendaring process is done almost completely on an annual basis, with a few adjustments along the way.
2. Because of that, we have one main calendar coordinator (that happens to be me). I enter all the stake events into the calendar, and make adjustments throughout the year.
3. We have a couple of private calendars for the stake presidency: one is for stake presidency meetings, out-of-town times, etc.; the other is for the stake president's appointments (which is used just by the stake president and the executive secretary).
4. We've chosen not to have other people involved in scheduling stake events for simplicity's sake. The high council has no role at all.

Building Level:

1. Each building has a rotating agent ward. The bishop of that ward assigns a building scheduler.
2. There is just one building scheduler per building. They work out their own arrangements for backup; I am a building scheduler for each building, so I can help with urgent needs if the building scheduler is unavailable.
3. The stake calendar coordinator is responsible for training building schedulers.

Ward Level:

1. Each ward has designated a calendar coordinator. That person is the point of contact for training from the stake, and for working out conflicts found by the building scheduler. The coordinator may be a bishopric member, executive secretary, clerk, or ward website administrator -- it's the bishop's choice.
2. The stake has mandated that each ward has to have a calendar coordinator as the single point of contact from the stake or building schedulers, but other than that, the wards can decide how to manage the calendars in their ward.
3. In conjunction with the ward council, the calendar coordinator determines how many calendars there will be and who has responsibility for each.
4. Most wards have multiple calendar editors. They get their training from the calendar coordinator.

At this point, it's working reasonably well for us. We occasionally have people unwittingly schedule the entire building or make other mistakes, but we can work those out. Probably the biggest problems occur with people who aren't calendar editors who want to schedule buildings for events (some are ward/stake functions and some are events for family, mission reunions, etc.). People don't know who to contact, so I often get the call. In most cases, the ward calendar coordinator could do that, or the building scheduler, but regular members are often unaware of who those people are.

thank you! do you have a "stake building specialist," or is that a function of the "stake calendar coordinator," (you?)

kisaac wrote:thank you! do you have a "stake building specialist," or is that a function of the "stake calendar coordinator," (you?)

Neither. Each building has a building scheduler; there is no one with that position at a stake level. I train the building schedulers, but I wouldn't say that I function in any way as a "stake building specialist"; each building has its own people that take care of the scheduling issues for that building.

I just got called as the new Stake building scheduler. I was trained by the previous stake building scheduler about the new system. They had created a seperate stake calendar called "scheduling the stake building". All events had to be scheduled through it and if it wasn't on this calendar, then it wasn't scheduled. then organizations had to put the same events on their calendar, so there are two postings for every event, one on the organizational calendar, and one on the scheduling calendar. They did this because the stake building scheduler couldn't see events from wards other than theirown.

As far as heirachy went: Stake Presidency member: Stake Clerk works with Stake building scheduler (me). There is only one scheduler per building, so the wards that meet in the stake building do not have seperate building schedulers. This is the same for other buildings with multiple wards and they work with their ward clerks. I am creating a training to take to the ward level and I am planning to remove the system the previous scheduler used with two calendars and use the system as it is set up to be done with each organization scheduling resources within their own calendar.

lediesa wrote:They did this because the stake building scheduler couldn't see events from wards other than their own.

It sounds like they didn't understand how the system worked, because a building scheduler definitely can see events from other wards. He can even make changes to those events.

In the Calendar help system, see Building Scheduler Role and Check Location/Resource Availability and Subscribed Locations.

But it sounds like you understand that, since you are removing that unnecessary "scheduling the stake building" calendar. That's good!

We have multiple buildings in out Stake. We have had some one from building A schedule and event in building B. The event is not visible to the building scheduler for building B. I believe this is because the person who scheduled the event did so using his local Ward calendar. Since a person not residing in that ward can subscribe to that calendar it cannot be seen. Any suggestions on how to work around this?

vailmd wrote:We have multiple buildings in out Stake. We have had some one from building A schedule and event in building B. The event is not visible to the building scheduler for building B. I believe this is because the person who scheduled the event did so using his local Ward calendar. Since a person not residing in that ward can subscribe to that calendar it cannot be seen. Any suggestions on how to work around this?

You are correct that a member of one ward cannot see the calendar of another ward. However, any calendar editor, approver, or building scheduler can view those events with resources reserved by using a section of the calendar available to them titled "Subscribed Locations". By checking a location they can view the events at that location that have resources scheduled. To aviod clutter that can make it difficult to see just those events, all the calendars checked in "Subscribed Calendars" can be unchecked.

For more information see the calendar help section titled "View Calendars of Other Wards".

I need to see if someone has a blank pedigree chart (or if you have software) they have made so a bishop can display this on his white board and see at a glance who is in what calling.

Cwells

My calling is to schedule the stake center and our ward building, I am able to schedule the stake center, but I cant schedule the ward building they are to different buildings, why not ? and can I ? or do I need to do the ward on paper?
thank you Chandra

channychristensen wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 6:47 pm I am able to schedule the stake center, but I cant schedule the ward building they are to different buildings, why not ? and can I ?

A stake admin (a member of the stake presidency + executive secretary + clerks) will have to add you as a building scheduler in the Calendar system for each building.

Please note that the old method of all scheduling going though one person doesn't work anymore.

From the Help Center: Getting Started with Calendar

Training Stake/Ward Councils and Building Schedulers
Stake and ward councils should be trained on how to create their events on the calendars and schedule the building and rooms. They should know which calendars exist and who the editors are for each calendar, and they should be shown how to create an event and at the same time schedule the building themselves.

Building schedulers should be trained to understand that for stake and ward events, the stake or ward leaders should create their own events and schedule the building themselves. As they do, the events will then appear on both the stake and ward calendars and also on the building calendar. Building schedulers should be taught that they should not put stake or ward events directly on the building calendar. If they do, it will indeed reserve the building, but the events will not be seen on the stake or ward calendars, leaving the membership uninformed. Usually, building schedulers create only approved family events on the building calendar. They also periodically review the building calendar to make sure events are being appropriately created by the stake and wards according to the local building policy.

Under this system, you're more of a referee to make sure everyone is playing nicely and to take requests from member when they want to use a church building for a family event. The day to day stuff should take care of itself. You will not have access to all the different ward calendars to be able to properly schedule ward events. (The stake admins could grant you access to all the stake calendars, but the same isn't true with ward calendars.)

The primary purpose of the calendar is to communicate to members the upcoming activities. Building scheduling is secondary, but coordinated so that events should always be in sync with the building calendar. That way as plans change, the building calendar will always change with them and conflicts avoided. (or at least found out in advance).