Program Activity Scheduling and Management

Building Activity Schedules & Operational Timing

This article details how to establish the daily operational timeline for your programs. In Memberworks, while a "Session" defines the broad dates of an offering, the Activity Schedule creates the specific anchors used for participation tracking and facility management. Building a detailed schedule is the mandatory first step for any program that requires more than simple roster management.

1. The Scheduling Framework: Timeslots as Anchors

Within the Schedules tab of Program Management, you build your timeline using Timeslots. These slots act as the system’s "source of truth" for when and where specific activities occur. You can start building timeslots by clicking the "Add activity" button in the schedules tab

• Operational Windows: You define the start and end times for specific events within a program day (e.g., "AM Snack," "Swim Lesson," or "Bus Departure"). You also need to define if they are required daily activities (such as lunch) so that it will be assigned for every group, every day in the schedule generation. In addition, make sure to add the group capacity per timeslot if it is not required daily. 

• Mandatory for Tracking: You cannot log that a participant completed an action (like receiving a meal) or check them into a flow (like boarding a bus) unless a corresponding Timeslot exists in the schedule to house that data.

• Public Visibility: Schedules can be toggled to appear on the program’s landing page in the member portal. This allows parents to see a transparent daily itinerary for their children, reducing front-desk inquiries.

2. Participation Models: Activity Tracking vs. Check-In/Out

When building your schedule, you must decide which participation model best fits each timeslot’s operational goal:

• Activity Tracking (Completion Model): Use this for one-off events that simply need a "Completed" status. For example, a "Lunch" timeslot allows staff to search the roster and mark that a specific child ate, creating a timestamped record on the member’s timeline.

• Activity Check-In/Out (Flow Model): Use this for transitions and movement. This model requires two distinct actions—logging exactly when a participant entered the activity and when they exited. This is critical for safety-sensitive activities like "Off-site Field Trips" or "Bus Transportation".

3. Advanced Schedule Generation 

Memberworks allows you to layer complex rules directly onto your scheduled timeslots to automatically assign groups to timeslots. After creating your activities with timeslots, you will go to the blackouts tab to configure any dates to block out. Then, you'll move over to schedules and click "add schedule". 

• Creating Schedules : You can generate multiple schedules per program. Each schedule must be tied to a session. The start and end dates just need to fall within that session, however it does not have a length requirement to match the full session length. In other words, you can create multiple schedules within the same session. Here is a guide on the steps of creating an activity schedule: 

  1. Configure the basic details like name, session, and dates

  2. Choose what group type you will be using to assign to timeslots 

     1. For example, if you are running a camp and the kids go to activities in their activity groups , you would choose that type of assignment to schedule rather than choosing cabin assignments. 

  3. Select the groups you want to be assigned in this schedule

  4. Select the activities you want these groups to participate in during this schedule

     1. Mark the default amount of visits each group should visit the activity and if they are OK to repeat so the system knows how to best cycle through the timeslots

     2. Remember, when you created the timeslots, you already marked if one was a required daily activity - so things like lunch don't need a default visit per activity

  5. Setup how you want the system to handle odd numbers of groups 

  6. Click review & generate 

• Managing Schedules: You now can click on the schedule you generated to manage it. There are several functions to adjust what the system created - by multi-selecting lines in the grid, you can manually add new events, swap groups , reschedule events, drop events, and view as a calendar 

  • Remember, when the schedule is ready to be used you can publish and notify staff/volunteers as well as parents. Once published, the schedule of the groups they are assigned to will be visible in their schedule in the mobile app.

5. Conflict Management & Overlaps

The scheduling engine is designed to handle high-turnover spaces through automated logic:

• Overlap Detection: If multiple activities are scheduled in the same venue at the same time, the system will flag the conflict for management review.