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Swapping scheduled assignments

Life happens after the roster goes out. If you need to hand off a duty to someone else — or trade one you can’t make for one you can — the Swaps flow does that without emailing the coordinator. Reading time: four minutes.

Two kinds of swaps are supported:

  • Takeover — you give your assignment away to a specific person. They accept, and it’s theirs; no reciprocal duty involved.
  • Exchange — you and the counterparty trade duties. You cover their slot, they cover yours. Both sides need to accept.

Open Swaps and propose a new one

Open the Swaps page — either from the See all link on the My swaps card on your home page, or from the top-right avatar menu → My profile → Swaps. Click New swap. The dialog leads with the swap type — leave it on Takeover if you just want someone to cover for you, or switch to Exchange if you want to trade a specific pair.

The Swaps page with a New swap button top-right. Two tabs above the list show 'Pending your response' and 'Outgoing / awaiting them'.
The Swaps page with a New swap button top-right. Two tabs above the list show 'Pending your response' and 'Outgoing / awaiting them'.

Pick who + which of your assignments

Counterparty — type a name and pick from the list. Anyone in the ecclesia is eligible; the server does the eligibility check when the swap lands (age, sex, baptism, qualifications, existing assignments on the same day).

Your assignment — radio list of your upcoming assignments in the next 90 days, showing the role, occurrence name, and date. Pick the one you want to hand off. If your list is empty, you don’t have anything to swap — not a bug.

The New swap dialog with the Counterparty picker showing a search field and a list of member names. Below it, a 'Your assignment' picker lists upcoming assignments (role name, occurrence, date) with radio buttons.
The New swap dialog with the Counterparty picker showing a search field and a list of member names. Below it, a 'Your assignment' picker lists upcoming assignments (role name, occurrence, date) with radio buttons.

For an exchange, pick their assignment too

If you picked Exchange, a second picker appears once you’ve chosen the counterparty. It lists their upcoming assignments the same way; pick the one you’d cover.

Add a note if you want — a one-liner like “can we swap? I’m out of town that weekend” goes to the counterparty with the request. Click Propose swap to send it.

The New swap dialog with Type set to Exchange. Two assignment pickers stacked: 'Your assignment' with one row selected, and 'Their assignment' listing the counterparty's upcoming assignments with one row selected.
The New swap dialog with Type set to Exchange. Two assignment pickers stacked: 'Your assignment' with one row selected, and 'Their assignment' listing the counterparty's upcoming assignments with one row selected.

Wait for the counterparty (or accept theirs)

After you submit, the swap sits on the counterparty’s Swaps page under “Pending your response”. You see the same row under “Outgoing / awaiting them”. Both sides get a home-page card + a notification email.

When someone proposes a swap to you, open the Swaps page and hit Accept or Decline on the row. On an Exchange, you both need to accept before the server applies the trade; a takeover only needs the recipient to accept.

The Swaps page listing two pending rows: one outgoing ('Awaiting response from Alice') and one incoming ('Bob proposed a takeover of your 6 Jul chairman slot') with Accept + Decline buttons.
The Swaps page listing two pending rows: one outgoing ('Awaiting response from Alice') and one incoming ('Bob proposed a takeover of your 6 Jul chairman slot') with Accept + Decline buttons.

Confirmed swaps land on the calendar

Once the swap is fully accepted, the server reassigns the affected assignment(s) and the roster + everyone’s calendar feed refresh within a couple of minutes. Your home page’s My upcoming card updates; if you had a reminder set for the slot, it stops.

Coordinators see the change on the roster page with a small “Swap” label on the affected row. The scheduler treats it as an override — the standing assignment (if there was one) stays intact for future occurrences.

The Calendar page after an accepted swap. The role chip on the affected occurrence now shows the counterparty's name; the actor's own upcoming list on the home page drops the slot they gave away.
The Calendar page after an accepted swap. The role chip on the affected occurrence now shows the counterparty's name; the actor's own upcoming list on the home page drops the slot they gave away.

Cancelling or declining

Changed your mind before the counterparty accepts? Open the swap detail page and click Cancel. The row disappears from their pending list.

If they decline, you get a home-page notification and the row moves out of pending. You can always propose a new swap to a different person — there’s no cap on how many outstanding proposals you can have.

The swap detail page showing an outgoing takeover marked Cancelled, with a small note capturing the reason ('found someone else in person').
The swap detail page showing an outgoing takeover marked Cancelled, with a small note capturing the reason ('found someone else in person').

On the iPhone app

Propose and action swaps from the app.

  1. On the Duties tab, tap the duty you want covered.

    A duty opened from the Duties tab.
    A duty opened from the Duties tab.

  2. Choose Propose a swap, pick who to ask (or open it to anyone), add an optional note, and send.

    The Propose a swap sheet.
    The Propose a swap sheet.

  3. To act on a request sent to you, open Swaps (from the Duties tab, or the “swaps need you” row on Home) and tap Accept or Decline.

    The Swaps screen with Accept / Decline.
    The Swaps screen with Accept / Decline.

Different on the app: Open swaps surface as an actionable row on Home.

What next?

  • Submitting unavailability — if you’re out for a whole window rather than one day, unavailability is a better fit than swapping every individual slot.
  • Managing your availability — a chronically-declined swap for a specific role usually means somebody’s preferences need updating.
  • No response after a day? Ask the counterparty in person. The swap will still be pending; they can accept when they remember.