Rosters
Rosters are used when parents are required to supervise band rehearsals. A roster is linked to a recurring rehearsal series and gives you a simple way to assign parents to each date, send reminders, and track who is covering each session.
Rosters are created from within the Events calendar — not directly from the Rosters page. There are two ways to create one depending on which tab you use.
From the Rehearsals tab (recommended)
When you create a rehearsal from the Rehearsals tab, MSM automatically creates a roster for that rehearsal series. No extra steps are needed — the roster appears in Events > Rosters once the rehearsal is saved.
From the All Events tab
If you are creating an event from the All Events tab, you need to add a roster manually:
- Go to Events > All Events tab
- Set up a recurring event for a group as usual
- In the event settings, locate the Roster option
- Select Create new roster to generate a new roster, or choose an existing roster to link to
- Save the event — MSM creates a roster with a date slot for every occurrence in the series
The roster is named after the rehearsal by default — e.g. Concert Band rehearsal. You can rename it at any time in the Details tab.
Go to Events > Rosters and click the roster to open it. Select the Details tab.
At the top of the Details tab you will see a summary of the roster's current status:
| Summary item | What it means |
|---|---|
| Total Students | The number of parents available to be rostered |
| Roster Slots | The total number of slots across all rehearsal dates |
| Empty Slots | Slots not yet assigned — shown in red if any exist |
| Upcoming Empty | Empty slots in future dates only — shown in red if any exist |
| Next Unfilled | The date of the next rehearsal that still needs a parent assigned |
Below the summary, fill in the roster settings and click Save:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Roster title | The name shown on the rosters list |
| Rostered per event | The number of parents required per rehearsal — between 1 and 4. This cannot be changed once parents have been assigned to dates. |
| Reminder from | The sender name shown on reminder emails — e.g. your school name or the coordinator's name |
| Email from | The email address reminder emails are sent from |
| Email message | The body text of the reminder email sent to rostered parents |
| Roster Active | Tick to activate the roster. Inactive rosters do not send reminders. |
| 1 day reminder | Automatically emails rostered parents 1 day before their assigned rehearsal |
| 7 day reminder | Automatically emails rostered parents 7 days before their assigned rehearsal |
Note: The Rostered per event number cannot be changed after parents have been assigned. Set this before you begin assigning parents to dates.
Click the Roster Students tab to see the pool of parents available for this roster. The list shows each parent's name, how many times they have already been assigned, and whether they are excluded from the roster.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| First Name / Last Name | The parent's name |
| Assigned | How many rehearsal dates this parent has already been assigned to |
| Do not roster | Toggle on to exclude this parent from being assigned to any date |
Use the Do not roster toggle for parents who are unavailable for the term or who have opted out. They remain in the list but will not be included when assigning manually or using Autofill.
You can search for a specific parent using the search box above the list.
Tip: If students have been added to or removed from the group since the roster was created, click Sync in the top right to update the parent pool to match the current group membership.
Click the Roster Dates tab to see all rehearsal dates with their assigned parents. Each row shows the date and the parent assigned to each slot.
Reading the date list
Row shading indicates the status of each date at a glance:
Assigning a parent manually
- Click any date row to open the assignment panel for that date
- Each slot shows a dropdown listing all available parents — the number in brackets shows how many times each parent has already been assigned, e.g. Adams, Evelyn (1). Parents are sorted by fewest assignments first to help spread the load evenly.
- Select a parent for each slot
- Click Save
To remove a parent from a slot, open the date, clear the dropdown for that slot, and click Save.
Auto-fill all empty slots
Click Autofill in the top right of the Roster Dates tab to automatically fill all empty slots across all dates. MSM distributes parents as evenly as possible based on how many times each has already been assigned, skipping any marked as Do not roster.
Clear all assignments
Click Clear in the top right to remove all parent assignments across every date and start fresh.
Note: Clearing all assignments cannot be undone. Use this only if you need to completely rebuild the roster from scratch.
Removing a date
To remove a rehearsal date from the roster — for example, if a rehearsal is cancelled — open the date's assignment panel and click Delete Date.
The rosters list
Go to Events > Rosters to see all rosters. Click any row to open a roster. The list includes the following columns:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Roster | The roster name |
| Created | The date the roster was created |
| Group | The band this roster belongs to — shown as a coloured badge matching the group's calendar colour |
| Reminded | The date the last reminder email was sent to rostered parents |
| Total slots | The total number of parent slots across all rehearsal dates |
| Empty slots | How many slots across all dates still need a parent assigned |
| Students | The number of parents in this roster's pool |
| Active | A tick if the roster is currently active and sending reminders |
Tip: Check the Empty slots column regularly to spot rosters that need parents assigned before the next rehearsal.
Quick reference
A handy reminder once you are familiar with the system.
| Task | Where to go |
|---|---|
| Create a roster | Events > Rehearsals tab > set up recurring rehearsal > Roster option > Create new roster |
| View all rosters | Events > Rosters |
| Configure title, slots per event, reminders | Open roster > Details tab |
| See the parent pool | Open roster > Roster Students tab |
| Exclude a parent from the roster | Open roster > Roster Students tab > toggle Do not roster |
| Sync parents after group changes | Open roster > Roster Students tab > Sync button |
| Assign a parent to a date | Open roster > Roster Dates tab > click a date row |
| Auto-fill all empty slots | Open roster > Roster Dates tab > Autofill button |
| Clear all assignments | Open roster > Roster Dates tab > Clear button |
| Remove a rehearsal date | Open roster > Roster Dates tab > click date > Delete Date |