OnlineSignupSheet.com

What's New?

Check here to see what's new with OnlineSignupSheet.com!

June 23rd, 2013

Upgraded Look and Feel applied to Group and Organixation leader sites! We have applied the upgraded look and feel to the Group and Organization Leader Sites! Which also means that leaders can more easily manage their groups from their mobile devices. Go to the blog post for more information!

April 21th, 2013

New Look and Feel for OnlineSignupSheet.com... works much better on mobile devices! We are very excited to release a brand new look and feel for OnlineSignupSheet.com. This look and feel is not only more modern looking, but is now designed to work very well on mobile devices! Check out our blog post for more information!

September 14th, 2012

Filters added to Group Search Yes/No and Option Group Information specified by group leaders can now be used to filter the results of the Group Search. This allows those using the group search to be more specific in the kind of group for which they are looking.
Reducing frequency of iNquiry Attention Governor emails NAG emails are being reduced in frequency slightly due to feedback.
Speed improvements to the Group Search Group Search use of the database has been optimized to provide better performance.

September 8th, 2012

All email addresses must now be verified before use Before emails are sent to any participant in a family, that participant's email address must first be verified. This is done through accepting the OnlineSignupSheet.com group invite, or by following email instructions on how to verify an email address once the group invite was accepted by another family member. Existing email addresses in OnlineSignupSheet.com are assumed to be verified, this change will only affect new families being invited to an OnlineSignupSheet.com group.
Emails now have a name associated with the "From" address Emails will now be a bit easier to look at as the email will show as coming from a real name instead of the normal no-reply email address.

See Full Blog Post

June 25th, 2012

Adjusted Organization Leader and Group Leader site As new features are added to OnlineSignupSheet.com, they clutter up the navigation on the main Organization Leader and Group Leader Sites. We have attempted to clear this up by restyling the main action links on those pages, and then categorizing them into more understandable groupings.
Member Site Rolodex links to Google Maps Now when looking up an address for a group member, from the member site rolodex, you can now click on the Google Map links to see where they live and use all of the rest of Google Map's tools to get there!
Group Picture for Group Search To customize each group's listing on the group search, groups may now upload a picture representing their group which will be displayed when a user clicks on more details for a group.
Organization Leaders can now edit details of a group from the Organization Leader Site Organization leaders used to have to go to a group and edit the group from the Group Leader Site. Now, Organization Leaders can edit many details about a group without leaving the Organization Leader site.
Groups can be hidden from Group Search Some groups may not be interested in advertising their presence via the Group Search. Organization leaders may decide whether to hide any given group from being shown in the Group Search. In addition, any groups marked as 'sensitive' are also not shown in the Group Search.

See Full Blog Post

April 28th, 2012

Group Search! We are pleased to release our Group Search functionality! This functionality allows Organization Leaders to provide self service searching to potential group members for groups in their Organizations. This is a optional feature for any Organization.

Click here for more details on our Group Search feature.

February 20th, 2012

OnlineSignupSheet.com is now Social! We are very excited to present our new blog and Facebook page! In addition, we've added Google +1 links to the site. Please friend, +1, and subscribe to our new social adventure!
Sensitive Groups Some groups are of a sensitive nature, such as recovery or support groups. OnlineSignupSheet.com by default shows all the groups to which a family belong on the leader and member sites. Group Leaders can now set a flag on their groups to hide their group from those lists.
Managing Group Roster is separate from Managing Group Details A frequent question has been "How do I remove a family from my group?". This should be easier to find in the Group Leader site via the "Manage Group members and titles" link.
Events can no longer be created in the past Every once in a while we'd receive a report of a lost event. This is usually caused by the event being created in the past. This is no longer possible.

Blog Release Notes

January 8th, 2012

Recurring Events! We are very pleased to announce the ability to create recurring events! This must be one of the most requested features for OnlineSignupSheet.com! When creating an event, you can specify recurrence rules similar to most calendaring programs. As always, feedback is welcome on how to improve it or any other aspect of OnlineSignupSheet.com!

November 11th, 2011

List of Leader Sites at login for leaders Those leaders who run multiple groups, or groups and organizations can now select to which leader site they wish to go upon login.
Organization Leader CSV Info Download Organization Leaders can now get a CSV download of their Group Collections, Groups, and Families in those groups.
Internet Explorer 9 tool tips fixed Yeah, those were bugging me too. They should be more pointy and less boxy now.

October 31th, 2011

Group Leaders can limit who receives the automatic email notices Although it has been possible to limit who in your group receives manually generated email notices, it was not possible to limit who receives automatic email notices. Well, now you can! One of the neat uses for this feature is for events for just a subset of your group, just the ladies or just the guys.
Fixes for selecting a Signup Sheet Template when creating or editing an event At times, selecting a signup sheet template was more challenging that it should have been. Now, the signup sheet template dialog is simpler and should be easier to use. Just click on the row representing the signup sheet template you wish to use to select that template for your event.
New Signup Sheet Templates should now appear in the Signup Sheet Template dialog when creating or editing an event Some folks have reported that after creating a Signup Sheet Template, that template does not always appear when creating or editing a template. This should be resolved.
Organization Leaders can now delete Groups Broad use of OnlineSignupSheet.com requires more abilities for Organization Leaders. Now you can delete groups!

September 20th, 2011

Group Leaders can now Hide (and un-hide) Signup Sheet Templates One of the more requested features. When a group gets going for a while, they get a good number of Signup Sheet Templates which can make the list of templates quite long (Launch Party/Swim Party/Regular Game/Playoff Game/etc.). So, now you can hide unwanted Signup Sheet Templates. This will not affect any Events already using that hidden Signup Sheet Template. If, however, you ever need to go back to use that hidden Signup Sheet Template, you can un-hide it.
Signup Sheet Templates which are In Use can now be edited It is common for some mistakes to be make when creating a Signup Sheet Template (misspelled categories, missed items). Now Group Leaders can make changes to any labels for categories and items, can add new items and categories, but are unable to remove existing items and categories. However, the coolest thing you can do while editing Signup Sheet Templates is...
Categories and Items can be re-positioned in a Signup Sheet Template When editing a Signup Sheet Template, Group Leaders can rearrange the sort order of categories, and items within those categories. So, if you meant for Main Course to be above Dessert, now you can easily rearrange the Signup Sheet Template to be so.

August 9th, 2011

Fixing Internet Explorer 8 issue with adding new participants from the leader site Oops... IE8 users were unable to add new participants to families since June 15th. With the number of browsers out there, this is going to happen. Once identified, we had a fix out within hours. However, for your best experience, I would suggest a more recent browser and version. (Firefox and Chrome before Internet Explorer, but Internet Explorer 9 if nothing else.)
Checkbox signup sheet item details now indicates when you can no longer type in more characters Some of our users are quite verbose (Hi Cyndi!). However, due to the layout of the signup sheet, lengthy details would not look good. So, once you type the 31st character, the details field will flash yellow and will remove that 31st character.

July 9th, 2011

Details can be added to checkbox signup sheet items By *very* popular demand, group members can now specify details for any checkbox based signup item (except for categories which show addresses). Now, group members can avoid bringing multiple potato salads to your events.
Current Attendance Status added to Event Notice Emails Also by *almost as much* popular demand, event notice emails now contain the current attendance status for your events. This includes the yes, no, and no but contributing attendance types, and the number of attending adults if entered.
Event Locations added to Event Notice Emails We've also added event locations to the Event Notice Emails if you have events with locations. The location links to Google Maps.
Address Links to Google Maps added to Event Notice Emails In addition, we've added Google Maps links for address based signup sheet items.
Updated New Leader Experience Update Added new leader help for newly created Signup Sheet Templates. This will direct new leaders to create their events based on their newly created Signup Sheet Template.
New information page for participants/users with no families It is possible in OnlineSignupSheet.com to have a participant removed from a family. We do not delete those participants from the system, they instead become "orphaned" participants. Although we have added ways to re-add orphaned participants back to a family, we did receive error reports of orphaned participants attempting to use OnlineSignupSheet.com. Now, these orphaned participants are taken to a dedicated page explaining their status and directing them to their small group leader to resolve. Orphaned participants are not able to use OnlineSignupSheet.com until they have been re-added to a family.

June 27th, 2011

New Leader Experience Updates One of the goals of OnlineSignupSheet.com is to make it as easy as possible to manage your groups. To that end, we've updated our new leader experience.

First, the Getting Started Checklist is now looking at only your created Events and Signup Sheet Templates to determine if the check marks should be displayed.

Second, when a new leader creates their first few events, they will be prompted with some helper dialogs to explain the need and use for Signup Sheet Templates and how to Generate Event Email Notices. Experienced leaders may opt out of getting those messages.

June 20th, 2011

Style Updates The Leader Site has received a major upgrade to it's style. We are trying to move the application into this decade. The Member Site received some minor, but very pretty, updates to its styling.
Leader Site Events now has maps For those Group Leaders who live in the Leader Site, we've added map links when viewing an event for locations and address based signup sheet items.

June 15th, 2011

Email filtering for Group Leaders Group Leaders can now filter and slice and dice the email addresses of their group to either email a specific set of group members (guys or gals) or just a few members. This ability is available under the new "Gather Specific email addresses from your group" link on the main page of your Group's Leader Site.
Inviting existing families as leaders to your Group Group Leaders have had the ability to invite new families as leaders to their Group, but not existing families. Now, when inviting existing families to your Group, you will be able to invite them as leaders with a specific leader title.
Updated Invite Acceptance verbiage When new families are invited to OnlineSignupSheet.com, they are sent to the Member Site. With the newly added ability to invite families as leaders to your group, leaders were a bit lost as to what to do next. Now, there is a bit more information for new leaders regarding the differences between the Leader Site (with links to the Leader Site) and the Member Site (with the existing links to the Member Site).
Participants removed from a family can now be added back to a family: It is possible (though rare) that a participant is removed from a family. OnlineSignupSheet.com now allows you to attach an "orphaned" participant back to a family. To attach the "orphaned" user back to a family, just type in the email address of the "orphaned" participant when adding a new participant to the family. This works both for Group Leaders from the Leader Site and from Edit My Information on the Member Site.
Better email checking when adding new participants In addition to being able to add "orphaned" participants to families, the adding of a new participant is more robust. An email address must be entered when adding a new participant before entering any other information. Then, OnlineSignupSheet.com will check to see if that email is in use, and if it is, will not allow you to use that email address (providing some information on how to proceed). As with "orphaned" participants, this is available to Group Leaders on the Leader Site as well as from Edit My Information on the Member Site.
Fixing Global Templates being cloned as global Some Signup Sheet Templates are global in nature: that is, any group is able to use them in their groups. When cloning those global templates, they were also kept in the global space. Now, when Group Leaders clone global Signup Sheet Templates, those templates are linked to your group only.

March 22nd, 2011

New Home Page! New Color scheme! Thanks to Home Stone Design Group, OnlineSignupSheet.com has a brand sparkling new home page! And, with the home page change, a lighter, friendlier color scheme has been implemented across the site!
Groups can customize their group invite email Generic email invitations to groups are now history! Group Leaders can now customize the content of their invitation emails. On the Leader Site, click on "Customize your group invitation email template?", and follow the directions closely... there are some specific things which must be in the template for it to save!
Group Leaders can set/reset their password from Edit My Information On the Member Site Edit My Information page, group leaders can now set/reset their password. However, if you forgot your password, you still need to go through the reset password process.
New Families can now be invited as leaders To keep the excitement and momentum going when inviting new families to your Group, you can now invite those families as leaders. This allows those families to be effective the moment they start using OnlineSignupSheet.com.

January 5th, 2011

Public facing Group Search for Organizations Some Organizations (Churches, Clubs, etc) like to advertise their presence to the outside world. If all of your Groups are on OnlineSignupSheet.com, you can easily do so! On your Organization Leader site, click the "Change your Organization's Details?" link. From there, you can set your group to be searchable. The searchable url is on your Organization Leader Site main page.
Group Information for Group Search Every Organization has specific information which they want to advertise per Group on the Group Search. Organization Leaders can now enter specific information which they expect their Group Leaders to fill out which will be shown per Group on the Group Search feature. On your Organization Leader site, click the "Manage information you would like each group to provide?" link. There you can specify any thing you like, for example: Study Topic, or Marriage Preference, or Target Age Range.
Organization Logo Just like Groups, Organizations can also have a logo. Logo's are primarily used as branding for your organization for the Group Search functionality.

October 20th, 2010

Edit My Information Overhaul The uber long Edit My Information form has been rewritten. Now there are tabs for each participant in the family, the overall family info, and the group in which the family belongs. You can now even add new participants from Edit My Information.
Limit who receives an Event Notice Email When Group Leaders send an event notice email, they can now limit who receives that email. From within the Generate Email Notice page, click on "Click here to limit who will receive this event notice email.". A dialog will appear allowing you to select/de-select who will receive the email. (Note: Neat Trick: If you need to plan an event for which you do not want to include a group member, like for a surprise party, you can keep an event unpublished, but send an event notice to everyone but the person whom you wish to exclude. Although un-published events do not show up on the Member Site, direct links from Event Notices are still accessible to group members.)
Generate Email Event Notice from the main Leader Site Page Group Leaders can now get to the Generate Event Email Notice page from a specific "Generate and Event Notice Email" link on their main Leader Site page.
Participants now have gender Due to popular demand, participants (users) now have a gender, which is a required field. This will allow future abilities of filtering by gender (Girls Nights Out, etc).

October 8th, 2010

Group Leader Titles Organization Leaders can now define Group Leader titles. Leaders are no longer just "Leader".... they can be "Coach", or "Connection Champion", or "Great One". This information is then visible in the Group Leader Site for those leaders, and in the Member Site rolodex.
Organization/Group Collection Leaders can collect email addresses of leaders Organization Leaders at times need to send emails to specific leaders of specific roles in either their Group Collections or their Groups. They can now filter through specific Group or Group Collection leaders and then further filter by their role. Organization And Group Collection Leaders can access this from their Organization/Group Collection Leader Site by clicking on "Send an Email to specific Email Addresses?"
Organizations now have Group Collections In order to manage more complex Organizations, OnlineSignupSheet.com now has Group Collections. Group Collections belong to an Organization, have their own leaders, and contain Groups. This is a purely optional feature. This allows Organizations to have sub groups (area coordinators, or regional facilitators) who can manage groups in their area of responsibility.

September 1st, 2010

Birthday/Anniversary daily emails Group Members can now choose to receive daily emails containing the birthday or anniversary's of their fellow group members. This is an easy way to keep in contact with group members and make sure they feel special on their special day.
Automatic Event Email Notices After a long hiatus in the shop, Automatic Event Email Notices are back! When editing an event, Group Leaders can choose to have event notice emails sent a specified number of days before the event. Fire and forget email notices, now on OnlineSignupSheet.com.
Minor tweak to the Event Notice Email OnlineSignupSheet.com joins the new century with some small improvements to the Event Notice Email. Bolded headers, and better links (no more tinyurl links) will help make the event notice more readable.

August 19th, 2010

New Events default to starting and ending at noon To reduce the time it takes to create an event, all events default their start and end times to be noon. This should help Group Leaders get to the right time for the events.
Added FAQ and Tours to OnlineSignupSheet.com To help advertise OnlineSignupSheet.com, we've added an FAQ page and a set of tours from a leader and member perspective. This should help give everyone a better understanding of how to use OnlineSignupSheet.com.

August 7th, 2010

Quantity Signup Sheet Item We have frequently needed to collect from our small group a number of items which don't easily fit into a checkbox: $100 for service projects (for which we don't want one person signing up for all $100), or a specific number of canned goods for a canned good drive, or 100 forks for a BBQ. Instead of breaking those up to 20 items per checkbox, Group Leaders can now add a Quantity Signup Sheet Item to their Signup Sheet Templates. They define a quantity, an increment ($100 in $20 increments), and then group members can sign up for as many increments as they wish on the Member Site's signup sheet. This should make mass item signups easier to manage and for members to signup.

June 22nd, 2010

Publish/Un-publish Events Events used to show up for group members the second they were created. Now, Group Leaders can choose to publish or un-publish their events. Un-published Events are visible on the Leader Site for Group Leaders, but do not show up in Upcoming Events on the Member Site.
Invite new family with reduced details Due to popular demand, Group Leaders can invite families based on little more information than their email addresses. Families who accept the invite will still be expected to enter the required information which the Group Leaders did not add. When adding a new family to your group, click on "Or would you like to create a new reduced details Family (entering just family name and email)?".