It can happen (hopefully not often!) that you think check-in should be active, and it isn't. You see the dreaded 

that no one wants to see on a Sunday morning!

Scheduling in Rock works reliably. When everything is set up correctly, it's not finicky—it just works. Problems are usually caused by a configuration problem, or rarely, a "time" problem.

Here's a step-by step procedure to figure out why it's not working. We're going to :

• Check our check-in configuration schedule grid to make sure it's correct
• Check our server and Rock time
• Check a schedule to make sure that it's active

Before we begin, one tool to keep in your back pocket: clearing the Rock cache can never hurt. I didn't ever see it fix a problem in my testing for this article, but you never know. Keep it in mind.

Here we go:

Let's look at the schedule in our check-in configuration (this is probably the most likely spot for a problem, especially if you're new to Rock and just getting it configured). Open your desired check-in configuration (Weekly Service Area, for example).

"Scheduled Times" lists any schedule that is active for this configuration. Pay attention if your expected schedule is missing. It's a clue.

Click "Schedule":

This is where your group/location combinations are tied to a schedule. Make sure the appropriate boxes are checked to apply your schedule to the correct groups and locations. Note: deleting a schedule or changing a location will "unschedule" groups and locations. Even experienced users sometimes make this mistake and get confused (ask me how I know!).

If everything looks good here, let's check the current time.

Assuming you're a Rock admin, hover at the bottom of the screen and click on the "i" button.

Click on "Diagnostics"

The "System Date Time" and "Rock Time" should both be your current local time. If the system time is off, your server time zone is likely incorrect (or your server time is wrong for some reason). This will likely mean a call to your hosting service if you're hosted externally (and don't have the ability to log onto your server remotely). If Rock Time is incorrect, it's likely that your time zone setting in Rock is wrong (or, if it's correct, the time from your hosting service is incorrect) and the schedule will seem to have lost its mind. Check the time zone here:

We've made sure our server and Rock time are correct, and now we're going to look at a schedule to make sure it should be active. Choose the schedule you expect to be active, and make sure the "Next Occurrence" makes sense. Even if you're in the middle of the scheduled time, it should say that the next occurrence is "now". Make sure the check-in start and stop times are as expected.

Click "Edit", then click the "Preview bubble".

The DTSTAMP should be the exact current time in UTC (Universal Coordinated Time). The example DTSTAMP date and time is July 22, 2018 at 11:42:03 UTC. The times in DTSTART and DTEND are, as you'd guess, the start and end times of the event (in local time). This is exactly what Rock is looking at: does the current UTC time (corrected to local time) fall between the start and end times, adjusted for the "time before start"/"time after start" values? If yes, this schedule is active. If not, you need to figure out why. Remember, if the DTSTAMP time is wrong you have a server or Rock time problem; if it's correct you need to make sure that the schedule times are correct, and that the current time lies between them.

If these things are correct (Rock knows what time it is, you have groups and locations tied to a schedule, and that schedule is active) check-in should work. Double check your kiosk settings (especially take care that you're selecting check-in areas that have an active schedule).

If you still have problems, there's always someone around on the Slack #check-in channel. Don't hesitate to ask for help!