To close an opportunity -

1. From the VMS Admin menu click on the ‘Opportunities’ link

2. On the Opportunity list page choose an opportunity for editing

3. On the Opportunity details page, the close link is at the bottom of the page.

On the Close Opportunity page the coordinator will have the chance to input time that they’ve worked on the opportunity and then click on the Close button.

Tip: Make certain you have selected autolog and input the desired number of hours to use for all volunteers and the coordinators working on the opportunity.

There are three general methods of logging volunteer time.

1. The Volunteer can log their own time.  Volunteers can log their time either in the ‘My Account’ area of EZCommunicator, or by clicking on the ‘log time’ link if they receive a thank you email from the opportunity coordinator.

2. The Opportunity Coordinator can log volunteer time from the opportunity details page.  In this scenario the coordinator clicks on the ‘log time‘ button and then goes through logging time individually for each volunteer that participated in the opportunity.

3. The system will log time for the volunteer and the opportunity coordinator automatically when an opportunity is closed, if the autolog option is selected. 

To access the matching function for an opportunity click on the ‘Vol Match’ button on the opportunity details page.

This will present you with a list of volunteers who have selected the type of opportunity you’ve created as one they would be willing to work.  If you need a bigger pool of volunteers to choose from you can select ‘All Types’ from the opportunity type menu and will then see all volunteers in your school.

Select one or more volunteers from those available in the lower list, and click on ‘Add’.  This will add them to the upper list.  This is your volunteer ‘select list’ which are the volunteers you will work with for this opportunity.

Next, you can send any or all of the volunteers on your select list an email letting them know that you need their help.

The emails you send are based on templates created and maintained by VMSAdmin users.  These templates include the following -

Notify – This email template contains the details of the opportunity created and a message to each volunteer selected to receive the email asking them if they would like to participate in the opportunity.

Match/Confirm - This email templates contains the details of the opportunity created and a message confirming that the volunteer has been matched to the opportunity, and is now expected to participate.  If the Auto Match option has been selected on the opportunity details page then when a volunteer accepts, after being notified about an opportunity, they are matched to the opportunity.

Thanks/Completed - This email template contains teh details of the opportunity created and a messaging informing the volunteer that the opportunity is completed and asking them to log their time spent participating.

After sending an email to a volunteer(s) the status of the volunteer will change to reflect the fact that they have been notified, confirmed or thanked.

Tip: There are other templates, but only the three above have any impact of the status of the volunteer or the status of the opportunity.  Each of these email templates has an embedded hyperlink.  They volunteer can also see the opportunities in their My Account area.

Tip: The Match Volunteers page does not require an opportunity coordinator to go through each and every step of communication with selected volunteers.  In the most simplistic usage, the coordinator could select the users and then close the opportunity and log their time, thus using EZVolunteer as a bookkeeping tool for opportunities.

The difference between Coordinators and Administrators is that Coordinators can only create opportunities for their school or location, while Administrators can create opportunities for any school or location.

To create an opportunity, you need to -

1. Click on the ‘Opportunities’ link

2. If you are an administrator  select the school where you want to create the opportunity.  If you are a Coordinator your school will already be pre-selected.

3. Click on Add New.  You’ll see a blank form.

4. Specify the Name, Type, Location and description of the opportunity.

5. If this is going to be the generic opportunity for this school, be sure to select the checkbox for this option.

6. Now, specify the schedule for the opportunity as either a single  or recurring opportunity.  Once you have specified the schedule you should Save the opportunity before going to the next step.

7. If you need, or have an opportunity coordinator for this opportunity then select them by clicking on the ‘Assign’ button in the Coordinator section.

8. Next, input the number of volunteers you will need for this opportunity and decide whether you want them to be automatically matched to the opportunity by checking the AutoMatch box, and whether you want their time to be AutoLogged when you close the opportunity.  You may override the default amount of time by typing a different number of hours to use when autologging the opportunity.

9. Once you have finished creating the opportunity you can either Match Volunteers to the opportunity by selecting the Vol Matching button or choose -

Save – This will save the information you have input but leave you on the opportunity details page.

Save & New - Will save the opportunity details and then open a new, blank opportunity.

Save & Close - Save the opportunity and return to the opportunity list.

Cancel - Not save any changes you have made and return to the opportunity list

Close Opp - Take you to the Close Opportunity page to log time, make comments and close the opportunity from further editing.

However, when creating an opportunity there are three general kinds that can be created -

1. Single occurrence opportunity - This is a one-time event that requires one or more volunteers.  This might be something like graduation or a holiday party.

2. Recurring opportunity - As the name implies this kind of opportunity will be repeated several times over an extended period of time.  Creating this kind of opportunity is useful if you havea a campus volunteer, such as a classroom, office or library assistance that shows up on a periodic basis to help.  A key assumption for recurring opportunities is that the you will match volunteers to the opportunity once and the same volunteers will be participating in ally instances of the opportunity.

3. Generic opportunity - One generic opportunity needs to be created for each school or location.  This is used by volunteers who help on an opportunity that has not been created and therefore cannot be matched to in the system.  The generic opportunity is important for capturing all hours worked by volunteers for report.

VMS administrator (VMSAdmin) – This role has an ‘enterprise’ view of all schools and all opportunities across the organization.  They also have permissions to configure the EZVolunteer system and perform background checks on volunteers in the system.

Volunteer Coordinators (VolCo) – This role is assigned to on-campus staff or volunteers responsible for organizing the volunteer process at a school.  VolCo’s can administer volunteers and opportunities at their school.  This gives organizations the ability to distribute the responsibilities for administration of the volunteer process to those individuals closest to the ‘action’.

Opportunity Coordinators (OppCo) – This role is similar to the Volunteer Coordinator and in many instances the two may be synonymous.  For schools where volunteer activity can be further broken into individual functions, such as band, athletics, etc., opportunity coordinators can be assigned to these specific functions.  Opportunity coordinators can administer volunteers at their campus, but only those opportunities they have created.

Opportunity Type Coordinators (OpTypeCo) - This role is responsible for issues related to a specific opportunity type, such as the ‘Mentor’ program within the district.  In the current release of EZVolunteer, this role is not widely used.

As a registered volunteer you can update your account details, choose opportunities you want to volunteer for – at any school on your profile; record the hours you have volunteered and sign-up to receive emails announcements about future school volunteer events.  Collectively, this information is your personal profile and you should not share your account details with anyone that you do not want to make changes.

To sign-in to your account, you must have completed either an online registration process or submitted a volunteer application to your school or district.  You should have created an account username and password, if you registered online, or your school coordinator would have created one for you and should have notified you after doing so.

Account Tab

Update Your Account & Contact Details

Once you have logged in to your volunteer account you will see several tabs you can select.  The first tab (left-most) is where you can update your account and contact details.  Specifically, you can modify your username, as long as it remains unique in our database.  Our system will not allow duplicate usernames.  You can also reset your account password.  If you modify your password it must be a minimum of 8 characters, contain only letters and numbers and is not case sensitive.

In addition to your account username and password you can also update your contact details on this first tab.  This includes your full name, home address, your primary and secondary email addresses, and if your school or district is using our text messaging or voice services you can also update your contact details for these notification channels.  If you change names, such as when you marry or divorce, you need to update your profile accordingly.  In general, your organization will send you volunteer information by email, but you may receive emergency or other announcements on different channels, as well.

Email – You can include a primary and secondary email address on your account.  Often this would mean using your work and personal email accounts.  We send any email messages to both, if present on your profile.  To receive email messages about volunteer events and school news you must have at least a primary address on your profile.

Phone – If your district uses our voice notification services you will see a section for phone contacts including a home, work and mobile number.  You change choose which number to receive emergency messages and which to receive non-emergency messages.  If you do not choose a number for these types of communications from your school the system will default to calling your home phone number.

Text/SMS – If your district uses our text notification services you will see a section where you can input a smartphone/pda number for receiving text messages.  You will need to select your wireless carrier from the dropdown menu, as well.

Volunteer Tab

Change Volunteer Information

On the volunteer tab you can update your volunteer information, which includes details on your profile beyond your basic account or contact details.  Here you can change your affiliation with the school district.  For example, if you work for the school district in addition to being a parent of a student you should select ‘Staff’ or ‘District Staff’ so the volunteer services department can use this information to save on running a background check.

On the volunteer information page you can also update your background and disclosure details.  If your marital status changes you will need to not only change your contact details on the account tab, but also include any previous names – such as maiden name or previously married names here.

Be sure to SAVE any changes you make on this page before going somewhere else on your profile or signing out.

Change Volunteer Preferences

On the volunteer tab you can also change your preferences.  This includes the schools where you volunteer and the opportunity types you want to volunteer for at your school(s). 

Every volunteer has a registered school on their profile.  In general, this is the central office or volunteer/partner center for your district, but could be the school where you initially registered to volunteer.  You typically do not need to change your registered school.  Your registered school should also appear on your list of preferred schools, as well.

You can choose the school or schools where you want to volunteer.  If you volunteer at the school where your child is enrolled then you will want to update this preferred school list when they change grades – for example from 8^th grade middle school to 9^th grade high school. 

IMPORTANT: The system will not automatically change these school preferences for you.

In addition to your school preferences you can also select the opportunity types you’re interested in.  This list is a district-wide list of volunteer activities.  Select all that you want, or are willing to assist with at any of your preferred schools.  If you are open to work on any activity choose all of the activities on the list and add them to your profile.

Finally, if there are specific activities at one or other of your schools that you volunteer for, such as a holiday carnival or book fair, type these details in the text box available at the bottom of the preferences page.  Your school coordinator can search for volunteers based on the text you type in this field and use that to contact all volunteers when a specific event is coming up.

Choose Available Volunteer Opportunities

If a school volunteer coordinator creates specific volunteer events in the system and they match your preferences then they will appear on the ‘Available Opportunities ‘ tab.  You can choose from the list of available opportunities, review the date/time and description details and then choose to volunteer for that specific event.  

Record Hours When You Volunteer

Once you have selected a specific opportunity to volunteer for it should appear on the ‘My Opportunities ‘page of your Volunteer tab.  You can select any of these opportunities and record your volunteer hours online. 

NOTE: If your school uses our volunteer kiosk and you sign-in using the kiosk at your school’s front office then your hours will automatically appear on your profile associated with the selected event.

If you have not selected a specific event at a school, you can still record your hours by using the school generic opportunity section of the ‘My Opportunities’ page.  Here you can select the school where you have volunteered and then choose the date and time when you volunteered.  You can add a comment to indicate the volunteer activity in which you were involved and the number of hours you volunteered on that day. 

Again, if your school uses our volunteer kiosk and you sign-in through the kiosk your hours will automatically appear on your profile.

District & Schools Tab

Aside from the Account and Volunteer tabs on your profile you will also see a tab for your district central office and may see tabs for your schools.  These additional tabs allow you, as a volunteer and user to select news and information that you want to receive in addition to announcements about volunteer events at your school.

Click on one of these tabs and choose any of the news and information groups you are interested in, and your district or school will send periodic updates by email.

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EZVolunteer gives your volunteers an easy way to choose the schools and volunteer activities in which they want to participate.  Volunteers can even sign-in and out at your campus front-office using our EZVolunteer Kiosk module to streamline the process of recording volunteer hours. 

Campus coordinators can use EZVolunteer to notify their school volunteers about upcoming activities and match volunteers to those activities to keep track of who is working with their students.

EZVolunteer Administrators and Campus Coordinators can report on volunteers, activities and hours at their school or district-wide to see who is signing up and who is volunteering.

EZVolunteer is a module of Relatrix Online Contact Center software.  That means EZVolunteer administrators can use the communications functions – like eNewsletters, voice and text notices, surveys & forms, calendars and much more, as part of how they work with volunteers.

On my last post we were looking for responses to a question about online content and dealing with different languages.  Specifically, we created a poll that asked, “How does your district deal with translation of online news and information (web, email, etc.) for English as a second language members of your community?”.

Well, we didn’t get a lot of action on our first poll, but the ones that we did receive provided some thoughtful comment on the question.  Seventy-five percent said they use Google Translate and twenty-five percent only offered online content in English.  All of those who used Google Translate either make manual adjustments from that auto-translation, or used manual translation when dealing with high priority documents and communications.  The respondents only offering online content in English were looking into options for online translation.

What we have learned at Relatrix regarding this issue is that no answer to online translation works for all schools or under all circumstances.  That’s why we provide our online contact center customers with a combination of methods – ranging from publishing and posting content in each target language manually, or linking messages to a web view that can be auto-translated.  

If translation is an important issue at your school or district, please find a moment in your busy day to take our poll.  The poll will remain open and active through the end of September, and we’ll share any additional interesting responses and comments we receive.  

Here’s the link – http://www.relatrix.com/polls/online-translation/

Have a great weekend.