How can I get a request to not display on the active requests page?

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There are a three options to use to get a request off the active list. The best one depends on what your motive is for removing it.

Option 1: Edit the request and make it ‘private’ by checking the PRIVATE box below the description. This would be the best answer if you already have a partner matched to the request and it is an ongoing activity, say through the end of the semester or school year.

Option 2: Edit the request and set the expiration date to an historical date when the activity/event took place. This would be best if it was a back-to-school or already completed partner engagement.

Option 3: Edit the request and choose OUTCOMES and then ‘Close’ the request.

In all cases the request will no longer appear on the active list (or in any email you send). In the case of #1 and #2 you will still be able to edit and record outcomes.

In #1 the request will move on your staff account page from the PUBLIC to the PRIVATE requests section. In #2 the request will appear in the EXPIRED section. In #3 the request will appear in the CLOSED section and can still be viewed, but no longer edited.

 

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How do I log donations or volunteer time for my request?

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After you create a request you can log the results of the request including donations of material items or dollars and volunteer hours by opening the request and clicking the Outcomes button.

From the Outcomes page you can choose which registered partners worked with your school to meet your resource requests. If you were not able to match a partner to request, then choose one of options that best describe your situation.

Assuming you did match your request with a partner or partners, you can the input details about the Donations or Volunteer Hours you received by clicking the Details link next to those outcomes.

When you finish inputting the details of Donations add an entry for each donation from each partner and remember to Save your data before you Close the donation details form.

For Volunteer Hours input the number of volunteers and total hours for each partner. Remember to Save before you Close and return to the Outcomes page.

Note: You cannot choose a partner on the Donations or Volunteer Hours details page if you did not select them as a partner for this request first.

You can also record the number of students who were involved and benefited from this request and the number of staff who received direct benefit from the partner(s) involved.

When you finish recording your outcomes you can either Save your request, if you think you may need to add more outcomes at a later date, or Close your request, meaning you are finished recording any outcomes. Before you Close a request we ask you to rate your experience working with the partner(s) involved and provide comments that will help your partner program administrators improve the program over time.

 

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How do I create a request?

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To create a request as a school staff member you will need to first sign-in to your EZPartner account and the follow these steps –

  1. Click on Staff  > Staff Requests
  2. Choose Create New Request
  3. Type the Name of your request. This should be as self-explanatory as possible. (e.g. – Internships For Seniors)
  4. Choose the Resource Category that best defines your request.
  5. Select an Expiration Date. This can be the date of the event or the date when you will stop making the resource available, or the end the school year, if you have an ongoing request. It can also be a date in the past if you are only planning to record outcomes because you already matched your request.
  6. Type a Description of no more than 1,000 characters about your request. You should NOT include your contact details as the system will take care of sharing these with other registered members of your community portal.
  7.  Click Save to return to your Request page.
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Managing School Requests for EZPartner School Staff

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You can use EZPartner to create requests for resources from your school partners or any partner involved in the Partners In Education program. You can (and should) also use the system to record donations and other resources contributed to your school by one or more partners.

 

This data is vital to the district’s efforts to track, recognize and recruit partners that participate in the Partners In Education program.

 

The first step in managing school requests is to create a request for your school regarding a specific need, event or program. There are several points to consider before creating a request, including –

 

1.Do I already know the partner I’m working with or am I looking for help from any registered partner?

If you already have commitment from a partner, then you do not need to spend as much time crafting the details of your request. The focus of your data input should be in recording the outcomes (donations, volunteer hours, etc.). Remember that when you match a partner to your request they can see and record outcomes from their account also.

 

2.Has my request already been fulfilled, or does it represent a future or ongoing need?

Much like already having a partner selected, if you have fulfilled your request need then you will still need to have a request to apply it to, but you can focus less on writing a great description and more on recording results.

 

3.How should I categorize the request in terms of the resource(s) I need?

Selecting the right resource category can be important, especially if your Partners In Education office is trying to focus partners on more academically or career oriented requests. It is also important to partners who may be looking to help with specific types of resource needs.

 

4.Can I describe the request in simple enough terms that I can type into the description or does it include a detailed document or external web resource to which I need to link?

If you will need a long description, or if you have an external site, like donorschoose.org that you need to link to as part of your request, the description you create can include a link to a file you upload to the EZPartner servers or a URL to a separate site. Be aware that you will still need to record outcomes in EZPartner so your Partners In Education office can report the details for your school.

 

Where do I find my existing requests and add new requests?

 

How do I add a new request?

From your Request List page click the ‘Add New Request’ button near the top of the page. This will open a new page where you can input the details of your request. Here are a few pointers about filling out your request –

  1. NAME – This name should be short (less than 40 characters) and self-explanatory. You do not need to put your name or school name here. Instead focus on your specific resource need.
  2. RESOURCE CATEGORY – This is your best effort to define how your request fits into the overall structure of the database and how partners will search for your request. If you are unsure of the definitions of your resource category list contact your district Partners In Ed coordinator.
  3. EXPIRATION – This is the date when your request will no longer appear on the website for partners to search. If this request is related to a particular event then the date of the event should be your expiration date. If it is a request that runs all year, then put the last day of school as your expiration date.
  4. DESCRIPTION – This should tell the partner clearly what you are seeking, but should not include your name or contact information, as the system takes care of displaying that information from your record to a registered partner. You can include links to external web pages and pictures you upload.

How do I publicize my school requests?

There are several methods for publicizing your school requests.

 

First, the EZPartner system will display all Active Requests on a section of its website, which is linked to from your district website. Partners can view requests there and filter by school, by resource category and expiration date.

 

Second, when you create a request, if you have partners that are working with your school, whenever you create a request you can notify them by choosing the ‘Notify…’ option at the bottom of the page. This will display a list of partner contacts and you can choose them all or specific partners to receive the details of your request.

 

Third, you can add a link to your school’s request on your website or include it in your school Newsletter. To do this simply go to the Active Requests page, choose your school from the school list and filter the requests. Then copy and paste the URL for that filtered page. The link will display all active requests for just your school.

 

Finally, your district Partners In Education coordinator can use the EZPartner newsletter module to create lists of requests and send them to the entire partner community.

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Recording Outcomes For Requests & Offers for EZPartner School Staff

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Recording outcomes can be done by either the school or the partner, after the two parties are matched with each other on a request or offer. If you are recording the outcomes for your requests then simply click the request on your Requests page and then click the Outcomes button.

 

In Section 2 of the Outcomes page you will click the DETAILS link for either Students, Staff, Volunteers or Donations to get a pop-up window like the one below. In that window follow these steps –

  1. Select the date when the partner provided you with the assistance you are recording. This could be the day they dropped off supplies are your school, or the date you are logging the outcome.
  2. Choose the partner for whom you are recording this outcome. If you have multiple partners working with you on a specific request you will need to record different outcomes for each partner so they are ‘recognized’ in the database for the assistance they provided.
  3. Record and save the outcome in terms of dollars, hours, staff or students involved (depending on which outcome you chose.)
  4. Repeat as many times as necessary and when finished press the CLOSE button.

 

You can return as many times as you need to record outcomes for a request until you close the request permanently, which closes the books on your outcomes for that request.

 

 

When you match a partner to your request, or when a partner matches your school to an offer, they (or you) can also log outcomes. This is done on the ‘Matched Offers’ (for Partners) or ‘Matched Requests’ (for Staff) page on your EZPartner account.

 

This page displays all offers any partner has matched to your school. You can see who the partner contact is and choose any outcome (Students, Staff, Volunteers, Donations) for that offer, and log outcomes for your school. This makes it easy for you and the partners you work with to collaborate on activities and more easily keep track of outcomes.

 

 

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Working With Partners On Requests for EZPartner School Staff

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There are three basic steps in working with a partner or partners to help meet your school resource needs.

 

The first step is awareness. You need to make the partner or partners aware of your needs. EZPartner helps by setting up a request that clearly defines your need. You can create an active request that appears on the EZPartner website and can be linked to from your school website. You can also notify registered partners that are linked to your school on their profile when you create your request. Your Partners In Ed office can send periodic email blasts of school requests to the partner community to encourage them to take the next step and contact you.

 

The second step is matching the partner(s) to your request. This is likely to involve some offline communications with the partner contact, either by phone, email or in-person.

 

Once you know a partner is going to assist on a request EZPartner lets you match the partner(s) that commit to working with you as the first step in recording outcomes. To match a partner to your request follow these steps –

  1. Sign-in to your EZPartner account
  2. Navigate to Staff > Requests
  3. Click on the name of a request you want to match to a partner
  4. Choose the Outcomes button
  5. From the list of all your district’s partners choose the one(s) that will be working with you

 

Matching partners to your request will also cause your request to display in the partner’s account when they sign-in. This means they can see who the contact is at your school, and can see the outcomes you have recorded and record outcomes on their own behalf.

 

The final step is recording outcomes. This can be in the form of help with individual students, staff assistance or recognition, volunteer time or donations. To do any of these you will need to navigate to the Outcomes page for your request and then based on the resources your partner(s) contributed use the DETAILS button.

 

Outcome categories include –

Students – This is the number of students that directly benefited from the partner’s contribution. This could be a single student intern; a classroom field trip to a visit; or a guest speaker for an entire grade or school.

Staff – This outcome details the number of staff that directly benefited and the number of hours involved. This allows you to track any professional development time spent by your staff in working with a partner. You can also use this to track staff appreciation events contributed by partners.

Volunteers – You can track partners’ employees who volunteer at your school. This is measured as number of volunteers and total hours of volunteer time. For example, if five employees came to your school for three hours to help judge a competition you would record the outcome as 5 volunteers and 15 hours.

Donations – Any financial or in-kind donations made by a partner can be recorded in terms of their whole dollar value.

A Tip About Creating and Managing Requests

You should think of a request in one of two ways. It is either an ‘Ask’ for assistance to an individual partner or the district’s partner community, or it is a record of what you received from partners (whether you had to Ask or not.)

 

That means you should consider creating enough offers to record periodic ‘walk-in’ or unsolicited contributions at the beginning of the school year and then create new requests when you need to Ask for assistance.

 

For example, you could make a request named ‘Unsolicited Donations’ at the start of the school year; set the expiration date to the end of the school year; set the request as PRIVATE (so it won’t appear in the active requests list), and then simply match partners to the request and record outcomes anytime the make a donation of money or in-kind materials.

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EZPartner Staff Guidebook

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This document is a help guide for school staff who are responsible for entering and tracking resource requests, working with their school partners in meeting those requests and recording the outcomes of their resource requests. It should be used in combination with Staff Introductory Training that should be scheduled with your district Partners In Education coordinator.

[embeddoc url=”https://www.relatrix.com/wp-content/uploads/supportdocs/EZPartner-Staff-Guidebook.pdf” download=”all”]

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