Volunteer Software

People Helping People

Volunteer Profile Screen v.6.0

Overview

Your first view of the Volunteers section as of version 6.0 in the Reporter is the Profile screen. Here you add, edit and manage volunteer records. You can also add Placements and Hours from tabs in the Volunteer section. Buttons on the Comments tab when editing facilitate adding the date and moving to the top or bottom of the text.

The screen grabs here show a compressed screen, but you may prefer extending the length of the screen to see more information at a glance. Rather than going from tab to tab you can scroll to see all the volunteer’s personal information on a single page.

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As in earlier versions of the Reporter, the Print button in the Volunteer section lets you run any of the listed reports specific to the currently chosen volunteer without using a filter. In addition, the Volunteer Profile report here provides just this volunteer’s record.

Types of Volunteers Fields

File menu | Field Lists > | Volunteer Fields

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Types of Volunteer Fields

As you view down the volunteer Profile page and Volunteer Fields setting screen, you find different kinds of fields, each type formatted specific to different kinds of data. You can change the labels of these fields. Or you can set them to hide or display. For some of these you may want to submit a Default Value.

Default Profile Text and Number Fields

The basic profile information fields that come preinstalled with the Reporter provide text, numbers and phone number formatted fields into which you type data. These are self explanatory, like F or M for Sex. The Reporter computes the Age field and Years of Service so that these fields are not editable.

Customize the Volunteer Fields:

  • Close Volunteers
  • Click on the File menu
  • Click on Field Lists >
  • Click on Volunteer Fields

Feel free to edit the fields that display a white background. Fields with a colored background appear to accept text but changes there will not save.

The column headings in the Volunteer Fields screen are Order – Field – Displayed Name – Use? – Default Value – divider After – Show Count. (Find more about Field Lists setup.)

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An example of a default value for the City and State fields:

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Custom Text and Number Fields

Ten Text Fields accommodate alphaneumeric data, that is, letters and numbers. Text fields accommodate 40 characters. Number fields accommodate six whole numbers and two decimal places.

Profile check boxes – Yes/No fields.

The Reporter has always included some check box fields like Wants Reimbursement, Needs Timesheet, but now you can modify the field label, as long as the meaning remains. Be wary of changing a label in existing data because it may be in use on some records. One check box, Group of Volunteers, for instance, you should not rename, or if you must, at least keep the meaning. This box, when checked, designates multiple volunteers who are volunteering as a single entity, like a Girl Scoots Troup.

Standard check box fields in the Volunteer Fields screen:

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Custom check boxes – Yes/No fields

Checkbox fields allow only a check or a blank which are equivalent to Yes and No in reports and filters.

Date code fields

Date fields can be labeled as desired. They always maintain a date format for the data. The Windows Formats settings in Region and Language determine the basic format of dates.

Date fields on the Volunteer Fields screen. Note that Date Field 7 is not used so it is left unchecked and unlabeled:

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Corresponding Date fields on the Volunteer Profile screen. Note that Date Field 7 does not display:

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Code Fields: Single choice drop-down fields

Standard volunteer profile fields such as Termination Cause and Ethnicity allow only one choice to be selected. You can add or remove values. Code Fields 1-20 function the same, enabling a list of choices from which you can pick one.

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To add a value to a Code Field:
(1) Select the code field
(2) Label it in Displayed Name column
(3) Click the Edit List button
(4) Click the Add button
(5) Type the value and click OK.

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List code fields

List code fields allow selection of multiple values. To select them, click Edit Volunteer. Navigate to see any values that are out of view by using the scroll bar or the tiny up and down arrows. Click on one value at a time to designate it with the double arrow to its left. After you click OK to close the Edit Volunteer screen, you will see only the selected values in the field, not the choices you did not choose. And now the double arrows no longer display. Fields with no values selected remain blank until you click the Edit Volunteer button.

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Show Count for things like Skills and Awards indicates how many of those values in a list you can see without scrolling. If a volunteer has more items selected than the number designated in Fields Lists you have to scroll to see the rest.

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Corresponding Show Count varied sizes of scrollable fields in the Volunteer Profile screen:

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Pre-existing List code fields

The Reporter provides legacy list code fields which allow selection of multiple values. These are Skills, Groups, Awards and Available Times.

List with date code fields

List code fields allow selection of multiple values. The List with Date fields also accomodate recording the date of the item.

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Address Fields

First, enable Multiple Addresses fields by checking its box on the Volunteer Fields screen. On theShow Count column, set the number to 3 or more alternate address fields to display.

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Then, open the Volunteer Profile screen. Cick Edit Volunteer and then the Edit button next to the address field. A handy Edit Address form lets you type in the data. The Address which has the dot selected will be the address drawn for labels and all default address displays on reports. To switch to the vacation address, for instance, just click the dot next to it.

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The Contact 1, 2, & 3 fields provide an Edit Contact form for three contacts. Click Edit Volunteer and then the Edit button. Use the Description field to describe the contact, e.g., Emergency, Beneficiary, Spouse, etc.

Adjust the Show Count for the number of Contact fields you want to display.

Web Assistant and Touch-Screen Assistant Fields

These fields interact with the same data in the Web Assistant and Touch-Screen Assistant modules so they should not be edited. You can choose not to show them by unchecking the Use? column if you do not use those modules.

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Added and Revised fields

You cannot edit these fields. The Reporter automatically date stamps them when a record is added or edited. You can choose not to show them by unchecking the Use? column, but they can be handy references.

How to customize the Volunteer Fields

To change a field name, highlight over an existing label in the Displayed Name column, with its white background, and type the desired label.

Volunteer Reports from the Print Button

The Print button at the bottom of the Volunteer Profile screen enables reports specific to just the one volunteer whose record you are viewing.

Notice that you access the Volunteer Match report from this menu in versin 6.0 instead of from the Match button in prior versions.

Further Information

Find more about what the columns do in Field Lists setup.

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