Volgistics

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Help topic: Tracking Assignments

In most volunteer programs, volunteers perform a variety of tasks. And most volunteer leaders like to keep track of what task each volunteer performs. Tracking assignments is important if you want to use Volgistics to produce job rosters, print reports that show the number of hours served in each assignment, keep track of what task each volunteer performs for your organization, determine where volunteers are needed when scheduling or placing volunteers, etc.

Setting up Assignments properly is important to unlocking the power of Volgistics. This help topic provides an overview of how the Assignment file works, spells out the three options you have for organizing assignments in Volgistics, and helps you to determine how your agency organizes volunteer jobs.

Assignments

Assignment is the term Volgistics uses to describe the various tasks volunteers perform in your organization. Some people use the terms “job,” “work area,” “project,” “opportunity,” or “position” to mean the same thing.

Volgistics provides a variety of features for tracking your volunteer assignments, and coordinating volunteer efforts within them. For example, you can keep job descriptions; inventories of the skills or certifications required to serve in the assignment; lists of qualified, interested, and assigned volunteers; volunteer schedules; and more.

How many of these assignment tracking capabilities you use may depend on the needs of your organization. At the very least you should plan on entering the name of each assignment.

Sites & Places

In addition to tracking information about volunteer assignments, Volgistics gives you ways to arrange assignments into organizational groups, or locations, if you need to.

Volgistics provides two organizational features called Sites and Places to help you do this. Exactly what ‘Sites’ and ‘Places’ will represent in your organization is something you can choose, depending on your needs. You may choose to use only ‘Places,’ you may choose to use both ‘Sites,’ and ‘Places,’ or you may not need to use either. The balance of this help topic explains more, and can help you choose what’s best for you.

Places

If your volunteer assignments occur at more than one location, or if your organization has multiple internal departments or divisions, you may want to arrange your volunteer assignments accordingly. Volgistics lets you define multiple ‘Places’ for this purpose. Once you define a Place you can begin adding volunteer assignments ‘under’ it. Here’s a simple organizational chart that shows an example of a volunteer program with two places, A and B. In this example Place A and Place B each has three assignments, A, B, and C.

Although Places might be different physical locations (such as branch locations, parks, counties, states, provinces), they don’t have to be. They can also be organizational units such as departments or agencies.

You can create the same assignments under different Places, different assignments under different Places, or any combination of the two.

Why organize assignments this way?

It makes it easier to identify or locate assignment records

You can send email to (or print reports for) all of the volunteers who have an assignment at a specific Place.

You can sort some volunteer, service, and schedule reports according to Place

You can let visitors to your web site search for volunteer opportunities by Place

These are some examples of how organizations might arrange their volunteer assignments into Places:

A Parks department creates a Place for each park, and then organizes its assignments by park. Visitors to the department’s web site can search for an assignment by park.

A Hospital creates a Place for each internal department, and then organizes assignments by department. The hospital can print volunteer service reports by department.

A performing arts center creates a Place for each venue, and then organizes assignments by Venue. The center can print a volunteer schedule for each venue.

A political campaign creates a Place for each district, and then organizes assignments by district. They can send email announcements to volunteers according to the district they serve.

Sites

While tracking assignments according to Place may be adequate for many volunteer programs, others may need an additional level of organization. This is known as the Site in Volgistics. Sites provide one higher level of organization, as illustrated in this organizational chart:

If the Places that have your volunteer assignments occur at more than one location, in different agencies, or if they are coordinated by individual volunteer leaders, consider using ‘Sites.”

You can create the same Places under different Sites, different places under different Sites, or any combination of the two.

Why organize places this way?

It makes it easier to identify or locate assignment records

You can send email to (or print reports for) all of the volunteers who have an assignment at a specific Site.

You can sort some volunteer, service, and schedule reports according to Site.

You can let visitors to your web site search for volunteer opportunities by Site.

You can use the site level access feature so that some of your system operators only see the volunteers assigned to a specific site.

These are some examples of how organizations might arrange their volunteer assignments into Sites and Places:

A city government creates a Site for each city department, and a Place for each location where assignments occur within each department. For example, the Parks department creates a Place for each park, and then organizes its assignments by park. Visitors to the city’s web site can search for an assignment by department, as well as location. Volgistics system operators in each department see just the volunteers assigned to their department.

A health care network creates a Site for each hospital in its network. Each of these hospitals creates a Place for each of their internal departments, and then organizes assignments by department. The health care network can print volunteer service reports by Hospital (and each hospital’s departments). The system operators at each hospital see just the volunteers assigned to their hospital.

A volunteer center creates a Site for each agency that has volunteer assignments. Within each agency they create Places for the various programs or departments where assignments occur. Visitors to the volunteer center’s web site can search for assignments by Agency, and then program. The volunteer center can report the number of volunteers referred to each Agency.

A convention and visitor’s bureau creates a Site for each event they coordinate. Within each event they create Places for the various activities associate with the event, and within each activity they list the assignments performed. The bureau can produce volunteer schedules by event, activity, or individual assignment; and they can easily communicate throughout the year with the volunteers associated with individual events.

Do you need Sites or Places?

What if your organization does not have sites and/or places? You do not have to create site and place records if they do not apply to your organizational structure.

In very simple volunteer programs there’s often no need to organize volunteer assignments any further than a single list. For example, a small animal adoption center with a single location might have just three or four volunteer assignments, like these:

Veterinarian
Adoption counselor
Animal care
Fund raiser

In this kind of organization there is probably no need to use the Site and Place features. That’s OK, there’s still plenty to be gained by tracking just the assignments.

Understand your organization first

If your organization has more than a few dozen volunteers or assignments, multiple locations, or if it encompasses other agencies, understanding the different ways of organizing volunteer assignments is very important to making the most of Volgistics and working efficiently with your information. Also, since you should organize your volunteer database to reflect or compliment the actual structure of your organization, you need to understand – or define – your organization’s structure before you setup your assignments in Volgistics.

Before continuing you should decide

1. If you will initially track Assignments only; Places and Assignments; or Sites, Places, and Assignments. Start with what you need now, you can always grow to another level later.

2. If you want to track Places, you should have an initial list of Places, and which assignments will go under each place. You can always add more places and assignments later.

3. If you want to track Sites, you should have an initial list of what your sites are, and which Places will go under each site. You can always add more sites later.

How Assignments appear in Volgistics

To view the volunteer Assignments in your Volgistics database, choose Assignments from the menu. If you’re just getting started, your Assignments list will look something like this:

By default, every new Volgistics system includes one initial Site, titled with your organization’s name, and one initial Place called ‘Volunteer Services.’ If you choose not to track Places or Sites in your database, simply leave these default entries as they are, and click “Add a new assignment” to begin adding assignment records.

If you choose to track Places in your database, you can re-name the default Place record to suit your needs. You can create additional Place records by clicking the “Add a new Place” link. To add new Assignment to a particular Place, click the “Add a new assignment” link that appears beneath the name of the Place.

If you choose to track Sites in your database, you can re-name the default Site record to suit your needs. To add new Site records click the Add a new site button. To add a new Place record to a particular Site, click the “Add a new place” link that appears beneath the name of the Site.

Volgistics lists the assignments you enter alphabetically, as shown here:

If you track Places in your database, the Assignments list shows each of your Places, sorted alphabetically. The list of Assignments at each Place appears indented, beneath the Place name. The following illustration shows an organization that has two Places, “Direct services” and “Support services,” with several assignments under each Place:

If you track Sites in your database, the Assignment list shows each of your Sites, sorted alphabetically. The list of Places at each Site appears indented, beneath the Site name. The following illustration shows an organization with two Sites, “Northside” and “Southside:”

Step-by-step

You can find step-by-step instructions on how to perform the tasks discussed in this help topic in these locations:

Help Topic 2215 - Add an Assignment
Help Topic 2216 - Add a Place
Help Topic 2217 - Add a Site
Help Topic 2218 - Reorganize Sites, Places, or Assignments

Printable view

Help topic 2099
Added or revised 05-07-2007