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Coordinator Overview

In addition to tracking volunteers and Assignments, Volgistics also includes features for tracking the people who supervise or manage each Assignment, and tools these people can use to perform certain tasks without having to be Volgistics System Operators themselves. Volgistics calls the people who supervise or manage volunteers at the Assignment level Coordinators.

Coordinators are typically paid or volunteer staff with responsibility for coordinating or supervising volunteers in a specific Assignment. Here are some examples:

  • At an animal shelter, volunteer team leaders coordinate the schedules for all of the volunteers in each of the shelter's Assignments. If a volunteer cannot serve as scheduled, they contact their team leader who handles the scheduling of a substitute. In this example, these team leaders could be Volgistics Coordinators.
  • In a hospital, a hospital employee in each department is given responsibility for supervising the volunteers who serve in their department. In this example, these hospital staff could be Volgistics Coordinators.
  • A Retired Senior Volunteer Program identifies a person at each different organization where their volunteers serve as their contact at that organization. In this example, these contact people could be Volgistics Coordinators.
  • A human service agency appoints a chairperson for each volunteer Assignment. These chairpersons train and coordinate the activities of the volunteers in their designated Assignment. In this example, these chairpersons could be Volgistics Coordinators.

This help topic covers more about how to create Coordinator records, and explains some of the things Coordinators can do. Keep in mind that one important difference between Coordinators and System Operators is that Coordinators access the system through the VicNet module, whereas System Operators login at www.volgistics.com. You can learn more about how to configure what Coordinators can do in VicNet, plus how to give them access to VicNet, in the Get Started With Coordinators help topic.

The Coordinator Record

As with volunteers, each Coordinator's information is stored in their own record. You get to your Coordinator records by choosing Coordinators from the menu. You will see a list of all Coordinators currently in your account. If you want to limit the list to just the Coordinators whose last name begins with a certain letter, click that letter at the top of the page. You can return to the list of all Coordinators by clicking the All link.

To start a new Coordinator record, click the New coordinator button at the bottom of the page. Enter at least a last and first name, and an email address, and then click the Save button. You can return to the record later to add more information.

The following tabs make up the Coordinator record: Coordinator tab, Assignments tab, Volunteers tab, Schedule tab and Vic tab. Each is explained below.

Note

Service, including hours or any other Service Measure used by the organization, cannot be tracked for Coordinators. If an organization wants to track a Coordinator's hours or other service information, they must create a separate volunteer record for them (in addition to the Coordinator record). See the Shared Email Addresses help topic to learn how VicNet works for individuals who are both a Coordinator and a volunteer when the same email address is used for both records.

Coordinator tab

The Coordinator tab contains Name, Address, and Email (or Email and Text) Preferences boxes. It is used to store Coordinator contact information and track which types of messages they will receive.

Assignments tab

The Assignments tab lists the names of Assignments the Coordinator is responsible for managing or coordinating. It includes an Add box to add new Assignments to the Coordinator's record.

Volunteers tab

The Volunteers tab in the Coordinator record lists all volunteers who have one or more of the Coordinator's Assignments. A System Operator can view the list of only volunteers with the Role of Assigned in the Coordinator's Assignments, or volunteers with any Roles and Statuses they specify. From this tab, a System Operator can tag a Coordinator's volunteers, send a mass message to all of them, or change their Roles in the Coordinator's Assignments. The Volunteers tab on the Coordinator record works similarly to the Volunteers tab on an Assignment record. You can learn more in the View Volunteers for an Assignment help topic.

Schedule tab

The Schedule tab displays the schedule for volunteers assigned to the Coordinator's Assignments. A System Operator can schedule a Coordinator's volunteers from this tab.

Vic tab

The Coordinator's Vic tab is where System Operators manage the Coordinator's access to VicNet. Coordinators always have access to VicNet unless you check the Disabled checkbox on this tab.

In addition, a temporary VicNet password can be set for the Coordinator, or a password link can be sent to the Coordinator. You can learn more about this tab in the Vic Tab help topic.

Protect Volunteer Profiles with Strong Passwords!

Volgistics takes the security of your data very seriously and follows industry best practices to make sure the system is safe. However, industry experts agree that the greatest threat to security is often the human factor presented by using easy-to-guess passwords. You can help prevent this by having volunteers use passwords that meet these standards:

  1. Are not simply a word (or string of words) found in the dictionary.
  2. Contain upper and lower case letters.
  3. Contain numbers as well as letters.
  4. Contain symbols (such as $, &, or *) as well as letters.
  5. Are adequately long. Many feel that passwords should be 14 characters or longer to be secure.
  6. Are unique to Volgistics. You should not use the password you create for accessing Volgistics at any other website.

You can set VicNet password strength requirements on the VicNet Ground Rules page.

Connecting Coordinators and Assignments

In Volgistics, Coordinators and volunteers are not assigned to one another directly--they are connected only when they share the same Assignment(s).

Coordinators may have a single Assignment, multiple Assignments, or all of the Assignments at a given Site or Place.

Take the following steps to add an Assignment, Site, or Place to a Coordinator's Assignments tab:

  1. Choose Coordinators from the menu.
  2. Click on the name of the Coordinator for whom you would like to add an Assignment. You can click the letter of the Coordinator's last name to limit the list to a smaller group.
  3. Go to the Assignments tab.
  4. Locate the Add box. In the Assignment dropdown field, select an individual Assignment name, or the name of a Place or Site. If a Place or Site name is selected, the Coordinator will be associated with each Assignment that falls under the chosen Place or Site.
  5. In addition to the Assignment field, the Add box on the Assignments tab contains any Coordinator relationship fields used by the organization. Enter any appropriate information for these fields.
  6. Click the Save button.

Once an Assignment (or Site or Place) has been added to a Coordinator's Assignments tab, all volunteers who have this Assignment (or any Assignment under this Site or Place) on their Service tab become this Coordinator's volunteers. There is more information in the Assignment Roles help topic.

What Coordinators Can Do

Because a Coordinator's role is typically more limited than the role of an organization's overall volunteer leader, it usually is not necessary or desirable for an organization to make each of their Coordinators a System Operator in Volgistics. It would often not be practical to train each Coordinator in the whole Volgistics system, and it's often not desirable for these people to have as much access to Volgistics as a System Operator might.

Instead, Volgistics provides a way for Coordinators to access the system through the VicNet portal. The VicNet portal provides Coordinators with a simplified interface; access only to the volunteers who have the Coordinator's Assignment (or Assignments); and features for performing the most common supervisory tasks only (such as scheduling or updating contact information). Coordinators can access VicNet from any internet connected computer--in their office, home, or even on the road. All that is required is an Internet connection.

Unlike System Operators, the number of Coordinators you add does not affect your account's Service Level. (Each Volgistics System Operator you add to your account after the first two increases your service level and thus your service fees; however, you can add as many Coordinators as you need without increasing your account's Service Level). For this reason, Coordinators do not have access to all the same tools as System Operators.

One way to get an idea of what Coordinators can, and cannot, do is to review the help topic showing Coordinators how to use VicNet. You can find that help topic here: Coordinator Guide for VicNet.

You can find additional help with configuring your account to control what Coordinators can see, and how to get login information out to new Coordinators, in the Get Started With Coordinators help topic.

Communication for Coordinators

There is not a way for Coordinators to send messages to their volunteers, or to other Coordinators and System Operators through the system. However, a System Operator can send email, VicMail, and/or text messages to a Coordinator's volunteers on behalf of the Coordinator. The Send a Message to All of a Coordinator's Volunteers help topic shows how to do this.

System Operators can also send custom messages to a single Coordinator or to all Coordinators. Messages can be sent by email, VicMail or text message. In order to send text messages, your account must enable text messaging and the Coordinator must opt-in to receive text messages.

Coordinators can also receive schedule reminder messages to show them the coverage for upcoming assignments. These can be sent by email or text depending on if the Coordinator has opted-in for texting and their message preferences. You can find information on setting up daily schedule reminder messages for Coordinators in Daily Coordinator Reminder Settings. For monthly reminders, please see Monthly & On-Demand Coordinators Reminders Setup Page.

Coordinators can also receive self-scheduling alerts to let them know when a volunteer has added and/or removed themselves from the schedule for an assignment. To set this up, go to the Rules tab of the Coordinator's assignment(s). You can find more information on this in the Self-scheduling alerts section of the Schedule Qualifications and Rules help topic.