Merit Hour (Travel Time) Set Up¶
If your organization has determined it wants to use merit hours to add travel time to volunteer service entries, the first step will be to determine how you will handle the additional time given. Extra time can be given with a standard amount (such as 30 minutes) for all volunteers, or you can calculate up to six (6) zones and give extra time based on which zone the volunteer lives in.
For example, you may determine you will give volunteers 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 or 90 minutes extra depending on how far away they live from your facility. If you will be giving time based on the zone a volunteer lives in, create up to six (6) Flags for the zones. Then place the appropriate Flag on the volunteer's record based on how long it will take them to travel to your facility. Note that you can add Flags to multiple volunteer records at once by using the Tags feature.
After you have decided how your organization will give travel time, you will need to enable merit hours if you are currently not using the merit hours feature. To do this:
- Choose Setup from the menu.
- Expand Service Tracking.
- Select Merit Hours.
- Check the box for Use merit hours.
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Click the Save button.
You can optionally setup other merit hour rules as well. The travel time merit hours will work whether or not you have other merit hour rules defined.
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When you're ready to setup the travel time merit hours, click the Travel Time link on the Merit hours setup page.
Apply Travel Time When Volunteers¶
Setup the conditions for when you want travel time merit hours added to volunteer records. Note that with the exception of the Serve anytime setting, requiring more than one condition will require that all of the conditions are met before the travel time merit hours are applied. For example, if the conditions for Adult Type and Arrive after 5:00 pm are both checked, travel time merit hours will be given only for volunteers with the Adult Type who arrive after 5:00 pm.
Serve Anytime (Apply Travel Time to Every Service Entry)¶
Check this box if you want travel time to apply to every service entry made for a volunteer.
If Their Kind Is¶
If you only want the merit hour rule to be applied to individual or group volunteer records, check this box and select which records you want the rule to apply to. Leaving the box un-checked will make the rule apply to both individual and group records.
Have This Type¶
Check this box to apply travel time merit hours to only volunteers of a certain Type. Select the Type of volunteer records travel time merit hours should apply to from the dropdown list.
Arrive...¶
If travel time merit hours should apply to volunteers who begin serving before or after a certain time, check this box.
Choose Before if travel time merit hours should apply to volunteers arriving for service before a specified time. For example, if volunteers who work an early shift that starts before 6:00 am will be getting travel time, choose Arrive... Before and enter 6:00 am.
Choose After if travel time merit hours should apply to volunteers arriving for service after a specified time. For example, if volunteers who begin their service after 9:00 pm should receive travel time, select Arrive... After and enter 9:00 pm.
Depart...¶
If travel time merit hours should apply to volunteers who stop serving before or after a certain time, check this box.
Choose Before if travel time merit hours should apply to volunteers departing from service before a certain time. For example, if travel time should apply to volunteers who finish their shift before 8:00 am, select Depart... Before and enter 8:00 am.
Choose After if travel time merit hours should apply to volunteers departing from service after a specified time. For example, if travel time should apply to volunteers who finish their shift after 7:00 pm, choose Depart... After and enter 7:00 pm.
Serve More Than XX Hours and XX Minutes in the Same Visit¶
If volunteers must work at least a minimum number of hours during a given shift in order for travel time merit hours to apply, choose this box. If, for example, a volunteer must serve at least 7.5 hours to qualify for travel time, check the box and enter "7" in the hours field and "30" in the minutes field.
Are in this Set¶
If travel time merit hours should apply to a group of volunteers designated by a Set, choose this option and select the appropriate Set from the dropdown list.
Serve in These Assignments...¶
If travel time merit hours should be applied when volunteers serve in certain Assignments, choose this option. Mark the boxes next to the names of all Assignments the travel time should apply to.
Adjust Their Hours By...¶
Adding XX Hours and XX Minutes for Every Qualifying Visit¶
If a specific number of hours and/or minutes should be added to each service record that meets the characteristics defined above, choose this option. Then enter the appropriate amount of time to be added to each entry in the hours and/or minutes fields.
Base Travel Time on a Volunteer's Flags¶
If you will base travel time merit hours on how far the volunteer travels and have created Flags for this, choose this option. Enter the hours and minutes you would like volunteers to be given and select the corresponding Flag from the dropdown list. If a volunteer record has more than one of the Flags selected here, they will be given travel time based on whichever Flag gives them the highest total.
If a Volunteer Has More Than One Service Entry in the Same Day¶
If a Volunteer Has Multiple Service Records Within....¶
If you only want to give one travel time allocation when volunteers have two or more service entries on the same visit, choose this option. Enter the hours and minutes for the amount of time that must pass between the entries in order for them to be considered separate visits. By default, the hours and minutes are set at 1 hour and 30 minutes since that would be considered to be long break while at your facility.
If a Volunteer Has Multiple Service Records Within¶
If you always want to give travel time for each service entry made for the volunteer, choose this option. The travel time will be given for every service entry the volunteer has on their record, even if they are on the same date.
If a Volunteer Also Qualifies for Other Merit Hours¶
If you have additional merit hour rules setup, and a volunteer's service meets the requirements of the merit hours rules and the travel time rules--both will be used to figure the merit hours for the volunteer.
Base Their Other Merit Hours on Their actual Time Only¶
Choose this option if you want the merit hours to be based on the actual time the volunteer served before the travel time merit hours are calculated.
Base Their Other Merit Hours on Their Actual Time plus Their Travel Time¶
Choose this option if you want the merit hours to be based on the actual time the volunteer served and the extra time given for travel time.
Click the Save button to save your travel time merit hour rule setup, or the Cancel button to close the page without saving your changes. If you no longer need the travel time merit hour rule, click the Clear this rule button. Please note that if you clear the travel time merit hour rule, it will not change any existing service entries made that originally applied the rule. However, if you open an entry to edit the service, the merit hour total will be adjusted so that the deleted rule no longer applies when the Save button is clicked.