At the recent meeting in Milton Keynes activities were discussed. It is clear that simple activities can be created that would be logged against a volunteer.
But what is missing is an activity (similar to Placed) to use when referring a volunteer to an organisation/opportunity.
This needs to create a link between the Volunteer, the Opportunity (and therefore the Organisation).
This is required to have a complete picture of Volunteer activity.
Hi
As per the meeting this feature has been added, its under the "Actions" button on volunteers.
Any feedback would be appreciated
Sorry Parvez - I can't see it.
I checked My Applications - Actions drop down. This is where it should be really, along with Placed and Not Placed - but it's not there.
I went to a volunteer > Clicked Activities > New Activity drop down - it's not in there (although Placed and Not placed are)
Can you give me a hint please?
Incidentally - do the Placed and Not Placed actions in the Actions on the My Applications perform the same action as adding them as an activity on the Volunteer page (ie with the Opportunity/Organisation relationships)?
Hi Parvez
I'm sorry - I have found it now. I was looking for an activity - but it's an Action - (yes - that is what you said - I just wasn't concentrating)
But I am still a bit confused. If I go to actions I can see the Placed and Referred actions. But if I select them the window the user sees is completely different - The Placed window has a lot (and different) more fields.
These two actions should really be basically the same and have the same basic functions. Referred does also need to be on the My Applications screen as well.
Richard
We are pleased to inform that the opportunities can be referred individually for volunteers by using 'Actions'->'Refer Opportunity' Button on volunteer's summary screen now. 'Opportunity Referral' activity will also be created.
Can I just check please, does this actually send an email or anything to the organisation, or is it simply to log the referrals?
Hi Jen,
'Referral opportunity' action doesn't send any emails. It will just create an 'Opportunity Referral' activity. Thanks
I have just tested it and all it does is log a referral. We had already created our own REFERRAL activity that we used . What would be useful is if this action actually sent the new PDF to the volunteer and or sent the vol profile to the relevant organisation. We refer to organisations, not to opportunities
The point about the referral activity is that (at least in my understanding from the MK meeting) that if you create an activity yourself it just logs that activity in the Volunteers record.
What was need was an activity that was also related to the Opportunity (in the same way that the Placed and Not Placed actions do)
Parvez explained that this would be something that Veda would have to add and this is what has been done.
Maureen - can you confirm that the new Action creates a link between the Volunteer and the Opportunity?
Richard
No it does not. That's the point I'm making. All it does is create an activity on the volunteer record, something we were able to do anyway by creating an activity called REFERRAL and putting in the name of the opp. I guess it means less typing but it is NOT a link between a vol and an opp. Activities can be placed on both volunteers and orgs at the same time. Activities CANNOT be linked to opps, nothing can as far as I can see. The activity that VBC creates automatically on the vol record by the action "refer opportunity" cannot be linked to anything else whereas other activities created manually can be. For the purposes of all this below Maureen Testdavis is the volunteer and Maureen Davis is me, the operator.
This what the new action "refer opportunity" shows in terms of the vol record
Opportunity Referral
Autumnal Festival with a difference! (Pumpkin Festival) - July 1st, 2016 1:00 AM - Volunteer - Referred
Davis, Maureen
Testdavis, Maureen
n/a
December 8th, 2015 9:22 AM
Completed
View
You cannot place any activity at all on an opp but you can place a manually created activity on vols and orgs at the same time, simply add another "contact" in the "with" field". Organisations and vols are both "contacts" as far as VBC is concerned and can share activities. Also activities can be edited later to share that activity if it was forgotten at first. Below is what the volunteer record shows when we manually record REFERRAL on the volunteer and add the relevant org in the "with" field (1 more refers to the org but sadly you have to view the activity to see what org it is) which is why we put Jubilee Trust in the Subject box
REFERRAL
Referral to Jubilee Sailing Trust for Autumnal Festival......
Davis, Maureen
Testdavis, Maureen;
(1 more)
n/a
December 8th, 2015 2:19 PM
Completed
ViewEditDelete
and if you view the activity it shows you this with the org name displayed
Added By
Davis, Maureen
With Contact
Jubilee Sailing Trust, Southampton and District Branch; Testdavis, Maureen
Assigned To
Subject
Referral to Jubilee Sailing Trust for Autumnal Festival......
Location
Date
December 8th, 2015 2:19 PM
Duration
Activity Status
Completed
Details
Priority
Normal
and exactly the same activity has also been placed on the org.
So we have found this way is the best for linking vols and orgs .
If anyone wants any further explanation then I am happy to take a call. 023 8090 2471 is my direct line and I am here Mon and Tue 8.30 to 4 and Wed 8.30 to 3. Sometimes it's so much easier to talk someone through it by phone than try and write instructions
Thank you for clarifying, that's what i thought but just wanted to check.
It does look like VEDA misunderstood this requirement. I'm not sure that the specification for this requirement is that complex really.
Basically we have Volunteers, Opportunities and Organisations. These have been the basic objects since Old V-Base. What is needed for our reporting and enquiries is to see the full relationships between these objects.
Things like - show me a list of Vols with all the Opps they have Applied for/Referred/Placed
Or Show me a list of Orgs with all the Volunteers Applied/referred/placed for by Opp
etc etc
NB - New Do-it/VBC is slightly different in that it could be argued that there is now a new basic object - Application. Previously this was just an "Applied for" link between Vol and Opp.
I would regard it as vital that these relationships are maintained natively in the database. And I would expect to see the basic actions (Referred/Placed/Not placed) to operate in the same way as each other and appear in the application as such.
Whether there are further Actions that folks can mention that are part of the basic business process I'm not sure. But I think that the Activities like Send email, Phone call, Meeting etc are probably just needing to be logged against one object (eg Vol and maybe Org) so can be satisfied by the activities currently provided and custom ones.
PS - Can I please say at this point that I am the IT guy here and do not use these systems on a day to day basis. I am posting here from an IT standpoint - knowing in general terms what our requirements are. Further, I have not studied the New Do-it/VBC in detail and so I am more than ready to be slapped down by some who are more expert than me. It just seems to me that some of the basic requirements of the application required by VC's have been missed (initially in Do-it and then automatically by VBC). But I am encouraged by the new enthusiasm to get it right.
Richard
Hi Richard,
Thanks for the post and the words of encouragement!
Although the UI functions to carry out the actions were missing, the underlying stuctures of the Database are all there to create the necessary relationships etc.
We have Contacts (Orgs/Volunteers), Opurtunities (Events) and Activities (links to all three). We had already exposed Placed/Not placed activities, what was missing was the referel activity. This has been partially completed now, you can record a referel through the UI to link a Volunteer to an Op. We're in the process of also creating an Activity to reflect this, which would also then show up on the Organisation which posted the Opp.This should future proof us shoud the need to remove Op's actually come through.
I agree, initially these things weren't possible by users, but they should be able to carry out these functions now and we're trying to ensure that all the missing peices are in place ASAP. What we need to make that happen is collaboration from the VC's and obviously techies like yourself are also much appreciated to bridge any knowledge gaps.
Hope that makes sense?
I am not a techie and don't understand how databases work apart from a user point of view and I also understand that we don't all use VBC and do it and the old vbase in the same way. But with your help we are getting there so as long as we keep the dialogue going and don't esxpect the impossible I am sure we'll get there.
Certainly Veda are striving to hear and understand the needs of VCs even if we aren't always explaining them very clearly. Thanks
Should we suggest that Parvez works in a Volunteer Centre for a week or two !!!!
I think that is an excellent idea, it is quite difficult to explain exactly how we used/are using the old v.base - and some onsite usage would be a perfect way of demonstrating this and other functions. I think v.base cloud has enourmous potential and once it is set up correctly will result in many time saving activities. An automatic linking of volunteers with both referrals and placements is really essential.
Just resurrecting this, if a VC close to east London/Essex would be happy to have me on site for a day or two I'd love to come and see how your using VBC and where your struggling. Hopefully the process will help me bridge any gaps in knowledge and ensure that we come up with a system that delivers solutions to their problems. Let me know!
Sadly we are not close to London but you could combine a visit to our VC in Gainsborough if other discussed events go ahead?
Hi Heather, its possible but something closer to home makes it much easier! I'll let you know if I'm due up around your area for other business as it maybe a chance to meetup. Thanks
This is a positive offer from Parvez. I hope a VC can step up.
We would certainly be interested but out in the sticks I'm afraid.
If this does succeed and Parvez is able to get a plan mapped out, it maybe useful to have a meeting of VC's to go through the plans.
We would be up for that as long as the trip was not too far. This is an important issue.
A travel card from London to Oxted (direct trains from London Bridge and Victoria) is around £15. I would be happy to host if that would help.
Hi Kim, Yes, that could work and you've been using for a while so I guess have enough hands on to be able to really highlight the core workflow issues. We're going to be pushing out all planned development by the end of Jan so perhaps we could arrange soemthign around the middle of Feb?
In response to above.
I have had to set up my own referrals in actions as we cover 3 areas and need to report the referrals fo each area. Mine are set up as Referral Burnley, Referral Pendle & Referral Rossendale, so just one referral button wouldn't work for us, as we wouldn't be able to separate them for each area.