Volunteer Event Scheduler

Events are defined, linked to jobs and tasks, added to the schedule, and assigned to volunteers through the Event Scheduler window. The Event Scheduler schedules one event at a time. Once you have defined an event and its related jobs, you can add the jobs to the schedule through a variety of options, like daily, weekly, or only on a particular day. As you add jobs to the schedule, you also specify how many volunteers are needed for that job in that time slot.

The Event Scheduler consists of seven steps. You do not always start at Step 1. It depends on how you opened the window and where you are in the process. For example, if you click on Add on the Events sub tab, you will start with Step 1, Add Event. However, if you click on Set Up Schedule from the Events sub tab, you will start with Step 5, Set Up Schedule.

You open the Event Scheduler from several places within the Volunteer Manager:

From the Calendar View sub tab, by clicking on the Edit button next to an event on the calendar.
From the Event sub tab, by clicking on Add, Edit or Set Up Schedule.
1. You must select an event from the list of events on the Event sub tab before you click on Set Up Schedule.

Once the Event Scheduler window is open, if you want to jump directly to another step, you can move from step to step by clicking on the step names on the top. However, to ensure that you work is saved as you go, you should click on the Save and Next button at the bottom of each page to move to the next step.

Step 1 - Add Event

Use this step to add a new event to the list of events in the Event sub tab. There are many potential fields associated with an Event definition. If you are using the Event Manager in ExceedFurther, you can read about adding events in more detail there.

To add an event, do the following:

Enter an event code. This is a short name for the event. It appears in the Calendar View and in lists.
Enter an event description. This is a longer name for the event. This is included in emails and volunteer postings about this event.
Enter comments about this event. These comments can be included in an event posting or email.
Enter other details about the event.
Click on Save and Next to continue to Step 3.
1. If you need to make changes to the event, go to Step 2.

Step 2 - Edit Event

Use this step to make changes to an existing event. To edit an event, do the following:

Make any changes to the code, description, comments or other information.
Click on Save and Next to continue to Step 3.

Step 3 - Link Jobs to Event

The name of the event you are currently working on appears at the top of the window. The jobs you have defined in the Jobs Manager appear in the list. You must link at least one job to your event.

From the list of jobs, check the jobs you wish to attach to this event.
If you need to define a new job, click on the Add Job button. Add a code, description, and comments for the job and click on Save.
After you have selected all of the jobs for this event, click on Save and Next to go to Step 4.

Step 4 - Link Tasks to Event

The name of the event you are currently working on appears at the top of the window. If you have defined some tasks in the Task sub tab, you can link some of those tasks to the jobs for this event. You do not have to link any tasks to event jobs.

From the list of jobs, select the job you want to link tasks to.
From the list of tasks, check the tasks you wish to attach to this job for this event.
If you need to define a new task, click on the Add Task button. Add a code, description, and comments for the task and click on Save.
After you have selected all of the tasks for each job for this event, click on Save and Next to go to Step 5.

Step 5 - Set Up Schedule

The Set Up Schedule step is divided into several sections. If the top section is not open, click on the Create Schedule down arrow.

The top section shows a list of the jobs and tasks attached to this event on the left side and a scheduler box on the right that lets you specify the parameters for creating the schedule.

To add a schedule for this event, follow these steps:

Select the jobs and tasks that you wish to schedule from the list at the top by clicking on the boxes.
If you are not scheduling using a regular pattern of dates, click on the Random Dates button.
1. From the calendar, click on each date that you wish to schedule this job (and tasks).
2. Select the start and end time for this schedule.
3. Enter the number of people required on each date.
4. Select the supervisor from the list.
5. Click on Save and Finish.
If the job has a regular schedule, click on Recurring Dates.
Enter the Start date for the schedule.
Enter either the number of occurrences you wish to schedule or the ending date for your schedule.
Select a recurrence pattern:
1. Daily - select the interval between days or select Every Weekday
2. Weekly - select the interval between weeks and the days of the week. The job is scheduled each week, every day that you select.
3. Monthly - you can choose to schedule the job on the same date each month or to schedule it on a particular day of the week each month.
4. Click on Save and Finish
Review the schedule that appears in the list in the bottom half of the screen.
If you need to make adjustments to the schedule, you can use the pencil icon on the top of the schedule list:
1. Select the rows in the schedule you need to change by clicking on the check box in each row.
2. Click on the pencil.
3. If the schedule you selected is part of a series, you are asked if you want to change all scheduled jobs in the series or just the one you selected.
4. Click on Edit this Occurrence to edit just the scheduled jobs you selected OR click on Edit this Series to change all of the scheduled jobs in the group of events that were scheduled together using the Recurring Dates option above.
5. Make any changes to the start and end times and the number of people required for the selected schedules.
6. Click on Save.
7. If you need to delete some of the scheduled jobs, select the ones you wish to delete and click on the large X in the top of the list of event schedules.
8. If you are ready to assign volunteers to the scheduled jobs for this event, select the job schedules you would like to assign.
9. Click on Assign Volunteers to go to Step 6.

Step 6 - Assign Volunteers

Before you can assign volunteers to work, you must select the jobs and schedules to assign. That is done at Step 5.

The Assign Volunteers window includes two lists, the list of event job schedules to assign on the left and the list of volunteers on the right. Through this process you select a job schedule or schedules from the list on the left by checking the boxes and you select the volunteer or volunteers to assign to those schedules on the right.

You can filter the list of potential volunteers using the Volunteer Filter above the list of volunteers. This helps you find people who are available on the dates you are looking for and who have the right skills and interests for the job and event.

To assign volunteers, do the following:

Adjust the width of the two sides of the screen by dragging the vertical bar in the center to left or right. You can also adjust either list by changing the width and order of the columns and the columns you with to view in the list.
Select the first job schedule or schedules to assign from the list on the left by clicking on the check box(es).
1. Select more than one job schedule if you are planning to assign the same volunteer or volunteers to work several times. The volunteers will be assigned to all of the selected job schedules.
Select the name or names to assign to these event schedules from the list on the right.
If you select more than one volunteer, all of the volunteers selected will be assigned to work the job or jobs you have scheduled.
1. To narrow down the list of names, use the Volunteer Filter at the top:
  1. Click on the Volunteer Filter.
  2. The filter criteria area opens.
  3. To view the full list of options, expand the filter area by dragging the vertical bar in the center of the window to the left.
  4. To filter by tags attached to the volunteer, use the list of tags on the left side. You can select from this list in three ways:
    1. Include - if a volunteer has this tag, include her unless she is excluded by another tag. If you select more than one tag to include, the volunteer needs to have only one of those tags to be included.
    2. Exclude - if a volunteer has this tag, exclude her in all circumstances.
    3. Require - any volunteer that is included must have this tag. If you select more than one tag to require, the volunteer must have all required tags to be included.
  5. To find volunteers available on certain dates and times, use these options:
    1. Available Date From - enter a start and end date for the range you are looking for. If you are looking for a single date, enter that date in both the date boxes.
    2. Start Time From - enter a time range that a volunteer is available to start.
    3. Available Days - select all the days of the week that you are looking for. A volunteer must be available on all the days to be included.
To find volunteers in a particular location, type in a city, state and/or zip code.
To find volunteers who have worked in the past on certain events, events, events or tasks or with a certain supervisors, make you selections from the drop down lists.
To find only active or on-call volunteers, use the Volunteer Status list.
If you wish to clear your choices, either the tags or the other fields, click on Reset Tags or Reset Other.
Once you have finished your filter criteria, click on Go to refill the list of volunteer names.
1. Close the Volunteer Filter area by clicking on the arrow.
After you have selected the volunteer(s) to assign to the selected schedules, click on Assign Volunteers.
1. The list of job schedules on the left is refilled, showing the number of volunteers assigned to each job schedule and updating the gap between the number required and the number assigned.
Repeat from number 2, above, to assign additional volunteers to job schedules for this event.
Click on Step 7 to view the full list of assignments.

Step 6 - View Schedule

The View Schedule window shows the schedule for this event and its jobs and tasks on the top, with the number of volunteers required and assigned for each job and task scheduled. When you select a row in the list at the top, the names of the assigned volunteers appear in the list below.

Using the list of assigned volunteers, you can do the following

Remove names of volunteers who should no longer be assigned to work this event schedule.
Mark the volunteers who worked so their hours can be recorded.
Unmark volunteers who did not work.
Update the hours worked on the volunteers' records.
Send an email to all selected volunteers.

To make changes to any of the assignments, follow these steps:

Select the job schedule from the list at the top.
1. The list of assigned volunteers appears in the list at the bottom.
Select the volunteer name or names from the bottom that you wish to update.
To remove names, click on the large X at the top left of the list.
To mark the selected volunteers as having worked, click on the check mark icon at the top of the list.
1. The start and end times and hours worked are automatically filled in for each volunteer. If a volunteer worked a different number of hours, you can type in the start time, end time, and hours worked for that volunteer.
To mark the selected volunteers as not having worked, click on the check mark icon that has an X through it. This indicates these volunteers did not work as expected. No hours are recorded.
Click on the Clock icon at the top of the list to record the hours worked on each volunteer's record.
Click on the email icon at the top of the list to send an email to each selected volunteer.
Click on the X at the top right side of the window to close the window.