Category: Application Features and Tutorials Page 3 of 6

Information regarding the features of VolunteerKinetic and how to get the best from the application.

We have had a busy few weeks and have rolled out another interim release packed full of useful changes and updates suggested by our users.

Additionally we have also updated our infrastructure over the last few weekends with minimal distruption. All our servers and virtual environments are now on the latest server operating system and our database has also been updated to a new version. We’ve also thrown some more hardware at the application and I hope you have noticed some snappier responses.

Custom emails for opportunities

You can now add a custom email to an opportunity that is sent when a volunteer joins INSTEAD of the universal email (the universal email remains accessible and customisable as before). So if you have a special message to give to volunteers that join certain opportunities here is your chance.

It’s super easy to use and access, quick check box to say you want to use a custom email then you will see the normal editor window where you can craft the email.

Administrators can add an attachment to these emails from the normal list of email attachments you are used to seeing in the bulk email and email customisation areas.

Remember, this email is sent INSTEAD of the universal one, so be sure to include full details.

Custom email for role applications

Just as above, now when super admins are creating or editing roles they can add a custom email that is sent when a volunteer applies for that role.

It all works identically as for custom opportunity emails, and once again is sent instead of the universal email.

Close applications for an opportunity

Admins and providers can now hit a button on the APPLICANTS tab for apply first opportunties which will close applications for the opportunity without closing the opportunity. This enables already accepted volunteers to carry on as normal, and access new sessions, without attracting any new applicants.

Opportunity image enforcement option

Super Admins can now elect to switch of the mandatory upload of images for each opportunity. This option is OFF be default.

Information about the opportunity the intial role application was for

When a volunteer first applies for a role we record which opportunity this was on. We used this to enable the auto application to the opportunity if it was required, once the role applicaiton was complete and successful.

We have now started to show this information on the role management page so you know which opportunity the volunteer was originally interested in.

The volunteer also gets this information, along with a link to the original opportunity so they don’t need to hunt around to find it.

New and fixed reports

We have added a pie chart showing the proportion if volunteers on events and opportunities that have reported as having special needs or disabilities, downloadable of course.

The pie chart showing the ethnicity of volunteers on opportunities and events was not using distinct volunteers, but all the joined sessions. This has been fixed and is now accurate and the total volunteers will match the number given in the summary for volunteers.

Improved profile editing for volunteers

The layout when editing the profile for a volunteer has been tidied up and the various layouts for external volunteers, provider editing pages have also been improved.

We have split out the location aspects of their profile from their personal details, so you can update and edit independantly. This will help where location details have not been recorded properly but you still need to update other aspects of their profile.

Feedback report is now downloadable

Added a download button to the feedback report page so you can grab a full list of all the feedback at anypoint.

New filter for searching volunteers

You can now choose in the TYPE filter, to show volunteers that will and that will not receive bulk emails. A volunteer only receives bulk emails if they have opted in, have a valid email address, and have been granted access.

Faster searching

The opportunity search page speed has been improved by excluding distance calculations where possible and also using a boundary box method of finding matching opportunities rather than calculating the distance from the volunteers location and all other opportunites.

This is not as accurate but much faster and the accuracy is perfectly acceptable for this search. This means that empty or null searches, which are by far the most performed search such as;

https://volunteering-wales.net/volunteers/search

can return the maximum 250 opportunities in less than a second.

Providers having multiple accounts is now optional

The ability for providers to create their own sub accounts for collegues to use to login is now an option. You can find it in the super admin menu > options > everything else tab.

Better ordering of completed opportunities for volunteers

When volunteers view their opportunity tab in their dashboard, completed opportunities were ordered by their start date (age). We’ve switched this around now so that the opportunities are ordered by the date of their last session on that opportunity. So the opportunity that was mostly recently completed is at the top.

In app criminal checks

We are just finishing our initial development of in app criminal checks with KnowYourPeople in the UK. This wil mean you can fill out a simple form in the app, send it off and within 24 hours or so you will have the completed criminal check details available on the volunteers profile.

They will also send the certifcate to the volunteers address and your organisation name will appear on the certificate.

We don’t have finalised prices for the each check, but we are confident they will be less than £12 per check for the enhanced version.

If you are interested in trialing this new feature please get in touch.

TeamKinetic 2.01 Interim Release

By Rolf Herbert

On 19th September 2021

In Application Features and Tutorials, TeamKinetic Features, Technical Updates

Over the weekend we have been finalising the interim release for TeamKinetic 2, we have fixed many minor bugs and issues and also added some functionality that was missing or didn’t quite make the cut for the initial release. You don’t need to do anything, and all installations will be upgrade by Sunday evening.

Edit opportunity images after creation

You can now choose a different existing opp image, or upload a new one when editing an existing opportunity.

Custom Opp Badges in Alternative Language

If you uuse an alternative language in your installation you can now create and edit custom opp badges in your alternate language. The alternate language is also displayed to volunteers of course if they have selected it.

Providers Can Edit Their Users

Providers can now edit their created users and reset their passwords instead of having to delete and re-create.

All Provider Users Can Reset Their Own Passwords

The FORGOTTEN YOUR PASSWORD link and reset process now also works for the extra provider users as well as for the main central account.

New Role Application Notification

Administrators now get a notification when a volunteer applies for a role the first time.

New Providers Can Access Help Menu

New providers that have not yet been cleared can now access the help menu and help resources, including the contact pages. This will help new providers orientate themselves before they are cleared.

New Opportunity Features Are Copied

The new opportunity features that we have introduced are now also copied across to the new opp when copying an existing one.

Volunteers Can Withdraw an Opportunity Application

Once a volunteer has applied for an opportunity a button will appear allowing them to withdraw that application. This button is visible until the application has been accepted or refused.

Sticky Table Headers

For volunteer, opportunity, and provider searches, where the resulting data list can be pretty long; we have added sticky table headers. As you scroll down the page the column headings will get fixed to the top of the page so you can always easily see which column you are looking at.

Volunteer Feedback

When feedback from volunteers is not enforced (Super admin – Options – Opportunities – Enforce opportunity feedback), any feedback given to a volunteer from a provider is still shown. Previously this option worked as a switch to turn feedback on or off globally.

Provider Notification Improvements

A number of the provider notification emails have received some improvements, like the volunteer’s session list being included when a provider is notified about a new session signup by a volunteer.

Thanks for all your suggestions and for letting us know about any issues or bugs you have found, its always useful.

TeamKinetic v2 – Roles

By Rolf Herbert

On 29th June 2021

In Application Features and Tutorials, TeamKinetic Features, Technical Updates

Roles are a brand new feature for version 2, they sit above opportunities and enable a prescribed on-boarding process for volunteers. Roles are a great feature for organisations that have regular opportunities that are undertaken under the same set of compliance, training, or on-boarding rules.

An opportunity can belong to one or no role and once a volunteer has successfully completed the steps for a role, they can subsequently join any opportunity that belongs to that role; the role authorisation is valid across any opportunity in that role.

Creating Roles

Creating role is only possible for super admins and is accessible via the super admin menu in the SETUP section.

Click the add button to create a new role. You’ll be presented with a split screen form with the role name and description on the left, and the default four stages on the right.

Start by filling in the role name and its description to help volunteers decide if they want to apply for the role.

When you are ready to start adding tasks to your stages click the add button. This will open up a sheet with the task name and notes for that task. Additionally you will see a checkbox labelled ‘Volunteer can complete’. If this box is checked then the applying volunteer will be able to mark this task as complete without any admin oversight. This is great if you just want to check a volunteer has read a document or get an auditable confirmation that some step has been carried out.

You do not have to add tasks to every stage, the tasks do not need to be completed in order, and a stage can have no tasks at all if you prefer to put all the tasks in one stage.

Once created you can edit, archive or restore a role and the setup page shows you a brief summary of the role and its current status. When editing a role you can add or remove tasks and update the role name and description. Be aware that adding tasks will not affect those volunteers that have already been accepted on the role.

Managing Role Applications

All admins can manage volunteer role applications and outstanding role applications will appear on the admin dashboard for attention.

Just hit the manage button and the full status and history of the application will be shown. This is a pretty comprehensive screen but super easy to use.

You can move the status of any task forwards or backwards, from pending to started and finally complete. You can add notes that other administrators can read and update the overall status of the role application to approve or deny.

We have the intermediate status of STARTED for a task so that if a task takes time to process for an admin, another admin doesn’t repeat any work whilst the first admin is completing the task.

Importantly all steps taken are logged and viewable in the application log window. You can see here when tasks were started, completed or reverted back a stage, when people left notes, or when a volunteer has completed a task.

A volunteer will see their role applications on their dashboard. By clicking the more details link they will get a full breakdown of the current role and from here will be able to complete any suitable tasks.

Adding a Role to an Opportunity

It’s a simple task to add a role to an opportunity. If any active roles exist, they will appear in a drop down when creating a new opportunity.

If you update an existing opportunity and add a role requirement it will only affect volunteers that join after that point; existing volunteers will not be affected.

A Strong Opportunity Can Increase Your Volunteer Retention Rates

By Rolf Herbert

On 23rd June 2020

In Application Features and Tutorials, Volunteer Management

Advertising an engaging volunteering opportunity is not always the simplest task. And often the clearest messages can become disfigured, resulting in your opportunity becoming less attractive to prospective volunteers. Below we’ve identified some examples of how to design and present a strong volunteering opportunity on your TeamKinetic platform. Each element has been streamlined to guide you through an on-brand TeamKinetic experience that is engaging and most importantly, eye appealing to your volunteers.

Where should your opportunity live

The most obvious place of all is your own website, for your prospective and current volunteers your website provides a safe and secure portal in which you can display your volunteering opportunities clearly for all to see. In turn, it will also allow you to easily collate data on the number of people viewing your opportunities page, by monitoring web analytics with Google Analytics.

Name your opportunity

Be clear and concise, over the years we’ve seen many volunteer managers fall victim to the mistake of over advertising their volunteering opportunity. The best practice would be describing the opportunity in its simplest form by using as few words as possible, for example ‘volunteer caretaker’. By over complicating simple roles with complex names will only off put your volunteers. You may also wish to add a location, contact email and phone number as these are the key details which your volunteer is likely to need straightaway.

Outline your opportunity

Now here’s your opportunity to say more, no pun intended… When writing your descriptions keep them short and sweet, whilst listing the main tasks the volunteers will be expected to do during the opportunity.

Why not offer an incentive? We’ve found from customer feedback that these make the opportunities more appealing to volunteers. For example, an incentive may be unlimited tea and biscuits or a free T-shirt. If we know anything about volunteers we know they love tea and biscuits.

Finally, summarise the benefits. In this part you will want to describe how this volunteering opportunity will bring your volunteer’s fulfilment. How will their volunteering efforts make a direct impact?

Be clear in your presentations of your opportunity, make key information stand out.

When and where?

These are the fundamental outlines which are absolutely necessary when creating your volunteering opportunity. Day, time and location will outline the commitment time frame in which your volunteers will have to make. Also if possible make clear what type of volunteering opportunity this is, event, ongoing or just a one-off.

Show off the good REVIEWS

Make your feedback visible, think of your feedback like your own personal catalogue of reviews. In a modern world filled with decisions, reviews offer simple and relevant guidance. Similarly to this, the feedback from previous volunteers will provide guidance to your potential volunteers, encouraging them to enjoy the same positive experience.

Call for action

Always leave some visible call to actions, these will encourage the volunteer to perform some form of action. Call to actions may be subtle but they are all nudging your volunteer to do one thing. And that’s registering on your opportunity.

Call actions can include

Social media sharing links
Document printing
Internal links (other opportunities, company website)
Register / Logging in options

Here at TeamKinetic we can help with all your volunteer management needs. Go to our website to create a demo site – it’s completely free! You can also call us on 0161 914 5757 with any questions.

Don’t hesitate to reach out on social media, you can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also go to our YouTube channel to see some examples of the features we have to offer and some of the people we already work with.

New COVID-19 Task System Webinar

By Rolf Herbert

On 6th May 2020

In Application Features and Tutorials, COVID-19

Delivered by Steven Hall

TeamKinetic have been recognised by TechForce 19 as a technology provider that can help in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The following webinar is showcasing our new COVID-19 Task System, called the Community Task app – designed and made for COVID-19.

You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to our podcast:

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Podcast

Have you enjoyed using TeamKinetic? If you could leave us a review on Capterra, we’d really appreciate it! We’ll even send you a little thank you.

COVID Task App – Development continues apace

By Rolf Herbert

On 6th May 2020

In Application Features and Tutorials, News & Views, Technical Updates

We are delighted to see more organisations decide to use our COVID community task app and we recently zipped past the 2000 completed task mark.

We have been responding to feedback and continuing to develop the application and functionality; the most recent additions are showcased below.

Remember if you want to enable the COVID community task features you can do this at anytime from your super admin options menu.

Push Notifications

Users of compatible devices and browsers will now receive push notifications when new tasks are created or when any actions that concern them directly are performed; task application updates and new task chat messages. Unfortunately, Apple iOS devices do not offer support for push notifications via progressive web apps. Apple iOS users will continue to receive notifications via email when their task status changes or chat messages are sent.

Password Reset

Volunteers can now reset their password directly from the app. They can enter their registered email address and will be sent a PIN which they can enter directly into the app and generate a new password.

Photo Upload

When logging in, if the volunteer does not yet have a profile picture uploaded, the app will ask them to upload one.

The volunteer can change their profile picture at anytime by tapping on the current photo.

ID Card and QR Code

We have added an ID card to the volunteer app so that if challenged when outside the volunteer can show some evidence that they have a valid reason for leaving their home. The included QR code when scanned confirms the volunteers photograph and current status.

Repeat Tasks

A volunteer can now enter a repeat task when completing an existing one. So if the recipient asks the volunteer if they can come back next week, they can record it and you can track it just like a regular task that you have added.

All the task details will be replicated, except the date and time and auto assigned to the volunteer.

Target Completion Date Shown

The target completion date is now shown on the assigned task list without having to tap to show the task details.

Why You Should Be Customising Your Volunteer Registration Emails

By Alex Evans

On 24th April 2020

In Application Features and Tutorials, TeamKinetic Features, Volunteer Management

Did you know that you can customise your TeamKinetic system’s volunteer registration emails? Changing the first email your volunteers receive can be a big step in improving your volunteer management.

How do I change the registration email?

Go to the Admin Settings Cog → Customise Emails

Find the ‘volunteer registration’ email and click ‘Edit’.

You can now edit the default text and style it accordingly. When you click on the blue buttons on the right, a placeholder will be added to your text, and when sent, that placeholder will be replaced with the appropriate text; in this case you can use placeholders for your organisation name, organisation contact number, the volunteers email address, and a login link for the volunteer to follow.

What changes should I make?

That first email after registration should layout the next steps you want the volunteer to take. For example, this might be to upload a photo and a piece of ID. You could also direct them to the Resources & Help, where all the documents in your document hub are available, if your volunteers require extra information after registering.

You can alter options regarding volunteer photo/ID uploads via the Admin Settings Cog → TeamKinetic Options → Everything Else.

Volunteers can easily access these things through the left-hand-side menu on their dashboard.

They should go to the underlined tabs to upload a picture, ID, and view the document hub (in that order).

You can also add links to various areas of the system for easy access and attach files to the email. For example, you could share the link to take them straight to a search for COVID-19 related opportunities. This will help highlight ways volunteers can help their local communities.
You can find your shareable link to all COVID-19 opportunities on your admin homepage:

If necessary, make sure to tell new volunteer about inductions, DBS and ID checks when they first join to allow them to get started with you as soon as possible. As an admin, you can keep track of DBS checks via Volunteer Management → Criminal Checks as well as visiting a volunteer’s profile directly via Volunteer Management → Search Volunteers.
You could also customise the ‘joined opp’ email that is sent when a volunteer joins their first opportunity to let them know what you want them to do next. Perhaps explaining the keywords used on the site, such as sessions, the different opportunity types, and how to log hours.

What else can I do to get volunteers started?

Switching on text messages is another great way to keep in contact with your volunteers. Text messaging can be switched on by going to the Admin Settings Cog → TeamKinetic Options → Notifications → Switch on Text Messaging.

Building your Document Hub can also be highly beneficial to your volunteers. You can add documents, links and text for your volunteers and providers, e.g. a code of conduct or training manual for new volunteers.
To access the document hub, go to the Admin Settings Cog → Document Hub

Want more TeamKinetic tips?

Subscribe to our blog for more like this as well as other pieces relevant to volunteering and volunteer management. You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

You can visit our YouTube channel to find further help navigating your system or call us on 0161 914 5757, we’re always happy to help you out!

How to effectively promote COVID-19 volunteering

By Rolf Herbert

On 19th March 2020

In Application Features and Tutorials, News & Views, Policy and Operations, Press Releases

TeamKinetic have added an entirely new set of roles and functions we call COMMUNITY TASKS to help our customers get volunteers to those people that need it most in the community. There is also an associated app for mobile!

https://teamkinetic.co.uk/blog/2020/04/08/faq-new-covid-features/

Communities across the country are already starting to rally in support of each other during this pandemic.

We’ve put together a video and step-by-step instructions below showing how to promote your COVID-19 related opportunities.

1 – Add tags and descriptions to your COVID-19 related opportunities.

In order for volunteers to find COVID-19 related opportunities you will need to have a way of identifying those opportunities in the system. You can do this by either making sure the opportunity title includes a key words like; covid, virus, corona, or pandemic, or add the words as TAGS to the opportunity.

Either of these solutions will allow the system and volunteers to be able to search and find the related opportunities via the normal search bar.

When you login you’ll find your custom search link in the COVID-19 notification bar. You can distribute this link via email and on your social media posts and when clicked will go straight to the COVID-19 search results.

2 – Add An Event Called COVID-19

An event is just a group of opportunities which have something in common. By adding a specific event name, that event will show at the top of the volunteers search results.

To use this method you will need to create an event called ‘COVID-19’ and EDIT your opportunities and mark them as PART OF A LARGER EVENT

3 – Email all volunteers about COVID-19 related opportunities

We have added a button at the top the dashboard when you login as admin:

This button will automatically email your volunteers a list of all virus related opportunities (email shown below).

If you would like to only email specific volunteers then you can email the special link shown when you login as administrator.

When clicked this link will go to the COVID-19 search results.

Further help

If you have trouble setting any of this up, please open a support ticket and we’ll try to help.

Stay safe.

What is Single Sign-On (SSO)?

By Rolf Herbert

On 6th February 2020

In Application Features and Tutorials

SSO is a way of leveraging existing accounts from trusted sources to make logging in more secure, quicker and easier. It mostly utilises Oauth 2 to create a connection between us and the trusted source we are trying to authenticate with.

We have added Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn (admin and providers only) to our login on TeamKinetic.

Why?

As we interact online we are frequently asked to create accounts, along with a password and most usually our email address. We can forget passwords for sites we don’t use often or can get irritated having to login time and again.

Using SSO we can ask a trusted source, such as Facebook, to authenticate your email address. If you are already logged into Facebook with a matching email address you’ll get logged in immediately simply by clicking the login with Facebook button. You won’t need to enter your email address or password at all! You don’t need to remember another password and you don’t need to type in your email address and password over and over.

Do I share my personal data?

When we connect with Oauth we have to tell the source we are using what information we want back. In the case of SSO its just your email address. When you first sign in using Oauth you will notice that you have to say yes to sharing that information. That is the only information that we will be able to obtain.

What will it look like on the TeamKinetic?

We are starting to roll out this feature to all users and it will look like this. Keep an eye out for it appearing for you before Friday 7th February.

TeamKinetic 1.4.1 Release Notes

By Rolf Herbert

On 4th February 2020

In Application Features and Tutorials, TeamKinetic Features, Technical Updates

We have been slowly pushing out our 2020 Q1 interim changes for v1.4.1 and this will be complete by 7th February 2020.

You’ll have noticed a few differences already but these are the highlights, along with many bug fixes.

Improved Accessible Universal Search

The universal search is super useful but we know some customers are having trouble with the time delay used before searching and focusing the mouse on the results box.

This was done to improve its accessibility because without that switch of focus to the results window users of assistive technology and keyboard only users, would find it difficult to access the results.

We have listened to the feedback and have completely redesigned the universal search so that it is now even more accessible without annoying mouse users by switching focus.

The same results panel will appear but it now captures keyboard inputs so that using up and down, escape and return will enable keyboard users to navigate the list without ever switching the focus from the search box.

In addition all the correct ARIA attributes have been added and an additional assertive announcement for screen readers that will let the user know how many results have been returned and how to navigate them.

Login With Social Media (Single Sign On)

You’ll see a change to all login pages shortly; admin, provider, and volunteer login pages will have additional buttons for logging in with Google, Facebook, and for providers and admins, LinkedIn.

Your registered emails will have to match of course but if they do and you are already logged in with Google, Facebook or LinkedIn, you’ll get bumped straight to your dashboard just by clicking one of the social media sign in buttons. The first time you do this you may be asked to give TeamKinetic permission to receive your email address, we have to get that in order to match your account.

New Search Behaviours

We have adjusted the way the search filters are added to make them more accessible. Previously when you selected the type of filter it would be added automatically to the search. This renders it unusable for keyboard only users as they are not able to skip through the available filters without triggering their addition. So we have added a physical button you use to add the filter and some other improvements to make the search accessible.

New Search Filters

We have added some new filters to opportunity, provider, and volunteer searches, and also rearranged some others.

The new TYPE filter now contains multiple types of opportunity you can filter by, sessional, flexible, applying, and requiring references. We will be adding more as we test them.

For volunteer search we have added date FIRST and date LAST joined an opportunity along with a LINKED TO filter for finding which volunteers are linked to which providers.

Improved Reporting Text

We have updated the help tool tips on the reporting page to better explain what data is being shown. In particular around what is meant be converted, new, active, etc.

Universal Search Updates

The ordering of results has been changed so that older, less active volunteers, opportunities, and providers are less likely to appear in the top 5 results that are shown if there are many matches.

Dashboard Updates

We’ve altered the open opportunities display to remove the open/closed status (because of course they are all open!) and switched in a text category status which is also an accessibility improvement as the category is not communicated solely with colour.

There are lots of other smaller improvements, like adding more notifications to the top left notification area when actions are taking place, standardising button behaviour, harmonising more user interface elements and generally cleaning up!

Enjoy.