(Optional) Use Advanced Registration System (ARS) to further manage Virtual Opportunities
The Advanced Registration System (ARS) is an optional add on to HandsOn Connect that gives you the ability to add additional pages of information and forms to the process of signing up or expressing interest in a volunteer opportunity.
In the previous article, we discussed emailing a volunteer who had expressed interest in our virtual knitting project, sending them additional information, and perhaps agreeing on a date by which they expected to complete the project and mail or deliver it.
But what if we want to actually schedule a date for this virtual opportunity to be completed, and track hours for the work the volunteer did?
The ARS gives us the opportunity to give additional information, and allow the volunteer to tell us, while expressing interest, the date they plan to deliver the blanket to us. With this information, we can then confirm the connection by setting the start date of the connection to the delivery date they proposed.
Here's an example of how you can do this using the ARS. We want to find out from the volunteer the date they plan to complete and project.
Decide where you want to save the responses to the form
You can choose to simply download the responses to the form you'll be creating from the CMS via a CVS spreadsheet. You'll be able to download the spreadsheet directly from the CMS by going to AddOns / Export Form Data.
But you can also choose to synch this date to Salesforce so you can see this information directly in the connection that's created when the volunteer expresses interest. That's probably more useful in this scenario.
To do this: Add a new date field in the connection object, add it to your connection page layout, and then you'll be able to easily see the date that was submitted. Let's call our new connection field, "Virtual Completion Date"
See this article for details on how to add a custom field to an object:
Create an Opportunity Signup Workflow
In the CMS, go to AddOns / Advanced Registration / Opportunity Signup / Add Workflow
Create a workflow. Let's name it "Virtual Blankets"
We're going to add one page to it, by clicking "Create New Page".
We'll call our new page "Date for Completion" and add a Form Block to it.
In the form, use a Description Field to give additional information about the project as needed.
Add a Date Field to the form and labele it "Date you expect to complete and ship your blanket". This will enable the volunteer to propose a date they plan to complete and deliver the project.
We'll map this field to the Salesforce field we created called "Virtual Completion Date"
Note: After you create a new custom field in Salesforce, it may take up to an hour before that field is available for mapping in your form. So don't panic if the field isn't available for mapping in your form when you first create the form. You can save the form, and come back in a bit to map the field directly to SF if your field doesn't show up in the mapping options.
Add branch logic to go to the new page
After adding your new page, be sure to set the branch logic from the SIGNUP block, so that the next page is automatically "Date for Completion". Make sure each part of the workflow has branch logic set to take you to the next page in the workflow. This does not happen automatically!
After creating and saving your ARS Workflow, update your virtual opportunity in Salesforce and indicate it should use this ARS workflow
Now when volunteers express interest in the opportunity, they'll see the additional information and be able to indicate the date they expect to complete the blanket! If synched to SF you'll be able to see that date in the Volunteer's Connection.
With that information, you can now set the start date and time and end date and time of the connection, and confirm the connection. The volunteer will then see the connection and the agreed upon 'due date' in their upcoming opportunities.
Sample connection page with additional field:
Here's Valerie Volunteer's connection created through the ARS. We can see her proposed "Virtual Completion Date" in her pending connection. So then you can confirm the connection and set the Start Date and Time and End Date and Time for the 20 hours duration that you estimate the project will take.
Once the blanket is delivered - You can mark the attendance status as 'attended and hours verified" and credit her for the 20 hours. This way it'll be added to her civic transcript, and your reports will reflect the 20 hours of service for this Virtual Volunteer Opportunity. (If the blanket is delivered early or late - just adjust the start date and end date as needed).
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