Notes on Volunteer Connection 4/2/13

Mahlon Stacy, Staff Services Volunteer

I've now completed the first 5 courses on Staffing as Volunteer Connection (VC) comes online. All of these courses dealt with gathering information on volunteers, deployment, managing staff information after deployment, and releasing staff from the job. Overall, I applaud the effort developing a new integrated interface to manage volunteers. Clearly considerable thought has gone into the design, and first glimpses suggest that it will serve staffing well.

The old staff management software, DROMIS, was slow and stuck in its underlying database model. Deriving special reports required exporting data to Excel and then manipulating the Excel files. Adding new work locations and hotels was a slow, two step process prone to errors and based on codes. VC claims to retain such locations using their names and keeping them forever, to be added as needed in each DR. Adding new ones is simple and straighforward.

References to DOVEs are not included in the new software. Questions regarding this in our classes were deferred with the answer, "The process is not changed", meaning we have to jump through all the same hoops as we did in the past regarding deployment and reimbursement, but there are no check boxes in the deployment records indicating DOVEs. In one sense, this makes us the same as other RC volunteers, which is a good thing. But as Ricky Ricardo use to say, we'll have a "lot of 'splaining to do" as we train and clarify chapters and DR staffing on DOVE exceptions per our Statement of Understanding. But we should be used to that... as I said, the process has not changed!

Parts of VC are still under development. In staffing, classes are still under development for Disaster Staff Cards as well as Lodging. Performance reviews will eventually be completely done in VC, but the tools are not ready yet.

I want to underline some facts:

1. You must have you Volunteer Connection profile up to date in order to be deployed. If you have not done this, contact your chapter and get it done.

2. You must have an email address for Volunteer Connection.

3. Volunteer Connection is online as of March 20th. Chapters and staff on DRs have already been using it to do their jobs.