A. Schedule Follow-Up Emails:

Let's assume that you want to send personal email reminders and comments to the volunteers that have signed up to volunteer this coming Saturday. I'm assuming that the volunteers were signed up for the event using the JC Online Scheduler screens.

Here are the steps to generate "personal" email reminders to each volunteer:

1. Open the Scheduled Event: Go to the Scheduler menu screen and open the scheduled activity by clicking on the small magnifying glass next to the scheduled event. This opens the full details of the scheduled event on your screen.
2. Copy the Event Web Address to your Clipboard: While still viewing the scheduled event on your screen, copy the complete web address at the top of your web browser window to your clipboard. This can be done by highlighting the complete address with your mouse, then clicking your Ctrl + c keys at the same time. For example:

3. Paste The Event Web Address into a New Email: Open your email program (such as Microsoft Outlook, AOL, etc.) and create a new email. Next, paste the previously copied web address into the text body area of the new email. Pasting can be done by clicking your left mouse button into the text area of the email, then press your Ctrl + v keys at the same time to paste the address into your email. Then, at the end of the web address link, press your Enter (Return) key to change the copied web address into a hyperlink. Doing this extra step changes the web address to the classic blue with a hyperlink underline.
4. Include Your Personal Comments: Add your personal comments at the top of the new email. These comments should include a "reminder" of the time and place of the volunteer event. Remember to thank the volunteers again for their willingness to serve others with their time and talents.
5. Add Volunteer Email Addresses: Put the email addresses of all of the volunteers listed on the scheduled event into the "To" addresses section of the email. If you have the volunteer email addresses already listed in your email program, them simply select their email addresses from your email program. If you do not already have their email addresses in your email program, then return to the JC Online Scheduled event screen and click on the names of the volunteers listed at the bottom of the show event screen. Clicking on the volunteer's names will cause you to "jump" to their personal account screens where you can click on their profile button and copy their email addresses from the profile web page and paste the email address into the "To" section of your email. Use your green "Back" arrow button to return to the volunteer list after each email address copy/paste.
6. Other Email Addresses: You might consider adding the Scheduled Event Coordinator as a "cc" on the email to bring them into the loop of the communication.
7. Point to the Web Address: Remember to tell the volunteers that they can click on the link you previously copied/pasted into the email address. Tell the volunteer's something like "You can click on this link to open JC Online and go directly to the details of this scheduled event..."
8. Send the Email (and maybe resend later to new volunteers): Sending the email from your email program should save a copy of your email communication to the Send folder of your email program. This way, if you later add another volunteer to the scheduled event, you can re-open the original email and "Forward" the email to the new volunteer. This will ensure that all of the volunteers are receiving the same event communications.

B. Case "Referral" Hand-offs:

When a volunteer want to "refer" a case action to another volunteer, they should add the "Referred To" volunteers name on the Case Action screen, and then immediately send a quick email to the referral requesting them to follow-up with this client and case action. As an alternative, the volunteer could communicate directly with an organization administrator to request they select a referral volunteer and complete the "hand-off" communications. Either way, the combination of JC Online posting followed by a personal "hand-off" email to the referral is the best way to ensure good client follow up communications.

The steps to managing referrals include:

1. Referred To: Choose a "Referred To" volunteers name on a Case Action screen and save. This adds the case details and related client information to the referrals "My Cases & Contacts" search list in JC Online. Also, adding the referrals names to the case action adds the case action details to the referrals Actions screen inside their JC Online "My Account" screens under the green "Referrals" button.
2. Personal Hand-Off: Send an email to the "Referred To" volunteer with a personal note requesting the client and case hand-off. Add good notes to the JC Online case action record to explain what has already been done for the client (Action Notes) and also what you suggest be done for follow-up (Case Action Follow-up Notes). It's the combination of the JC Online "Referred To" postings, followed by a personal email to the "Referred To" volunteer creates a successful case hand-off.
3. Administrator Follow-up: Since the new case actions are listed in the Administrators Case Action QA screen, the Administrator can also send a follow-up communication to the new referral to check on the status (and acceptance) of the case action referral. If the referral responds saying that they can not handle the referral as a volunteer, then the Administrator can alter the referral name directly on the Case Action QA screen, send a new hand-off email to the new referral, and "Cc" the original case action volunteer to inform them that there has been a change to "who" is handling the referral follow-up on this case.
4. More Referrals or Closing the Case: When all case action referrals and follow-up are completed, a volunteer working on the case should open the related Case Summary and close the case. This is done by clicking on the "Case Close" check box inside the underlying Case Summary. Closing the case communicates to everyone that the case actions are completed, and that there are no more follow-up activities in progress. As an additional communication and courtesy, the volunteer that formally "closes" the case in JC Online could also send a final email to all of the volunteers involved to inform them that the activities surrounding this case and client are completed with no further action required.

C. Volunteer Time Sheet Posting Reminders:

After someone finishes a volunteer activity (such as working a few hours in a volunteer office, serving a client, following up on a previous case action, etc.) they should open JC Online and post their volunteer time on a JC Online Timesheet. Posting a timesheet can be posted to JC Online by each volunteer individually, or done as a group by an event or case coordinator. Either way, the timesheet is needed to track a volunteer's personal service, and to include their volunteer activities in the grant reporting screens published by the organization.

Timesheet For Self: For a volunteer to post a timesheet for themselves in JC Online, they simply click on the "My Time (Add)" menu button at the top of their screen and complete a time sheet for themselves.

Timesheet For Others: For an administrator or case manager to post timesheets on behalf of others, they must first search for the volunteer using the "All Cases & Contacts" screen, click on the volunteer's profile screen, click on their timesheet screen and complete their timesheet form.

D. Volunteer Profile Issues:

If during QA an Administrator notices that certain key information is missing in a volunteer's profile, the Administrator can send an email to the volunteer with a quick link to their personal profile and request the volunteer update their profile directly in JC Online.

Sending the Profile Link to the Volunteer: The technique for sending an email to the volunteer with the profile issue is similar to the web address copy/paste technique illustrated in the VOlunteer Schedule Follow-up section above. In similar fashion, open the volunteer's profile, copy the web address at the top of the volunteer's profile screen, paste the web address into an email (example: Microsoft Outlook Email), add personal comments to the email outlining the problem with their profile, and email to the volunteer. If you're using Outlook, remember to press your Enter (Return) key at the end of the web address to convert the address into a link.

Keeping volunteer profiles up to date helps improve overall volunteer communications.

E. Client or Case Posting Issues:

Whenever a volunteer or Administrator notices that certain key information is missing in a client's profile, case summary or case actions, any volunteer can help improve volunteer communications by sending an email directly to the responsible for the client and case with a quick link to the client or case screen that has the issue. With the same technique noted above, just copy the web address of the JC Online screen that illustrates the problem and paste the link into an email to the responsible volunteer or administrator.

JC Online + Human Email Communications (Best Combination!!) If we only use JC Online but don't talk with each other...we get sterile data records. If we talk to each other but don't document our communications in JC Online...we get overwhelmed with record keeping confusion. It's the combination of JC Online client and case postings along with human email communications that brings the most good to a community.